Day 2 Lisbon

Awake again early about 4 am. Had a disturbed sleep with barking dog, the neighbour upstairs coming in late, party revellers in the lane outside … walked to the church of São Vicente de Fora and watched the market being set up near the Panteão Nacional.

I had pre-booked a small group tour that takes in Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos; it has the advantage of doing all 4 places in a day, saving us time and effort. Pickup 8:30 a.m.

Alberto is our guide: he seems to be an affable person and a big plus is that he doesn’t overwhelm with too much information. He changed his job post-pandemic; previously he sold dental equipment but lost his job during the pandemic - now is a tourist guide! He is loving the job!

This is a more relaxing day for me: I can sit back and be ‘led by the nose’ instead of being the organiser. It’s a group of 8: all Americans apart from us - they seem quite pleasant.

We drive about 1 hr 20 mins to Fátima, our first stop.The story of Fátima is about three local children: Lúcia  and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who saw, on 13 May 1917, a flash of light and visions of a “lady dressed in white”, while they were keeping their sheep. This place is now called the Chapel of the Apparitions.  Appearing to the children, the Blessed Virgin Mary said that she had been sent by God with a message that Heaven would provide peace to the whole world. Of course the Catholics say this story is true. Huge money has been poured into the complex and Pope John Paul II was a great supporter. Even the current pope is planning to visit this August. 

However, there has been much controversy about the story including a conspiracy theory peddled by a Vatican cardinal that associated the vision with an assassination attempt made against John Paul II, in which he had been shot down on May 13, 1981—the very anniversary of the apparitions. His would-be assassin had been trained by the Bulgarian secret police, whose mission to kill the pope had been ordered by none other than the Kremlin itself.

Wonderful stuff! But the huge shrine has evolved into an enormous complex including a new church that can hold 10000 people! The believers keep coming …

The true believers of course, take the harder route:

We had the obligatory stop at the souvenir shop for the purchases of holy water, etc. if you were so inclined. MF and I had a coffee.

It was then a 20 minute drive to the Monastery at Batalha on the way to Nazaré which was built by King João to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It is a Gothic monster that took over 100 years to build.  In the plaza outside, is a statue of Nuno Álvares Pereira, the military commander who was credited with winning the battle.

As we drive along, we listen to some fado. Alberto says the young people are apparently singing happy fado! The singer Ana Moura has a beautiful voice. She has sung with the Rolling Stones. And her concerts are sold out. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zslTm0WmPe0

[POSTSCRIPT: I saw this at the beach at Melides later in the trip travelling south along the coast]:

We drive along a narrow road through hilly and forested (lots of eucalypts!) countryside - the Vale de Quebrada - dotted with small villages and abandoned houses. There are many fires in these parts in the summer.

At Batalha, there was a wedding in progress so the group couldn’t get into the church but the wedding party started to leave as we wandered around so we ducked in; the funny thing was, we ended up exiting whilst the wedding party was gathered outside facing the church entrance so we exited to cheers as we played up to the crowd: the ultimate ‘photo bomb’!

A further 30 minute drive brings us to Nazaré, on the coast, for lunch. In fact we will be back here in a few days to stay the night. A bit of duplication but we have so little time here when we return, I thought it worth making 2 visits.

Nazaré is famous for its huge waves and is a popular surfing destination, although a Brazilian surfer died there in January this year. We stopped at the viewpoint to the famous rock and surf beach.

Everyone then went off to get lunch. We had cod fish for lunch - it is tasty but quite bony; plus what they call ‘green wine’ but which I believe is albariño.

Bought some more supermarket supplies for breakfast. The cereal options are weird here to say the least.

Now to our last place: 30 minutes drive to Óbidos. There was some light rain now - but it stopped! Óbidos is a medieval village … surrounded by a classic crenellated wall, and its pretty historic centre is a labyrinth of cobblestoned streets and flower-bedecked, whitewashed houses livened up with dashes of vivid yellow and blue paint. People live here but it is very touristy - pretty and cute!

The main gate, Porta da Vila leads directly into the main street, Rua Direita, lined with shops. We had the famous Ginjinha de Óbidos (sour cherry brandy), drunk from a small chocolate cup.

Departed 5 pm and 40 minutes drive back to Lisbon. Big day!!

After a shower and a rest, we headed out to our bar up the road where we had had a quick red the night we arrived. The bar here has a really nice atmosphere and the staff are very accommodating. We got here tonight and the wine bar was full but the guy said to take the 2 chairs at the bar; that a table was about to come up.

We had a couple of wines plus some antipasti - great night!! Walked 13 kms.