Castelo de Vide e Salgueiro Maia

Yesterday, saturday 15/01, I went to Castelo de Vide, a beautiful old small town. I visited João Barreta, a man who makes cork and wood handcrafts. I first saw this sculpture called "Vidas" (Lives) that represent a man´s live from cradle to tomb:



I bought him a small (40cm) sculpture of Capitão Salgueiro Maia, a man who participated in the militar coup that ended dictatorship in Portugal, in 1974. He was born in Castelo de Vide, was motherless from a very young age (his mother was hit by a car, in Lisbon) and was raised by his grand mother, who was a neighbour of João Barreta. The sculptor told me he was almost like an old brother to Salgueiro Maia. I always thought this militar was a good person. Not one of those plastic revolutionaries Van Morrisson sings about
"Have you herad about the plastic revolutionaries
The ones who take the money and run,"
He was not a rich bougeois oficer, like others who partook in the same events. His dificult childwood, and the lost of his mother so early , probabily tought him compassion towards his fellow citizens and disdain for the riches of this world.

By the expression in his face, he seems very worried:

Other photos: