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Caldas da Rainha

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Caldas da Rainha is famous for its popular and often humorous ceramics: you can find from cabbage and other vegetable and fruit-like ware to colourful dinner sets and small or big ceramic figures which are supposed to be both erotic and funny (you will soon find out how...).

Many of these are due to the religious and humorous work of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, who portrayed the feelings of the average Portuguese labourer in a long-suffering and cross-looking figure in 1875, known as «Zé Povinho» (which still represents, in a certain way, the attitude of the common Portuguese worker, just as John Bull portrays the common Englishman).

Yet Caldas da Rainha is much more than this: its name meaning «Queen's Spa», it became a prosperous town in the 15th century, due to three different aspects: thermal cures, fruit farming and ceramics.

The beaches of Foz do Arelho and Salir do Porto, with an enchanting lagoon, and the fertile fields which produce fruit and vegetables, have become known to all.

With a rich and varied gastronomy, visitors might be tempted to taste clams, eels, fried or grilled rock-bass and sole, as well as a variety of cakes and sweet pastries.

It is also worth visiting the Thermal Hospital, the oldest in the world, and the Church of Nossa Senhora do Pópulo, dating from the 15th century, as well as all the ceramics factories.

| Hotels (4) | Pensions and Boarding Houses (8) | Manor & Farm Houses (2) | Camping Sites (2) |

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Caldas da Rainha, Caldas da Rainha: Centre