PORTUGAL MIDDLE OBIDOS TO TOMAR

The weather is still lovely and warm and sunny. I think the friendliness of the Portuguese reflects the sunny climate.After leaving Lisbon we drove through the forests to Sintra to see the Palace and the Monastery then back down to the plains.

It was Sunday and market day in a small village, very little English was spoken but we managed to get all we wanted. 

We are also  passing a lot of stalls selling potatoes and other vegetables. We have spoken to Portuguese people who are in two minds of the street sellers, people in Portugal are having a hard time at the moment but it means many are not paying taxes selling this way.

Another town and a market selling everything including the kitchen sink. We managed to pass without knocking anything over. 

We carried on up the coast having a swim in the cold Atlantic Ocean whenever we could. I must admit Kevin swam more than I did.

Our camp site on top of the cliff had a great view.

Cabo Carvoeiro was an interesting place. 

We found a camp spot out on the headland. 

Did some washing and after went for walks along the coast. The cliffs are very high and straight, the fishermen can cast out into deep water without worrying about the rogue waves we have on our coast. 

With the problems of the EU many people here are having hard times. There have been charity groups outside food shops asking people to put a couple of food items in a bag for their collection. With all the unemployment and Pension stoppages we have heard about before coming to Portugal,  we have not seen anything or met anyone to cause us any problems.

We left the coast to go inland and pass some of the old traditional windmills and a shop selling small ones of all sizes. We asked what purpose the pottery served and were told they were put on to sing tunes as the sails turned. 

OBIDOS
Obidos was a pleasant surprise. This photo shows the town in the distance inside the walls. 

Often the guide books are written just to add something on the way, which may or may not be interesting. Sometimes we have arrived in a town just to end up seeing uninteresting walls or buildings which need a lot of imagination to add up to their written description. Mostly we just like to drive and look at the passing parade of scenery and be excited when we find a real jewel.

 Obidos was like the jewel, it is the most perfectly preserved 13^th century village. For 600 years the Portuguese Kings gave it to their Queens.. People still live ordinary lives within the walls and put up with the hoards of tourists who bring in the money. It is nice to wander through before the hoards arrive. We managed it for half the time we were there.

The beautiful tiled grand entrance 

We puffed and panted to the top of the walls to look over the town. Check out the steps. No guard rails here.

There are lots of interesting little streets 

The castle

Of course there are souvenir shops

The best Obidos souvenir we came across was Ginja de Obidos a tasty type of Cherry Liqueur served in chocolate cups. Yummy Yummy!!

The aftermath of our best buy of the day . We ran out of chocolate cups and started on the kit kats dipped in the cherry liqueur.

NAZARE

From here we headed up the coast and where we were rewarded with visiting another great town full of surprises. Nazare is said to be the most picturesque fishing village in Portugal. It consists of two parts. The beach and sardine drying area and Sitio, the upper town on top of the cliffs with a funicular running up and down between the two. 

 

We parked Harry and walked along the beach and straight away I was in photo taking mode. Two old ladies were setting the fish out on racks to dry in the sun and an old fellow was cleaning his nets. While we snapped away a car pulled up and a woman went to buy some fish.  

In the upper town of Sitio there is a little 18^th century chapel with beautiful hand painted tiles on the roof and walls.

In the square the old lady selling her preserves had a sleep in the sun before the next tour buses arrived. 

Leaving the coast we went back inland passing interesting things along the way. We stopped to look at these pine trees with little wooden cups collecting the sap. We looked  up google to see what it is used for. It  is very versatile from Turpentine solvent to medical products.

We have been reading the guide books and decided Fatima was worth a visit so we headed inland again.

FATIMA

In 1913, an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children from Fatima, who were called upon to spread a message of peace. Now Fatima is the most-visited pilgrimage site in Iberia and so we added two people to the hundreds of visitors for the day. 

The Square is said to be as big as St Peters Rome and fills at special celebrations twice a year.

This is the special chapel within the open chapel where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. The lady at the back has made the traditional journey on her knees across the Square to the chapel.

TOMAR
The fortress for the Order of the Knights Templar We also read about Tomar in a guide book so that was next on the list. On the way we climbed the aquaduct which carried water 6 kilometres to the fortress. It is still in very good condition. 

The fortress for the Order of the Knights Templar was founded in 1160.  The fortified castle was built on the part of a Muslim settlement from the 9^th to the 11^th century.  For those of you who don’t know, the reinforcement incline built at the base of the wall was to keep siege engines at bay and cause projectiles to bounce. ( How do I know, I read the guide book) 

It was lovely to walk around the garden and there are many tiled areas to offset the grey stone.

The inner 8 sided church within the church is amazing .

Time to mosy along again to take us to wherever we fancy. As Kevin drives and I sit back taking in the scenery we see life in Portugal going on around us.

No land is wasted. The olive trees grow happily amongst the corn. 

The towns have lovely street signs.

And houses have lovely tile wall pictures.

We saw this woman with scythe over her shoulder was coming out of the fields with a big bag of grass. We have it so easy when I see how hard women work here.

 

Most of the time we have been travelling we have spent most nights in Motorhome stops with a few stops in caravan parks. Our stay beside this peaceful lagoon with the lovely view was with a French couple.

and as usual if there is water there will be someone fishing.These guys were getting mussels.

The weather is still nice and hot and it is time to head north, Porto is next on the list.