A retiree's adventures in moving from New Mexico to Portugal
Author: rosepatch3
Rosalie Rayburn is a writer, world traveler, avid cyclist who shares her time between the US and Portugal. She writes a blog about international relocation and is the author of The Power of Rain, a mystery set in New Mexico, USA.
The 516-meter long Arouca Bridge in northern Portugal is one of the longest pedestrian suspension bridges in the world.
Everywhere you go in Portugal there are reminders of its richly diverse history. It has ancient Roman ruins, medieval castles built to withstand assaults from Muslim or Spanish invaders, and modern marvels like the Arouca Bridge. Opened in 2021, and spanning 516-meters, or (1,692 ft), it is one of the longest pedestrian suspension bridges in the world.
I was lucky enough to visit the bridge this week with a group led by Jean-Remi Chapelon who runs the adventure company My-Green-Break. The sight of this awesome structure is enough to make anyone with a hint of vertigo pretty nervous!
However, the charming young guide who greeted our group assured us that it is VERY stable! Located in the mountainous Aveiro District of northern Portugal, it connects two sides of a steep valley over the Rio Paiva. At the midpoint, the drop is 175 meters, or about the same height as a fifty-story building. Our guide said tests showed it could support nearly two thousand people, but the number of those allowed to cross at any one time is limited to between 35 to 50 people. You have to buy tickets and you are assigned a crossing time.
Before we crossed, my group hiked along a path that led down to the river. Part of the path is on a wooden walkway called a “passadiço”. You find these all over Portugal. They are built beside rivers or even over the dunes beside the ocean. At the midpoint of our 7-kilometer hike, we stopped to eat a picnic beside a river beach where many people were swimming. River beaches, or “praias fluviais” are popular in Portugal.
Our guide. The bridge was built at a cost of 2.3 million euro. The money came from the local government and the European Union.
As we crossed we could feel slight movement beneath us, and it became very windy. But I never felt unsafe. The view over the valley and down to the river below was spectacular! Well worth the trip.
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal. And check out my website, RosalieRayburn.com
Divina, the little dog who was abandoned in my village and adopted me as her person. She has been a great companion.
Anybody who has been following my blog since I moved to Portugal in 2019 will have read about Divina. She is the little Podengo-mix dog who was abandoned in my village around the time I moved into my house. She showed up at my door and I offered her some food and she decided to adopt me.
It had been many years since I had a dog. I really didn’t have plans to welcome another one into my life. I’d had a couple of cats for several years and sadly could not bring them with me because I was “of no fixed abode” when I arrived in Portugal. Instead, I found them a cushy home with a lovely neighbor who wanted a couple of middle-aged felines.
But this little Podengo-mix made herself right at home in my house, so I didn’t have much choice. There are too many abandoned dogs in Portugal!
In the four years since she has become my constant companion. She gets me up in the morning with the sound of her ears flapping as she wakes up. And she gets me out of the house early because she loves her morning walk!
About that walk
I am lucky enough to live in a village that is on the delivery route of two different bakeries! That’s right. A van drives by my house six mornings a week and all I have to do is put a bag on my gate with the right change and the delightful “bread lady” puts the fresh bread rolls into the bag. Yum!
The bread van that comes by my gate every morning delivers rolls. It comes from a bakery called “Pecado Divino”. Loosely translated it would mean “sinfully delicious”. I liked the idea so much that I used it to name my dog. Hence “Divina.”
The bakery that delivers the rolls I like is called “Pecado Divino” which translates as “Divine Sin.” That may sound a little odd in English, but if you think of the way we often describe eating chocolates or delicious cakes we say, “sinfully delicious.” I loved the idea so much that I adapted it to name my dog, calling her Divina. (She is feminine after all! You have to follow grammatical rules.)
It so happens that there is another bread van. I don’t know the name of that bakery because the van is plain white. Now a lot of plain white vans go through my village every day. They pass by while I am walking Divina down the main street. But she has come to recognize THE white van from the bakery. How? Because Divina and I happened to walk by one fine morning when that bread lady was stopped outside a house picking rolls from the back of the van and putting them into the bag hanging on the gate. The very nice lady saw Divina’s soft brown eyes and wagging tail and pulled off a chunk of bread and gave it to her.
