Headed South

Passage to Porto

The Azores were amazing but it was time to move on to the main event. The genesis of this trip was a discussion with Michael's siblings that it was high time for another family foray to Europe to celebrate our respective milestone (read ancient) birthdays. In the past we'd converged in Greece, France, Italy, Vieques the Dominican Republic and Florida for these joint celebrations but now it was Portugal's turn. We found a big house right on the Atlantic halfway between Lisbon and Porto and booked it for a week. Almost all of us planned adjacent solo trips but when the appointed week arrived we all arrived at the house on the scheduled day.

The Biggest Waves in the World

By coincidence the day after our arrival was The Festival of Our Lady of Nazarre. Nazarre is interesting for two reasons. First is that it boasts the tallest waves in the world attracting champion surfers. Some of these waves reach 86 feet. Second is the peculiar talk of how the Lady of Nazarre was enshrined in history. Back in the days of nobility one of said nobles ventured out on a stag hunt on his trusty steed. It was quite foggy but, despite that, a stag was spotted and the noble pursued it at a full gallop. Suddenly, the horse skidded to a stop. The noble was quite put out until the fog broke momentarily and he realized the horse was within inches of careening off a 300 foot cliff to the waves below. The noble attributed this fortuitous escape from death to Our Lady of Nazarre (rather than the horse's eyesight) and constructed a Chapel in her honor. It didn't end well for the stag.

So there we were celebrating at the Festival's Mass in the Plaza. The Portuguese patter of the priest stopped and, to our surprise, an American voice took the mic. The speaker thanked the community for warmly adopting his surfer family and went through a somewhat disjointed metaphor involving surfing, Our Lady and competition. He seemed to infer that Our Lady was responsible for the humongous waves as well as the miraculous survival of the noble. There was no surf that day but the surfing museum was pretty cool.

The funicular which runs from lower Nazarre to upper Nazarre, where the main plaza and church are located.

The light house and fort in upper Nazarre. The fort is now a surfer museum.

The plaza and main church of Nazarre.

This woman is dressed in a traditional outfit for the festival...

and later her daughter joined her, also dressed in traditional attire.

These two Portuguese individuals were chatting in the plaza,...

while this elderly couple were sitting waiting for the procession to begin.

After the mass was over the procession began...

and the bells were rung to indicate the beginning of the procession.

Even the local scouts were part of the procession.

Our Lady of Nazarre is carried on a "paso" (float). Just as in Mexico, Our Lady looks like a small doll dressed in an elaborate costume.

Also just as in Mexico, a band is part of the procession.

The procession walked on a bed of flowers and then proceeded around the plaza to the Chapel.

The beach in lower Nazarre from upper Nazarre.

The town of lower Nazarre.

The Chapel with flowers in front with the initials N.S.M. for Nossa Senora Maria (Our Lady Mary).

This sculpture combines the myth of the stag with the surfing culture of Nazarre.

A view of the lower town and its beach.

Just two of the many surfboards in the surfer museum, each with its own story.

All of these ducks lining the wall were different, but the common theme was the sea and the surf.

This was a creative sculpture of the wind creating a giant wave with the surfer on the other side in the surfer museum.

The wave were not very high, but there were still surfers out in the water.

The local police appeared to be on an outing and stopped to pose for their picture at the request of another tourist.

Deirdre did not want to climb the steep steps to the top, so she patiently waited on the wall.

More surfboards from the museum...

and a Seadoo used to tow the surfers out to the big waves.

This marble surfboard sculpture, while quite beautiful, is not suitable for surfing.

These two wall sculptures were in the funicular station...

as well as this tile plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of the funicular.

Obidos - Oh Boy!

A mere 15 minutes from the house sat one of the most iconic walled cites in Europe - Obidos. Like many medieval cities it had its share of sieges, pestilence and fires resulting in a broad array of structures in terms of age and construction type. But it was very charming. And filled with purveyors of strong sour cheery liqueurs (ginja) and sardines - preferably not taken together. Oh, and cork. Lots of cork. Cork belts, cork hats, cork belts. Kind of a lemons/lemonade kind of thing I guess.

The azueljos tiles, painted ceiling above and the stone work at the entrance to Obidos created and impressive entrance to the town.

From atop the wall of the town, one got a better perspective of the size and the extent of the walls around the town.

There were no guard rails along much of the wall, so the two figures in the distance on the wall were quite daring.

For such a small town there were an amazing number of churches (three).

These unique animal sculptures were outside one of the shops.

My sister Mary was outside one of the Ginja (sour cherry liqueur) shops.

This was above the entryway of one of the churches...

and this was above the entryway of another.

One of the churches with a carriage outside offering rides to tourists.

This was one of the more unusual stores in Obidos devoted to the sale of tinned sardines...

complete with tins with various birth years on the labels.

The third of the three churches was loaned to the town for cultural functions in 1989, and now houses a bookshop.

This stage backdrop was more permanent than your usual backdrops. It was made of stone with the stained glass windows.

This gives you a better idea of the size of the stage...

with the large castle in the background.

This poor soul was confined until there was nothing left but his skeleton.

This very large bust of Queen Isabella of Portugal was below the castle.

Shuffling Off to Sintra

Before everyone discovered the Riviera, all the rich and noble summered on the atlantic Coast from Biarritz down to southern Portugal. One prime area, although a tad inland, was around Sintra. From the mid-1800s though early 1900's elaborate, semi-Disneyesque palaces and such were erected. The clan's first stop was Pena Palace. We arrived early since Pena is a very popular day trip from Lisbon and the crowds can be huge. Much like Disney World there are elaborate mechanisms for funneling humans through lines although there is no "skip the line" pricey alternatives.

The Palace started life as a monastery. The number of monasteries in Portugal is quite amazing. The monastery fell to ruin but in 1838 the land was acquired and Pena Palace was erected incorporating portions of the monastery. A comparison to Disneyland is not without merit. The architect modeled Pena, at least in part, after Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria - the model for Walt's knockoff. The Palace was inhabited by royalty until the monarchy was overturned in the early 1900s and the nobles sent into exile. From that point on the Palace and its adjoining Park became a National Monument and ultimately a UNESCO World Heritage site.

When we arrived in the morning, fog still hung around the Pena Palace.

Much of the palace was very colorful.

One of the entrances to the inner courtyard featured Poseidon above carved in stone.

The clock tower of Pena Palace.

The carved stone,...

the tiles...

and some of the entrances showed the Moorish influence.

There were many imaginative downspouts,...

this, the previous photo and the next photo being just three examples.

Again the tile work showed a Moorish influence.

The furnishings of the palace reflected the opulence of the era.

Even the ceilings revealed how ornate the palace was, as evidenced in this photo and the one below.

Even the headboard on the bed with its detail was ornate.

And here was the "Laura Ashley" decor before Laura Ashley.

Every room revealed even more amazing furniture and furnishings decorating the palace, as can be seen from this series of photos.

The center column supporting the domed ceiling of the stag room immediately caught the eye. The top of the column looks like a king's crown with the eyebrows, eyes, nose and beard below. Mounted all around the room were the stag's horns, giving the room its name.

Even the kitchen of the palace gave testament to the massive entertaining that must have taken place.

After touring the palace there was a welcome terrace to relax and refresh before moving on tho the next palace.

And Yet. One More

I generally recommend against visiting more than one palace per day but there were so many palaces and so little time... So, after a fortifying lunch we moved on to The Palace of Sintra. By the time we'd stumbled up and down multitudes of staircases and craned our necks into impossible angles to observe opulent ceilings we were totally tuckered out. Only one palace per day from now on.