Lisbon - Day 7 (Day trip to Fatima, Mosteiro Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos)

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Today we headed out of Lisbon on an Into Lisbon operated tour to Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos. We walked over to the Hard Rock Café where it seems all the tour operators arrange to meet their tour groups. There were people everywhere at the appointed time of 8.20am, but not a guide in site. We were somewhat reassured that we could at least see a vehicle operated by Into Lisbon Tours. At 8.30am guides appeared seemingly out of nowhere and started calling out the names of the tourists on their lists. We were paired up with Tomás and our group of eight headed off with him into the underground parking lot to his minibus.

Thank goodness for a Lisboan local to navigate the roads leading out of the city! I am quite sure we would not have wanted to hire a car and attempt this ourselves. It is going to be lovely to sit back and let someone else look after the navigating today. As we drove towards our first destination, Fátima, Tomás brought us up to speed on our Portuguese history.

In a nutshell – after periods occupied by Celts, Lusitans, Romans and Moors, the Kingdom of Portugal was officially founded in 1143 when the Moors were pushed back to Africa with Afonso I, becoming the first king. During the 15^thand 16^th centuries Portugal was the leading country in the Age of Discovery. At the end of the 16^th century, they almost became Spanish, well, they sort of did through marriage, but the people rebelled and the Portuguese monarchy was restored. Then there was a massive earthquake in 1755 and occupation by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, civil war and an end to the centuries-old monarchy with the 1910 revolution. A dictatorship ensued until democracy was restored in 1974.

Despite spending most of the journey delivering our history lesson, Tomás also found time to point out the beer factory where they brew Sagres, Portugal’s famous beer. He also provided some guidance on Portugal’s wines – red, white and green – suggesting some of his favourite wines to try. We had seen a few things about green wine which we were confused about. It turns out that green wine is just a very young white wine.

With that history lesson under our belts, we arrived at Fátima, a central Portuguese town that is home to the Sanctuary of Fátima, a Catholic pilgrimage site. The Capelinha das Aparições (Chapel of the apparitions) marks the spot where the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared in 1917. Other sacred sites include the Basílica de Nossa Senora do Rosário and the modern church of Igreja da Santíssima Trindade. Thank goodness we weren’t here a couple of weeks ago when Pope Francis visited! Actually, Tomás said the company didn’t even offer tours that day as it was expected to be so crowded.

Pilgrims can throw candles into a fire in one of the chapels, so the smell of hot wax was heavy in the air. Tomás told us that you can buy candles in all manner of bodily shapes so that you can throw them into the fire in the hope that your illness/pain will be cured. Honestly, when he said ALL bodily parts I fully expected to see phallic candles for pilgrims wanting to be cured of erectile dysfunction!! In fact, we did not see a single candle in any shape other than candle shaped! Some pilgrims were holding half a dozen very regular sized candles while others had huge candles a metre-long, but all of them were just, well, candles.

Back on the minibus it was time to head to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mosteiro de Batalha. The Dominican Monastery of Batalha was constructed in fulfillment of a vow by King João to commemorate the victory over the Castilians (Spanish) at Aljubarrota on the 15^th of August 1385. The monastery is considered to be a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic architecture. Attributed to the English architect Master Huguet most of the complex was completed during the reign of João I between 1385 and 1433. The church, royal cloister, chapter house and funeral chapel of the founder were added later.

The mounted statue on the forecourt is of Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira who was a very successful Portuguese general who had a decisive role in the 1383-85 crisis that assured Portugal’s independence from Castile with the decisive battle at Aljubarrota. His horse has one front leg lifted signifying that he was injured in battle.

And about now we were encountering the problem that always occurs with tours, more time at the places we are least interested in and barely any time at all at the places we would like to spend time in. Today’s tour was really about wanting to see Nazaré and Óbidos with little interest in Fatima. We were given an hour to explore Fatima which we thought was way more than we needed. Here at the monastery, it would have been nice to explore it in a bit more detail, but our stop was restricted to just 20 minutes!