So now, every time that van comes through the village when we are coming back for our walk Divina immediately recognizes it and strains on the leash to go say hello. Of course, the very nice bread lady recognizes her too.
Ah, the life of my little Portuguese dog!
Follow my blog to hear more about my adventures living in a Portuguese village. And check out my novel “The Power of Rain” on Amazon and my website: RosalieRayburn.com
A sign pointing to a health center (Centro de Sade) in a village in central Portugal.
Portugal has a universal healthcare system which is available to foreigners who are legal residents. The system has is a network of clinics and pharmacies in towns and villages all over the country. Usually, these health centers, “Centro de Saude” are open just a few hours a week. Ideally, there is a doctor who is available during these times, but some centers only have a nurse. The Covid situation put the Portuguese health system under great strain.
Fortunately, I enjoy good health and have had little reason to use my local health clinic. The only times I have been are few and far between. When I first arrived one of my new neighbor’s little dogs bit me and I had to get a tetanus injection. This was actually a blessing in disguise, because it obliged me to go to the main health center for my “Concelho” or municipal area, to register in the system. I had to provide identification and my residency permit and was eventually given a “numero de utente” or user’s number. This is the number you must always show when seeking to use any of the services in the Portuguese healthcare system.
The other time was when I was having some digestive issues. I went to the clinic in my local village and the nurse told me to wait. I was able to see a doctor who spoke English. He ordered a battery of tests which included bloodwork, electrocardiogram, abdominal sonogram and an endoscopy. Because I am over 65, I didn’t have to pay for the doctor visit. (People under that age usually have to pay a few euros.) I was only charged for one of the tests, and staff apologetically explained that it would cost me 15 euros!
Impact of Covid
Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic made it harder to access healthcare services during the past two years. Several hospitals had to temporarily close departments because of a lack of staff. The clinic in my local village did not have a doctor available for about a year. In order to see a doctor, you either had to go to the main municipal clinic on a Saturday morning, or go to the local hospital. Either option was about (16 kms) or 10 miles away.
Despite these drawbacks, Portugal had an efficient system for alerting people when they were eligible for a Covid vaccination or a flu shot. I received a text message on my mobile phone and sent a return text with my Utente number to confirm. I also received a letter in the mail giving me an appointment to get a mammogram at the mobile unit when it was visiting my area. No cost for the vaccinations or the mammogram!
Healthcare a draw for many
The soaring cost of medical care in the United States has made the prospect of access to quality care, at a fraction of the price, a powerful draw for many Americans who have moved or are planning to relocate to Portugal.
Legal residents of Portugal can use the tax-funded national health service, SNS (Serviçio Nacional de Saúde), a system of local clinics and regional hospitals, either free or at minimal cost.
“The public health system here is basically free. You don’t pay for appointments, surgeries, all that,” said Fernando Mendes, an insurance agent based in central Portugal.
In addition, there is a growing network of private facilities and providers, such as Hospital de Luz, CUF and HPA, available to those who pay for medical insurance.
The public and privately funded health systems have earned high recognition. The World Health Organization ranked the delivery of health care in Portugal 12th in its 2019 World Health Report.
Numerous private health insurance options are available in Portugal through companies like Fidelidade, Allianz, Advancecare, Cigna, and Medis. Coverage for pre-existing conditions is not typically available through these plans. The Association of Foreign Property Owners in Portugal (AFPOP) also offers its members special insurance rates through Medal Seguros. Their plans will cover pre-existing conditions under certain conditions. This is not the case for most private insurance plans offered in Portugal.
Navigating Portuguese Hospitals is a Facebook group that helps people navigate the Portuguese system.
A sign outside a hospital showing where to go for urgent care and admissions, visitors, and administrative services.
The Cortejo dos Rapazes, or children’s parade is the first of many parades in the Festa dos Tabuleiros, an event unique to the town of Tomar in central Portugal. It’s origins date back to a medieval festival to honor the Holy Spirit.
The Festa dos Tabuleiros, or festival of the trays, is an event unique to the town of Tomar in central Portugal. It happens once every four years and draws upwards of half a million visitors to the town of around 23,000 residents. The most stunning feature of the event are the parades of girls or women carrying tall headdresses made of stacked bread rolls and flowers, topped with crowns. They wear traditional costumes of white blouses and long white layered skirts with a colored sash and beige suede shoes.
