We returned from Porto on Sunday, November 19. On Monday we sent Al, Maren, Busaba and Cathy off on a tour with Diogo (friend and partner in the tour business to Gui who Alexis used when she was in Portugal – thanks Alexis!). They set off out for Sintra and saw 3 palaces in one day. They said it was 1 too many but they also said that every one of the palaces was beautiful in their own right. I think Sintra is one of my favorite places to visit around Ericeira. It is quite beautiful.

Tuesday, we all hit the road with Gui and headed to Obidos, Nazaré and Alcobaça. Obidos has a magical walled city with a castle inside. We went walking along the edges of the fort that protected the castle. A few of us had a bit of vertigo at first. If you’re afraid of heights, this is not the walk for you. The views are spectacular, though. I didn’t go to the highest point but the intrepid duo of Maren and Carnet did. Dad and I opted to go into town for some wine (go figure).

After Obidos, we hit Nazaré. The first picture on this post is Carnet with Veado. Veado – half deer/half man – was created by Portuguese sculptor Adália Alberto and erected in 2016. It honors the legend of Nazaré and the town’s legendary status as the home to some of the biggest waves surfed in the world (see “100 Foot Wave” documentary for the history of big wave surfing in Nazaré). The legend of the deer part of the statue is that there was this knight, Dom Fuas Roupinho, who was hunting in 1182 near the cliff overlooking the ocean.  The knight was in pursuit of a deer. There was heavy fog and the deer, blinded by the fog, ran over the edge of the cliff to its death.  Dom Roupinho, realizing that he was very close to edge, prayed to Our Lady (there are many “Our lady” names and legends in Portugal) to save him from certain death.  At that moment, a light from above shone brightly in front of him and his horse miraculously stopped at the edge of the cliff, saving them from death. We’re not sure how much of that is true but there you have it.

On our way back up from the lighthouse, we bought some cookies and quicos from a lady on the street. She was wearing the traditional 7 skirts. Nazaré used to be a fishing village way back when and the women would wait on the beach for the their husbands, sons, brothers, etc. to come back from fishing. The wind and cold can be intense there, so they would wear 7 layers of skirts and put a few layers over their heads to shield them from the wind. Brilliant.

The last stop of the day was the convent at Alcobaça. It was pretty amazing, as well. In many of the conventos we have seen, there is much Roman influence in the architecture. That’s because there is so much history involving the Catholic church and Rome. But, that history lesson is for another blog post.

The town was adorable and even had their Christmas lights up early.

Wednesday’s tour is on tap next. Stay tuned….