Portugese Army Knife
The right tools are important if you’re going to travel the world on a budget.
No doubt you’ve heard of the Swiss army knife: that red, ingenious multitool so crafty that it has single-handedly kept the center of Europe clear of two world wars and a host of smaller conflicts.
That’s a good tool, to be sure, and we used one on our first trip around the world.
This time, however, our needs are more clear, our budget is lower, and we have higher friends in lower places.
So this trip we are opting to use a Portuguese Army knife, pictured here.
Note the key elements:
- A long blade for cutting smoked sausages like chouriço
- A corkscrew (The Portuguese own most of the world’s cork trees. They never produce wine with screw tops.)
- Available to civilians in Portuguese trinket shops for the low, low price of four Euros
While not as whiz-bang or innovative as the knives of the Swiss army, this knife did help the Portuguese stay neutral during World War II. It’s clearly a powerful tool.
Do we miss the tweezers or the leather awl or magnifying glass?
We’ll let you know,
Chris
And remember, the Swiss never sent an Italian to discover a a shorter route to India, which doesn’t have an Indian Army knife as far as I know. And yet Columbus, as portrayed by Gerard Depardeau, managed quite well without one…oh wait Portugal rejected that voyage and it was queen Isabella of Spain, who was portrayed by Isabella Rossellini, who financed it, but I believe it would have been an easier voyage for Columbus/Depardeau if he had carried a Portuguese army knife. Also he wouldn’t have had to sleep on tangerine colored hard benches in the Madrid airport.
Chris,
This discussion of the merits and wisdom behind the Portuguese army knife reminds me of G b Shaw’s play, Arms and the Man, in which the war-weary Swiss mercenary informs the young Bulgarian maiden whose bed chamber he has invaded that all soldiers would rather carry chocolate than bullets. I’ll bet he would also prefer a corkscrew and a sausage knife to a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass.