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| Us in the cobbled streets of ancient and pretty Óbidos, Portugal |
After
our time in the Lisboa region, we headed for Óbidos in the Centro region of
Portugal. Óbidos is a beautiful medieval village with narrow winding cobbled
streets, lined with whitewashed houses, and colourful flower boxes. This small
village (3000 people), dates back to the 4th century BC.
It
sits on a hilltop with its impressive castle, surrounded by a well-preserved 12th century wall.
We
arrived in Óbidos to discover they were having their annual medieval
festival. Everyone in the village was dressed up in period
costume, and we felt quite out of place.
But we’d heard of an 18th century Portuguese azulejos
tile mural in Óbidos, and hoped to see it.
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| Azulejos
tiles in Porta da Vila, Óbidos, Portugal |
We
found it as we walked through the Porta da Vila, the main gate into Óbidos. This tilework, especially the blue
and white, is prevalent in Portuguese architecture.
They
often display a history, and this one depicts the ‘Passion of Christ’, with the
ceiling displaying the crown of thorns. It was quite eye-catching.
While
exploring Óbidos, we purchased a bottle of the local and famous sour
cherry liqueur known as Ginja de Óbidos, for later. Then we
wandered back to our motorhome, Vanni and moved on.
Our
next stop was Nazaré, a small fishing village with a
beautiful long sandy beach.
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| Nazaré beach and sun-dried octopus |
We
cycled from our campsite to the beach when we arrived, and were fascinated by the hundreds
of little fish and octopus drying in the sun.
The
next day, we cycled into Nazaré village, to find lots of holiday-makers, and we
joined them wandering the shops, enjoying the beach, and eating great seafood.
Our lunch was a big plate of cockles, mussels, shrimps, and black
and white clams, along with a couple of beers; all of which kept us occupied
for quite some time!
We
stayed in pretty Nazaré for several days, which gave us a chance to tune our TV
into New Zealand’s wonderful results at the Olympic Games.
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| The cable car between Sitio and Nazaré beach, Portugal |
On
one of our trips to Nazaré, we took a cable car up to Sitio, a very small
village that sits on the cliffs above Nazaré. We spent a lovely afternoon there,
enjoying amazing views of the beach below and visiting the 12th century church
and local bullring.
Catching the cable-car back to Nazaré, we then returned
to the campsite to spend time with a Nederland couple whose company we enjoyed, and who spoke
English.
Most
of the motorhome travellers we’ve met in Portugal have been non-English
speakers, and we’ve had no success trying to speak Portuguese (luckily, we are
great with hand signals though!), so it was lovely to converse in English for a
while.
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| Leigh at Alcobaça Monastery (UNESCO), Portugal |
Feeling
more relaxed after a long break in Nazaré,
we drove east to Alcobaça which has a stunning cathedral established in 1153.
The
monastery along with the church, were the first Gothic buildings in Portugal,
and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Later,
we visited Alcobaça city’s small old quarter where we found a plain-looking
restaurant with no outlook but a lovely menu.
We ordered baked octopus with
potato and garlic, and it turned out to be one of the best meals that we have
had on this trip – it was very delicious, as was the local wine.
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| Marg at Batalha Monastery (UNESCO), Portugal |
After
lunch, we drove about 30 minutes north to Batalha Monastery, which is actually an
amazing Dominion Convent.
Architecturally,
it is one of the best and original examples of what is called ‘Flamboyant
Gothic mixed with Manueline' styles in Portugal, and is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. It
took over a century to build, starting in 1386 and ending around 1517, spanning
the reign of seven kings.
After
wandering around this amazing monastery, we kept driving north, heading for Coimbra and a campsite there. We found the Coimbra camp much quieter than Nazaré’s, and enjoyed a
peaceful night, then cycled into Coimbra city the next morning.
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| Praça do Comércio, Coimbra, Portugal |
Coimbra
is built on a hill alongside the Mondego River. It is full of attractive
buildings, monuments, churches, libraries, and greenspaces, and is a very lovey
city. We found it to be compact and easy to walk around, although the uphill
bits got the heart rate going!
It
is one of Portugal’s oldest cities, with a history dating back over 2000 years,
and
was Portugal’s capital from 1139 to 1385.
Coimbra
is noted for its university. Founded in 1290, it is now the one of the world’s oldest,
and is the cultural centre-piece of the city.
It is quite stunning and
on UNESCO’s tentative list.
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| Typical street in old Coimbra, Portugal |
We
cycled into the town several times, then walked around the narrow, winding,
hilly streets, visiting many of the sights.
A
favourite was the Sé Velha de Coimbra (the old
cathedral). Built in the Romanesque style while the Portuguese were still
warring with the Moors, it is austere, sturdy and fortress-like. We also saw
the Sé Nova (new cathedral), which was more ornate.
We liked the 12th century Church of São Tiago, the Santa Cruz
Monastery and park, Manga Gardens, the Arco de Almedina, a 12th century gateway
to the city, and the Torre de Anto, a 16th century tower.
We saw so much, and
there was much to see.
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| Fado concert in Coimbra (UNESCO), Portugal |
We
cycled back into the city one evening to attend a Fado concert at the nationally famous Café
Santa Cruz.
Fado is a type of popular Portuguese song, usually with a
melancholy theme, accompanied by mandolins or guitars. It is very soulful and
mournful and unique to Portugal.
Fado
music has been recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity. We
found it fascinating and quite different to anything we had heard
before.
The
next day, we wandered around again, paused for a coffee in one of Coimbra’s vibrant cafés, then headed
back to camp ready to move on.
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| Guarda Cathedral, Portugal |
Leaving
Coimbra, we passed through lots of lovely small towns, and some bigger ones to arrive
in Guarda, near the Spanish border. We did a quick drive around, admired its
cathedral and praça (main square), then headed for the border.
However,
we had a problem finding a non-toll road to get us across into Spain. We think
they work on the principle that if they don’t signpost the minor roads everyone
will pay to go on the toll road because that’s where the streets signs direct you!
Tolls are recorded by camera, there are no toll booths, so we are
not sure if we incurred an automatic toll or not.
Ah well…….our next stop will be in Salamanca in Spain’s north-western region,
where we will go online to find out about Portuguese and Spanish toll costs.
This
blog describes part of our 6 month campervan trip around western Europe, which
began in Prague in April.