Guimaraes (cont)

What a difference a day makes! I woke up to pouring rain and saw everyone mooching around with umbrellas. This was the view from the breakfast room:

Inside was a bit more welcoming:


The wall decorations are intriguing. They are seed heads of some kind that have dropped off trees in abundance:

After mooching around a bit myself in the rain, I went to warm up in a cafe and had a lovely chat with this lady, who turned out to be an accredited tourist guide:

Behind her, you can see an array of all the delicious cakes and pastries on offer: hard to resist!

Just across the road was the Museum of Alberto Sampaio, so I could while away an hour without getting any wetter. This gives some information about the place and what to expect:

The tunic, or gambeson, is a prize exhibit:

 

It is only the second such one in the world, the other having belonged to the Black Prince and is on display in Canterbury Cathedral.

This is a later painting showing how it might have looked when worn, though I was told there is disagreement among experts as to whether it was worn under or over the armour. (If under, it would have protected tender skin from the rough metal of medieval armour):

In another gallery was a collection of early religious carvings and frescoes which have been gathered from churches in the area:

The frescoes were designed to teach bible stories to the illiterate congregations. Above is the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The next pic is an explanation of the frescoe making process:

This man was recording the state of an early wooden carving with some kind of light scanner:

PS.  After a long siesta, I noticed the rain had stopped, so I made the effort to climb up the hill to the castle:

I got there just as it was about to close!