Local Legends

Almeirim is visited mostly because it has a number of restaurants that serve a local delicacy called sopa da pedra (stone soup). A local legend says there was once a friar on a pilgrimage traveling through the area who was too proud to beg for food so he knocked on the doors of the houses and asked for only a pot "to make a delicious and filling … stone soup." Then he took a pedra (stone) and dropped it into a boiling pot of water. A little later, he tasted it and approached a housewife, saying, "it just needs a little seasoning." So, she came back with some salt, to which he said "maybe a little bit of sausage or if you also have some potatoes left over from the previous meal then maybe that would make it just a bit better." So she came back with all three and added them to the pot. Eventually, everyone in the village came to contribute to the soup, with carrots, beans, meat, sausage, and other vegetables until it had indeed become a very hearty soup. At the end, the friar fished the stone out of the pot, washed it off, and tucked it into his pocket to save for the next meal. Today Almeirim's sopa da pedra recipe is judged as the best around, and it can easily be eaten as a meal on its own or as a starter to accompany other regional dishes if you have a healthy appetite. Some places still put a small (washed) stone at the bottom. You can find most of the sopa da pedra restaurants across from the bullfighting ring in the Largo da Praça de Touros. Don't forget to pay a visit to the friar himself. There's a statue of him sitting in front of his soup, located just down the street from the bullfighting plaza on Rua de Coruche.