Portugal #6

In recent days have traveled to other parts of the country. Monday went to the interior about one hour and fifteen minutes from the coast. Visited a city whose spelling i am unsure of that had been the residence of the royal family when Portugal still had one. A republic was proclaimed there in 1910. The town is small but dates at least from the times of the Romans. About a dozen pillars are left from an ancient temple to Diana, mentioned in the book of Acts with regard to the Ephesians. We had a meal with a family that had recently moved there. They live in a little hobbit type dwelling right off a square dominated by an old Catholic church. The following day went north along the coast. This time my host was a native of Portugal who lives in the same town in which he was born. He took me on a tour after we had eaten in a Brazilian buffet type restaurant. The beaches were striking but the wind was cold. Afterwards we went to his home where his wife served us dinner and we watched their soccer team play one from Russia. The major difficulty with this type of ministry is the unending, culturally based imperative that every host and hostess has to shovel as much food as possible into me. I have tried every possible approach to try to persuade them that I simply cannot eat enough for three or four people but nothing works. Of course i do not wish to offend or hurt their feelings but this does get tiresome.