Obidos

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Today I woke up with the uncertainty of where I would go. I really didn’t want to go to Coimbra, so I chose to make the complicated trip to Obidos. Obidos is a small medieval town surrounding by a wall/fort. After I ate a quick breakfast of crackers, I made my way to the bus station. I found out that Fatima does not have a bus go directly to Obidos, so I would have to go to Lisbon and then Obidos. I bought a ticket for the 10:30 bus to Lisbon. It was 10:25 when I bought my ticket, so I hurried and tried to find the bus. Since the bus station is so small, I was able to find it easily. I spent the 90 minute drive relaxing and writing, making the time go by quickly. After I got off the bus, I went up to the ticket office and tried to buy a bus ticket to Obidos. However, I was told that I would have to go to a different bus station. The woman told me that the metro would take me to the bus station I needed to be at. I went down two floors, found the metro, and looked around. I wasn’t quite sure where to go, so I asked a woman at the information desk. She informed me that I would have to take the blue line to a certain stop, get off, and take the yellow line to campo grande, find the bus station and buy my ticket. I smiled, said thank you, and then started to have a mini-breakdown. I walked over to buy my metro ticket, and studied the map of the metro for about ten minutes. Then I took a couple of photos, a deep breath, and went through the gate. I got on the metro, clinging on to my purse, and looked around at all the people. I only noticed people staring at my five-finger Vibrams, no suspicious people. I started to calm myself down, thinking how it takes a certain kind of person to be able to tour Europe on their own and how God is always with me. I relaxed and realized that I could always go back. So I switched lines smoothly, and made it to my final destination. I had to ask around for where to buy my bus ticket; luckily I found it with 5 minutes to spare. I climbed on board, awkwardly paid for my ticket since I had no clue how to speak Portuguese, and sat down for the hour ride. I got off at Obidos and took in the amazing view before walking through the gates. I walked through the town quickly and found the main fort. It wasn’t opened to go in, so I walked up the town walls instead. It was completely frightening because there was no railing and the steps were far apart, as well as the ground was unleveled pavers. I started to talk to myself, reassuring myself that if I could go skydiving, then I could walk around the wall. I climbed up all the way to the top of the lookout area. The view was absolutely amazing and worth it. That was the moment when I realized truly how lucky I am. When asked what you did today, who can say that they climbed a fortress in Portugal. At the beginning in Lugo and Santiago, I was having a hard time adjusting to the rain, cold, and traveling by myself. But today, I am at peace with traveling alone. I am truly never alone, and I am getting to experience legendary things. I got to spend about three hours today just touring around and seeing the beautiful world. I made my way back, somewhat easily, until I reached the final bus station to get back to Fatima. I had a hard time trying to find it. Of course when I got fed up with searching, cried out to God, I found it. Funny how that works. I decided to eat a late dinner at this take out place right by my hostel. I ordered chicken and French fries. My chicken had some delicious spices on it. After I finished eating, I went back to my hostel and talked to the guy at the front desk. He tried to get me to taste some of his home made liquors. I nicely took the tiniest sip possible of the first one, quickly told him I didn’t really like it and that I needed to go get some sleep. I ran up to my room and locked the door before anything like the movie Taken could happen. Of course I was really nice about the whole thing. Tomorrow I may be taking a day trip to the city of Tomar. It has a castle and an aqueduct. We will see how if I will be able to wake up that early though. Until then!

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Photos

The walkway around the wall.

My delicious food!

The inner part of the fort.

The wall that surrounds the town.