Seeing as the headdresses are more than a meter tall (think 4 feet) and weigh several kilos (20 lbs or more), each girl or woman has a male companion to help her as she processes. The boys and men wear black trousers, black shoes, white shirts and a tie the same color as their companion’s sash.
Its a huge honor to participate. Kids as young as three or four march along in the children’s procession. The tiniest children carry baskets of flowers rather than trying to cope with the heavy bread-and-flowers headdress. They march through the streets of the town and end up in the Praça da Republica in front of the Igreja de São João Baptista (church of St. John the Baptist), where a priest blesses them. This festival originated in the Middle Ages as a way to honor the Holy Spirit, (Espirito Santo)
Lots of Music
Of course, no Portuguese event is ever complete without a marching band. Now I know how the US got its famous marching songs like “The Stars and Stripes Forever”. Composer John Philip Sousa had Portuguese blood!
There is plenty of music at night too. During the ten-day festival, there is a stage set up in one of the town parks beside the river Nabão where you can hear traditional Fado music or jazz. The main music stage is in the huge Varsea, or plaza in front of the train station. The bands strike up at ten p.m. and go on until the wee hours.
Colorful Streets
In addition to the parades, residents of the town form groups to decorate their streets. It brings together old-timers and foreigners of all nationalities who have settled in this charming town. I’ve met British, American and Portuguese women (it seems that most of the decorators are women) who have participated in the groups. They’ve been working together for almost a year to create a themed design and hand make the millions of paper flowers that go into the decor. It’s highly competitive. On a particular night during the festival the streets are closed off so the decorations can be set up. Then, at the appointed hour, the church bells ring, and the judges begin touring the streets one by one to pick the winning design. The themes are very innovative. I saw a whole street decked out in a maritime theme with a giant octopus, fish, waves, and plenty of fish!
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal. And check out my book “The Power of Rain” on Amazon.
The red tiled roofs of Lisbon’s Alfama district look out over the Tejo river.
I have been living in Portugal for almost six and a half years now. Almost every day I learn something new about this country and its culture. It may be a new word or expression in Portuguese. Or it may be noticing a new flower, fruit, or vegetable. Or just figuring out another aspect of the inevitable bureaucracy that goes with moving to a new country.
When I first moved to a house in a village in central Portugal, I was terrified of driving on the narrow winding roads. I used to grip the steering wheel and hold my breath when a van approached me at speed, wondering if there really was enough room for us to pass each other. Now, I don’t give it a second thought.
I’ve also relaxed when it comes to being overtaken. Portuguese drivers fall into two categories, as far as I have observed. They either drive irritatingly slowly or they do rally driver impersonations. The latter type suddenly appears behind you as you are motoring along a country road minding your business. Then, as you approach a blind corner or a hill, that’s the moment they choose to roar past you. It can be breathtaking!
Banking
Living in the country, I find I use cash a lot more than I used to in the U.S. A lot of the small businesses and restaurants do not accept payment by debit card, multibanco, as they say in Portugal. I even have to pay cash at the garage where I get my car worked on.
Luckily, the caixa automatica (ATM, cash machine or cashpoint in the UK) in Portugal is supremely useful. If you are coming from abroad, you can use your debit card to withdraw euros. If you have a Portuguese bank account you can go to any ATM and get cash without having to pay a fee. The ATM machines here also let you do a number of other operations like paying bills, road tolls, taxes, and fines.
The banking app I have on my phone has a capability called MB Way (multibanco way) which enables me to pay individuals if I have them listed as one of my contacts. I can also pay bills from my phone by using the IBAN number of the payee.
Various useful odds and ends
Here are a few other tidbits I’ve learned or noticed in Portugal.
* Bathrooms: lights may be on timers, so you may be plunged into darkness while you are doing your business – wave your arms around, which usually activates the lights.
* Toilet paper: a lot of Portuguese homes or businesses are on septic systems which get clogged with toilet paper. They ask you to put the TP in a bin provided. For women it can be hard to re-learn the habits of a lifetime.
* Tickets for many trains and bus trips give assigned seats. If you are 65 years old and older you travel half-price on the trains.
* Portuguese people are not huggers. Expect an air kiss on each cheek even from business people you’ve never met before.
