July 27. Sights and legends

We covered so much ground today it is almost like hard labor J. Just kidding. That’s never hard labor!!

We started at Ourem. Actually we wanted to go Batalha Monastery but there was a brown “historical site” sign as we approached Fatima and we decided to give it a try.

There was a whole interesting experience getting to the castle. We got fairly high up on the mountain where it is located and then the car decided not to negotiate the final 35 grade incline next to the gates. It was not a good location to argue because there was a cliff about a yard away.

Dan bravely let everyone out and backed up until the car was against the mountain. Isabella figured that “real’ny blin” is to be used in relationship to the car.

The castle has some unusual structures, but the real amazing thing is its story. It really tied everything about the country together and we are very glad we did the detour.

We decided not to stop at Fatima shrine because it is a major modern complex to handle hoards of pilgrims coming to see the shrines where 3 kids saw apparition of Mary in 1917. In the light of the history of this place, and so many interesting women stories, it is not surprising that Mary decided to pay a visit too.

Next, we went to Batalha Monastery. We were concentrated on listening to TomTom’s directions being narrated in a pleasant Irish accent (you have to pay extra to get American) and did not notice it until it was right in front of us in awe inspiring splendor. Check out the pictures. Really really amazing. We had a real local lunch at a coffee shop overlooking it. Real local means – stick it in your month and enjoy the calories. I had bread and sliced chorizo. Everyone else had nuked pork chop and same bread. Condiments and veggies are for sissies.

Monastery church is very large but somewhat austere inside. The most interesting area was chapel of the kings John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster and their children, including Henry the Navigator. It had beautifully carved marble sarcophagus depicting the parent kings in the center.

We really should have bought the tickets to see the inside but we rushed onto the next point: Monastery of Santa Maria d'Alcobaça.

Both places have excellent parking lots located right next to them. This monastery was less striking from the outside but it had lots of interesting features inside. There was medieval kitchen with a huge, multi-story fireplace. Sarcaphagi of Ines and prince Pedro were also very interesting. Check out their grizzly story.

Next we went to the fishing village Nazaré. I don’t fully get the legend of the place, but here it is anyway, thanks to Wikipedia again. We arrived to the upper part of the village called Sitio. It is standing on high cliff overlooking the lower part of the town and the beach.

We got some nuts and semi-popped (and delicious) popcorn from a nuts booth lady. There were many other nut kiosks around, but ours had the most scenic lady and the view. Later on we came back to this place and asked if it is OK to take her picture. She said OK and lifted up her skirt to show layers of the underskirts looking a bit like colorful napkins. Must be a local custom.

We walked around and then took funicular down to the lower part of the city. They have similarly lovely views of the cliff. They also have some interesting new things on the beach we never saw before – rows and rows of 3 sided tents right next to each other with people sunbathing and hanging out inside. There also was a nice playground. And, finally, there was a lady who carried hot oven with buns on her head and sold them.

Kids enjoyed some splashing time. It was a bit scary because there were A LOT of people around. We tried to block everyone out to concentrate on the kids – not an easy task. We are glad there were 3 adults. Interestingly, at the end of this beach there are some more wild beaches – hardly a person there.

Nazare is famous for its fish restaurants. We stopped at one place that featured live mussels and shells in tubs with water. They spit. So we decided to try them. They were great. After snails a few days earlier and tasty lunch I was somewhat unsure that locals can make anything decent out of them, but here they were, drowned in melted butter, with fresh cut garlic and cilantro. That was good!

The final stop was Óbidos. Again, this town had great infrastructure and we were able to park easily in one of large parking lots around town. The old town circles around the castle. Isabella already went to sleep, and it was past 7:30. We walked rather quickly through the main street enjoying the sights on all sides before reaching the castle. In the summer, they have Renaissance fair going on there Thursday through Friday 5pm though 1am so we wanted to visit that before calling it a day.



Gentleman covered in boils.
Brilliant idea for Halloween.

The fair was very nice. It definitely adds to the experience to have a real castle as a backdrop. Entrance fee is discounted in you come in a costume so having so many dressed up people, like this guy in boils, really adds to the atmosphere. They had some interesting artefacts and things going on, like bones in a locked metal cage hanging down, a hangman, a magician in a tent..

There was also some standard fare like jousts and musicians. But there was a bit too much emphasis on food rather than amusements. And food, other than while pig on a spit and lovely grilled rabbits, was exactly the ware you would get in any local restaurant. But we liked it. Georgia got a henna tattoo. As we were leaving, crowds of people started pouring in – the party was just starting.