Sunday 20th January 2008

Jane had read in a Portuguese walk book that the days for hunting were Thursday and Sunday and so, being in a rural and wooded area, we were expecting to hear shooting this morning. When dawn broke as we were drinking a cup of tea, the shots started from all directions. Shortly afterwards the artillery fire followed accompanied by more small arms fire. I was quite convinced that the revolution had started and was looking up the Portuguese for “I am on your side, whatever that is” - these phase books are useless. The other sounds were far too deep and loud to be hunting rifles – were we near an army firing range? It was then that Jane spotted flashes and smoke coming from the direction of all that music last night – they were setting off fireworks at dawn! They certainly started the day with a bang!
We started our day with a walk into the village to see the remains of the amphitheatre and followed a sign in the village that directed us to it. Of course, that was the last sign that we saw and, if we hadn't known what we were looking for, we certainly would have missed it. Hidden within other buildings, it had no obvious lane to it and we nearly had to go into someone's back garden to be able to see it. Whilst we were in the village, the music started in the party village. We could hear all of the words clearly (although we couldn't understand them) and this was from at least 3 km away.
Back then to Henrietta where we met Marie and Michael about to go into the Conimbriga site. Another long chat followed with a sharing of experiences and tips. If I ever find details of the Vodafone Internet access deal, I will pass it on to Michael! Marie told us that they had walked to the village to see the party last night but found that all of the action was in people's gardens and there wasn't even a bar or café to go to. I was quite glad that Jane hadn't agreed to go!
An uneventful journey took us to Batalha where we used the free motorhome dump facilities and parked up. Batalha (Battle) abbey is so named because the future King Joao of Portugal requested the help of the Virgin Mary to defeat the Spanish army in 1385. This gave Portugal independence and the king fulfilled his promise to the Virgin Mary by building the magnificent abbey. The abbey has similarities with English cathedrals and there is an interesting reason for this. The English helped Joao win the battle by supplying long-bowmen who played a vital part in the victory. In 1386 England and Portugal signed the Treaty of Windsor and Joao married Philippa of Lancaster (John of Gaunt's daughter). They are buried in the abbey in a joint tomb topped by sculptures of the two of them holding hands – very romantic. The abbey itself is very ornate outside with decorated pinnacles, windows, flying buttresses and gargoyles. Inside is much plainer but still beautiful with the narrow, very high church particularly impressive. The stained glass was very good and as we entered the church, the strong sunlight lit up the pillars with multicoloured light.
We then drove on the Nazare on the coast to a surprisingly busy campsite although this was mainly down to the many permanently occupied pitches. At last, we had a campsite with washing machines and tumble dryers and Jane celebrated by doing two machine loads of washing. This means that we now have somewhere to put dirty washing again!
Photos: Batalha monastery; Sunlight shining through stained glass paints the soaring columns; Stone tracery in the cloister.