* In big cities the bread, cheese, and olives they put on the table before they bring you your meal are usually not free. The charge can be from one to five Euros. Beware. You can often get a fixed-price meal by looking for the “Prato do dia” or dish of the day. In the small local restaurants in my area the prato-do-dia price is usually as little as 10-12 euros, with wine, dessert and coffee included.
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal, and my website, RosalieRayburn.com
Scene along the River Douro in Porto, Portugal’s second largest city.
Rua Serpa Pinto in Tomar is decorated ready for the Festa dos Tabuleiros which runs July 1-10. The festival, held once every four years features the unique processions of young girls carrying huge headdresses along the lavishly decorated streets of the town.
The solstice has just passed and my local town of Tomar is gearing up for the Festa Dos Tabuleiros, or festival of the trays. This unique celebration began in the Middle Ages as a Catholic tradition to honor the Holy Spirit (Espirito Santo). It features processions of young girls and women dressed white, carrying on their heads tall trays that are stacked with bread rolls and flowers and topped with a crown. Each girl is accompanied by a young man or boy to provide help if the load becomes unwieldy. The headdress trays often weigh 20 lbs (9 kg) or more.
This famous festival is held once every four years. I arrived in this part of Portugal days after the last one in 2019, so I am eagerly looking forward to experiencing this one. Friends and neighbors who have lived through this before, warn me that there is no parking anywhere in town. They advise driving to one of the stations a few miles (kilometers) away and taking the train into Tomar.
Spirit of community
Preparations for the festival began months ago. Many expatriates who live in the Tomar area have become active in the groups that get together to make the paper flower decorations that adorn the headdresses. They gather weekly, cut colored tissue paper, twist wires, form the flowers and chat. One woman said she loved the opportunity to get to know some of her Portuguese neighbors and feel more part of the community. Residents of the streets also practice laying out the patterns of branches and flowers that are a distinctive part of the street decorations.
Of course, Tomar is not the only town that has a summer festival. The city of Lisbon celebrates every June 12-13 the festival of Santo Antonio, who is a patron saint of the city. There is music, dancing, and food. Grilled sardines are a very typical Portuguese specialty at this time of year. Other towns and villages also have their own ways to honor various saints.
Residents of the village of Chaos in central Portugal, process carrying a statue of St. Anthony of Padua. The saint is often seen holding the child Jesus.
Portuguese festivals are also occasions for games, music and dancing. I am always amazed at how the crews at these local festivals can produce huge quantities of truly delicious grilled chicken to feed the party-goers. The early part of the evening entertainment at these festivals usually features raffles, simple carnival games (one I saw last year involved pulling a rope to release a rabbit that would then run into a one of a dozen tiny shelters around a circle. Each shelter was numbered. The prize for a winning number was a bottle of wine.)
In the early evening there are also exhibitions of Portuguese dances with dancers in brightly colored traditional clothing. The real dancing usually doesn’t start until at 10 p.m. and goes on until the wee hours.
Colored lights decorate a street during a festival in a village in central Portugal.
Follow my blog to learn more about live in Portugal and read my New Mexico mystery novel, “The Power of Rain.” Available on Amazon.
From July 1-10 the town of Tomar in central Portugal will celebrate the Festa dos Tabuleiros, or Festival of Trays. This picture shows how girls and their male companions will parade through the streets. The festival takes place once every four years drawing tens of thousands of people to witness a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages.
Summer is the season for celebrating all over Portugal. Villages, towns and the big cities hold festivals in honor of saint’s days or ancient spiritual traditions or just to have fun!
Tomar, my nearest town, will be holding the Festa dos Tabuleiros, or Festival of Trays, from July 1 to July 10. Held every four years, the festival draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to this small central Portuguese town. Young girls dressed in white carry headdresses made of bread rolls and flowers topped with a crown. They process through streets festooned with garlands of flowers. Some of the headdresses are more than five feet (1.5m) tall and weigh up to 20 lbs. (9 kg). The tradition started in the Middle Ages as a religious festival honoring the Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit), according to my Portuguese teacher.
