The sun already shone above the Alfama hillside as Rafa brought the borrowed cart to a halt. “Sorry I’m late. A herd of goats blocked the way, headed to the hills they were. No way around them.”
Pêro hurried into the cart. “I’m afraid we’re going to be late to Mass. Let’s go quickly and get me back as soon as possible.”
Rafa cracked the whip and the cart jumped forward. The dirt road paralleled the Tagus. Rafa cut a corner and traversed the square in front of the Royal Ribeira Palace. As they sped past, Pêro thought of the exquisite painting collection of Titians, Rubens, and Correggios housed inside, wishing he could see and inspect them firsthand.
They trotted along the royal fortification wall and turned where it met with a slaughterhouse. Rafa wound the cart through the narrow-cobbl
