Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré, and Óbidos

Saturday, January 13, 2024

I didn’t know anything about today’s tour, other than the places were pretty far from Lisbon. It’s kinda fun to just have the day unfold. Everything is interesting, afterall.

Fátima is the site where three kids (Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco) saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary multiple times in 1917 (on the 13th of successive months). Mary talked to them and gave them messages, as well as predicting that Jacinta and Francisco would go to heaven soon (They both died in the Spanish Flu epidemic, one in 1919, one in 1920). The Catholic church investigated it a lot and 1930 degreed that it was a real thing. A very large basilica was built, as well as other chapels and worship places. Millions of pilgrims visit every year. One of our tour group members had come specifically to Lisbon to visit Fátima as a Catholic. There was a service outside the original tiny chapel (built soon after where the apparition appeared) and then a procession to one of the bigger chapels.

The town of Batalha (literally means battle) is where the Portuguese (with help from the English) helped turn back the Spanish (with French helpers) in the 1380s. (The Portuguese king died with only a daughter, who, by law, couldn’t rule. She was married to the Spanish king, who thought fair enough, I’ll just take Portugal because there isn’t anyone else. Portugal thought the dead king’s illegitimate son was a better choice. Big fight at Batalha and the outnumbered Portuguese won. The new king ordered a monastery built on the site.) They worked on the monastery from 1386 until 1507, when everyone got called over to Lisbon to start work on the big new, build-for-a-hundred-years monastery there. There are chapels in the back of this one that have no roofs, because everyone left. They are cleverly called the “unfinished chapels”. It looks all big and fancy on the outside, but it really knocks you for a loop when you go inside. It is TALL (or some might say, “it’s big inside”).

Our meeting point was by the shop that “sells cookies and water”. I stopped to take a picture and when I walked up to Keith, he was chewing. He quickly denied responsibility for having a cookie – the lady gave it to him! He said he didn’t really care for it and handed me a piece. I ate it and said, “Quick! Buy some!” They taste sort of like a thin disc of chocolate meringue with lots of nuts on top. Way different than anything I’ve had and delicious. Mine, all mine.

We drove through the twisty roads of Nazaré, glimpsing bits of oceans between buildings. Our guide, Carlos, was talking about the world’s biggest waves and surfing. When we got out, we could see the south beach, but it is the north beach that has the enormous waves. He said we couldn’t see it, there was nowhere to go to see it. I just had to accept that. We sat and had lunch for two hours. I would rather have grabbed an apple and hiked off to see big waves. There were no BIG waves today, but bigger than waves I have seen before. Nazare is the place where the biggest wave ever surfed (over 100 feet) happened. I will attach a YouTube video that explains it and shows some waves. Start at about 5:15 to learn why Nazaré has big waves.

Óbidos is an absolutely darling walled city. They make Ginga (or Ginjinha), a cherry liqueur that is served with a sour cherry in a chocolate cup. There are places everywhere in Lisbon to have it, and we tried it here today. Everyone has said that it tastes like cough syrup, and it certainly had a bit of that going for it. I like cherries and I liked it, but it felt like it packed a punch. More than the tiny cup’s worth and I think I would have been rocking. Several people told us to shove the whole thing in your mouth – cup and drink – to get the experience of chocolate and cherry, but it was waaay too big to do that. I drank, then ate. I will have it again when I come to Portugal, but I don’t have to seek it out.

Keith and I really enjoyed wandering the shops and church and the Renaissance festival area? We got all the way to the end of the main street and there were lots of little buildings – some plain, but some decked out for winter, maybe. We hypothesized they had a Christmas market, or perhaps there are vendors during the high season. I looked into one shopped and something caught my eye. I went in, and Keith followed. He immediately figured out what I had seen. We went back at the end of time and the sales lady told us about the local artist and showed us a couple other of her pieces. We had a shopping frenzy and had to really scurry to get to the meeting point on time. (Making her take things off the wall did delay us a little bit.)

It was ham and cheese on baguette night. Keith also bought 4 more farewell custard tarts. I estimate he has eaten 500 of them, but I might be over. We walked down our side street one last time – bye side street – bye Lisbon!

We have to figure out how to get everything organized into our two backpacks. This was our first trip with no checked bags and we did pretty great with two backpacks and a small bag by my feet. Aside from the artsy things we bought today, we kept it to a Tshirt and earrings (okay, I’m lying. We bought more. But it is pretty small and soft. I buy more when I am having a good time and I am having a good time.) We would definitely have purchased port in Porto if we had a checked bag to put it in, but I am trusting that Nancy and Jerry bought theirs in the United States, so there really isn’t a need to do that.