Santos Populares
The big cities of Lisbon, the capital, and Porto in the north, hold popular saint’s festivals in June. Lisbon’s festival is the Festa de Santo Antonio, in honor of St. Anthony, on June 12 and 13. Neighborhoods all over the city are decorated with flowers and wreathes. The air is filled with the scent of grilled sardines, chorizo, and music is everywhere. People dance, drink beer and wine and stay up to the wee hours.
Porto hold s a festival June 23-24 in honor of São João (St. John). As with so many other festivals, this one is hundreds of years old and has pagan origins. It was originally a time to celebrate the sun and good harvests. It later became Christianized but food, fireworks and bonfire customs persist.. During the festa de São João you will see tubs of “Manjericão” or basil everywhere. You should also arm yourself with a plastic hammer. For some reason it is traditional to hit everyone you meet in the street on the head with one of these hammers. No one takes offense!
Celebrating History
Elsewhere, cities like Torres Novas, hold festivals to show off their historic way of life. The above pictures are from the Medieval Festival in Torres Novas. From left, you can see jugglers, dancers and re-enactors sword fighting. The festival at the town’s castle also had displays of ancient crafts such as spinning, blacksmithing, candle making and cheese making. Of course there was plenty of music and dancing as well.
June is PrideMonth
Many countries now hold “Pride” events celebrating the LGBTQ communities during the month of June. Portugal now has pride events in several towns all over the country. Lisbon will hold a major Pride Parade on June 17 and will have a huge street fair on June 24 near the Praço do Comericio beside the river Tejo.
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal. Check out my novel “The Power of Rain”, available on Amazon.
These are a few of the dozens of dogs at a privately run animal shelter in central Portugal. Volunteers care for the animals and help them get adopted. More than 43,000 animals were abandoned in Portugal in 2022, according to an official report.
Abandoned animals are an unfortunate fact of life here in Portugal. The municipal and private shelters are always crammed and desperately in need of more volunteers to help care for the animals and donations to cover the cost of food and vet bills.
I have been living in Portugal for nearly four years now. I frequently see dogs wandering the streets of the villages. Cats are everywhere. My next door neighbor regularly feeds four or five of them. I see their eyes glowing in the dark when I take my dog out for her last night pee walk.
In fact my own dog was abandoned in my village a few days before I move into my house. I used to have two cats in the US but was unable to bring them because I had no fixed abode for the first couple months I was here. I did find them a very good new cat-mommy, but I firmly intended to get more cats when I settled in.
The universe had other plans. Divina was wandering the street, sleeping on a doorstep. I saw her and offered her some bread and milk and hey presto! I had a dog.
Divina, the podengo mix female dog who was abandoned and adopted me once I moved into my house in Portugal.
Not all dogs are so lucky. (At least I think Divina is lucky. I feed her, walk her multiple times a day, and adore her.) According to an official report by the ICNF (institute for conservation of nature and forests), 43,600 animals were abandoned in Portugal in 2022. That works out to 119 per day.
The report said conditions during the Covid pandemic greatly worsened a longstanding problem. Many Portuguese struggle to make ends meet and the care and feeding of animals is often not a priority. On top of that, it is relatively expensive to have a veterinarian neuter dogs or cats so the practice is not common. Hence, there are thousands of unwanted litters of puppies and kittens.
I walked out one morning in October 2021, about to take Divina for a walk, and heard a little bark from somewhere inside my gate. I searched around and found source of the sound under my car. It was a tiny puppy. I guessed he was maybe eight weeks old. Just weaned from his momma.
Someone dropped this adorable little puppy over my wall one night in October 2021. I was able to find an American family to adopt him.
Many Efforts to Re-home Animals
There are resources to help the abandoned animals. There are 170 official collection centers for abandoned animals located in municipalities all over Portugal. However, they are often very crowded. The animal shelter outside of Tomar, my nearby town, had more than 100 dogs when I volunteered there in early 2020. My work as a volunteer consisted of sluicing out the pens. The constant sound of barking from all these animals was overwhelming.
Sadly, when the Covid pandemic restrictions took effect, I and other volunteers could not longer help there, though this situation has since changed.
I recently helped out at a privately run dog shelter. Pegasus e Bigodes, near Figueiro dos Vinhos. It is a non-profit started by a Dutch woman and run by volunteers. It operates out of a house where supplies are stored. All around the house are enclosures built by volunteers. When I went there recently they had about 40 dogs. Volunteers walk and feed the dogs, clean the pens and help to find adoptive homes for the animals. They raise funds through stalls at local markets. A man who runs a consignment store donates a part of his proceeds. But they really need volunteers and donations and volunteers. (Hint, hint.)
Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal! And check out my book “The Power of Rain” on Amazon.
(Author’s note: I wrote this blog post almost a year ago, after I had read about the horrific events at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 young children and two teachers were shot dead. Sadly, so much is still the same. Gun violence has become more prevalent, mass shootings are a near daily occurrence and nothing is done to address the real problem–the prevalence of weapons of human destruction.)
LOSING A CHILD is the most gut-wrenching experience that can happen to a parent. It isn’t supposed to happen. Your children aren’t supposed to die before you. But it does happen sometimes, and we become members of a club no one ever wants to join.
Their little faces remain forever young in the photos that surround you, haunting you, like phantom pieces of your heart.
I lost my 11-year-old son to a rare and devastating illness many years ago and I am still haunted.
There are so many emotions; pain, despair, rage. The questions; why them? Why now? What did they/I/we do to deserve this terrible thing happening?
When numbness finally comes it is a relief from the pain, but it is always with us, like a severed limb that will never regrow.
I write this not to gain sympathy but to draw attention to what the parents of those 19 children in the small Texas town are facing. It will affect not only them, but their other children, their nieces and nephews, their grandchildren. It will ripple out throughout the families and neighborhoods, and eventually to the next generation.
The parents in Uvalde will live the rest of their lives asking the questions. And the terrible thing is; that despite so many of these hideous incidents, and their increasing frequency….. NOTHING substantial has been done to prevent them. Why the lack of courage to make change? Americans pride themselves on living in the land of the free. Where is the freedom in having to go to school surrounded by armed guards? Having to live in constant fear? Is that freedom?
I moved to Portugal three years ago and feel safer and more free here than I ever did in the US.
The indoor market in Tomar is open daily, but Fridays are the main market day when the plaza around the indoor market is filled with vendors of clothing, shoes, kitchen equipment, tools, garden supplies and furniture.
Visiting local markets is one of my favorite things to do in Portugal. It’s a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in the local community. I love hearing the market sellers calling out their wares and the hubbub of people crowding around the stalls.
Markets are an age-old tradition in Portugal. Every town has its regular market day. In days gone by it was the only way people could buy items they didn’t grow themselves. Nowadays, market day is the still the time when residents shop for fresh produce and take the opportunity to meet and chat with their neighbors.
My village, Chãos, (roughly pronounced shah-oosh) has a market every Sunday morning. The indoor market area features vendors from two different bakeries, a fish seller, two butchers, two vegetable stands and a stand that specializes in cheeses, bacon and chorizo sausage. On the plaza outside, there are a couple of ladies selling vegetables and olives and a van that has linens.
If you are hungry, there is couple that sells grilled chicken and fries. Or, you can get coffee and a drink in the tiny cafe inside at the back of the market and another upstairs in the community hall. It’s a great time to meet friends.
Pots, pans and live chickens
The second Sunday of the month is the “big” market in Chãos and the plaza is covered with vendors. That’s when you can buy a pair of jeans, sneakers, pots and pans, tools, live chickens and ducks, plants and young fruit trees, and the distinctive terra cotta colored Portuguese pottery.
One of the fish stands at the indoor market in Tomar, central Portugal. Portugal is the country with the highest fish consumption in the European Union, according to the US Dept. Of Agriculture.
Towns around where I live have their own different market days. Tomar, a town of about 22,000, holds its market on Fridays. Its market covers several acres in the center of town. One of the things I like best about the Tomar market is the stands selling dried fruit and nuts. You can buy quantities of walnuts, almonds, dried figs and apricots. There is even a variety of items like Chia or sesame seeds and quinoa!
The other towns near me, Ferreira do Zezere and Freixanda, hold their markets on Mondays. So, I have plenty of choices to indulge my love of markets. The prices are always great. I load up on vegetables, buy plants for my garden and have also scored a slinky pair of jeans and some lovely sheepskin slippers!
Pistachios nuts, chia seeds, sunflower seeds and different types of grains are available at this stand at the indoor market in Tomar.