Shoe repair by Manuel

So here comes the story of, literally, the most hidden gem in Ericeira - the shoemaker in town. I randomly passed by an open window around Tubo when I realised that behind that window a shoemaker was sitting and doing his craft.

My leather shoes were due for new soles, so after this random occurrence, I tried for 1 week every day to catch him at his open window again (otherwise it’s not a shop, no signs, just a closed window). Well, I did catch him on a Thursday at 10:30 am, and he told me he could put on some new shiny soles for €23 - deal.

He had a little piece of paper with a phone number stuck to his shelf, but when I tried to take a photo, he was like, no, no - I don’t have a number. He got a piece of paper out and wrote something down: his name - Manuel (see picture). I couldn’t read it, so he got out his ID and showed me who he was. Well thanks, now I know at least your name.

And then I thought to myself, let him be, let’s not even try to get him bookings on Erijoy. Let him be a Geocache. So catch him if you can - he’s not on Google Maps, definitely has no opening times, no number, and I was so polite not to mention emails to him. What a liiife!

PS: Let’s all get Italian handmade leather shoes from that outlet here, they endure longer and just need an occasional fix from … our Ericeira OG Manuel.