Onwards to Nazaré on the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, which is famed for its HUGE waves, that allegedly reach heights of 100 feet - the ones that crazy surfers are towed onto by jet ski! This phenomenon is caused by the Nazaré Canyon, an undersea canyon just off the coast. It has a maximum depth of at least 5,000 metres and is about 230 kilometres long. Between November and February the conditions are perfect for the waves that make it a hotspot for big wave surfing.

Tomás took us to the Praia do Norte (north beach) first where we were able to see the cliff from which the big wave surfers are filmed. Unfortunately, there was no big surf today as it is still summer! There is a small chapel here at which Vasco da Gama prayed when he was leaving and returning from his voyages. At the beginning of his voyages, he prayed for a safe journey. At the conclusion of his voyages, he prayed in thanks for his safe return. Tomás also pointed out to us the ladies selling nuts from their carts. He told us that they are fishermen’s wives and the traditional skirts they are wearing consist of seven layers which were to keep them warm when they were waiting on the beach for their husband’s safe return.

We were driven down to the main beach and given an hour and a half in which to find some lunch. We ate in the restaurant recommended by Tomás, Restaurante Adega and ate the monkish rice that he said was the best meal to eat in Nazaré. He kept telling us that we shouldn’t eat meat here, fish is the best option. Well, it IS a fishing town I guess. The monkish rice with shrimps was good. Wetter than a paella, it was more a fish stew.

We would have liked to have seen the fishing boats in the harbour. We set out walking in that direction, but we just didn’t have time to walk all the way to the harbour and then have time to walk back to the meeting place by the appointed time. Luckily there was a bit of a boat museum on the beach where we did get to see a selection of traditional boats.

Returning along the beachfront we decided it was gelato o’clock. OMG, two scoops here resulted in a HUGE amount of ice-cream precariously balanced atop my cone. With the wind and the sun, it was a race against time to eat the damn thing before I wore it!! I certainly ended up with gelato all over my hands as it dribbled down the sides of my cone quicker than I could lick it. And it was OK, but not as nice as our local gelato shop around the corner from our apartment in Lisbon.

Our next stop was Óbidos considered to be the finest example of a Portuguese walled town and the main thing that we really wanted to see. And we had to try to see it all in just an hour!! Just inside the gates Tomás took our group to a ginjinha bar where cherry liqueur is served in a small chocolate cup with a cherry on a toothpick balanced across the top. For those partaking the instructions were - drink the liqueur, eat the chocolate cup and then eat the cherry being mindful that it still has the stone in it!

Historically, Óbidos was owned by the queens of Portugal, a tradition that began in 1282 when the town was gifted to Queen Isabel on her wedding day. Yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site the town inside the wall is made up of traditional houses, cobbled streets and a mediaeval castle.

Now Tomás suggested that we climb the steps opposite the ginjinha bar, take our photos over the town and then come back down to walk to the castle along the street rather than along the wall. So, we climbed the steps took our photos and then decided that we would walk to the castle along the wall and then return via the street. You can’t visit a walled city and not walk at least some of the city wall??! We were not the only members of our little tour group to make this decision. Daredevils?!

We reached the castle end of the wall without mishap, although clambering down to street level was a little hairy. Honestly the top of the wall was fine, but this last bit was a scramble! We had nowhere near enough time to actually go in to explore the castle, we had to start making our way back along the street to the gate. We don’t know why Tomás was so negative about walking the wall because we found the cobbles in the street to be just as treacherous underfoot. You would not want to visit on a wet day, it must be so slippery when it rains.

Back into the minibus for the last time for our return journey to Lisbon. Tomás quizzed us on the way back to see how much information we had retained from our history lesson this morning. I was declared the winner of the quiz. What a nerd?!

For dinner tonight we returned to Taverna Alfacinha. That’s three times in a week, we are regulars!



Steps: 16,700 (11.22 kms)

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