Saturday 26th January 2008

We had intended to leave today but decided that we would like another day to see some more of Lisbon and particularly Balem. This is an area on our bus journey into the centre and therefore easy to access. Like Alfama it also survived the 1755 earthquake and has two major buildings of merit – the Torre de Balem and the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. The monastery was built by Dom Manuel “the Fortunate” as fulfilment of a vow by him after he had asked the Virgin for a successful voyage by Vasco da Gamma. And successful it was, with the discovery of a sea route to the Orient and the wealth that it generated for Portugal. The monastery is huge with a beautifully ornate exterior and a blend of the ornate and the simple in the exterior that blends very well. The tomb of Vasco da Gamma is also in the church.
Three museums are housed within the monastery and we chose to visit the archaeological museum. Although not a huge collection, it proved to be very interesting but we were just too early to see a special exhibition about the problem of the looting of archaeological sites. We got talking to someone involved with the exhibition and it was only when I talked about museum collections and the British Museum that we realised that he was Greek (“We Greeks feel quite strongly about that”). An interesting discussion followed! He was a Greek Cultural attaché to the Greek Embassy in Lisbon. It sounded like a fantastic job (he certainly thought so), moving to a different country every two to three years, getting to know the culture and living with the locals. Sounds just like my kind of job, although my lack of linguistic skills might be an issue!
We then walked to the 16th century Belem Tower, which is certainly the prettiest defensive tower that I have seen, having been built by Dom Manuel to defend the entrance to the port.
Back then to the campsite for a very late lunch and writing the blog whilst Jane uses the washing machine.
We meant to have our award-winning Dingwall Haggis for dinner yesterday (Burns Night) but eat out in Lisbon instead. So, tonight it will be Burns Night + 1.
Photos: The exterior of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos; Interior of the church of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos; Torre de Balem.

Friday 25th January 2008

Remarkably, neither of us had a hangover this morning!
Having taken their (possibly) glass back to them, we said “goodbye” to Marie and Michael again and then headed into Lisbon to do some sightseeing. For €4 you can buy a card that gives you 24 hours of unlimited travel on buses, trams and 'elavadors'. Considering that it cost us €1.35 each to catch the bus in to Lisbon, this is a very good deal and meant that we could hop on a bus or tram any time that we wanted to. The bus terminates right in the centre at Praca da Figueira and we caught one of the old trams that took us on a very pleasant ride up the hill and then down to the cathedral. This is rather an austere building, being built from 1150 to celebrate the freeing of the city from Moorish and has a somewhat fortress-like appearance.
We had lunch in a small restaurant, Rio Coura, a few metres up the hill from the cathedral. This was recommended in our 13 year old guidebook but it was still very good and full of locals. The €9.50 (approx. £7) tourist menu gave us soup, mixed fish (4 baby squid, 1 sardine and a large piece of another white fish, plus potatoes), sweet and coffee with bread, lots of Vinho Verde wine and water included.
Suitably refreshed, we took the bus up to the castle, wandered around the streets and continued the wander back down the hill. We stopped off at the Miradouro da Santa Luzia and admired the view before descending through the maze of old streets that is Alfama. Alfama escaped serious destruction in the 1755 earthquake that destroyed much of Lisbon and indeed many other parts of Portugal. This was my favourite part of the day – narrow alleyways lined with old multi-storey houses on the steep hill, washing hanging out of windows, builders swinging building supplies on ropes, small stone-paved squares, stone staircases, tiny cafes and restaurants (definitely for the locals not the tourists) and even a community laundry building, still in use, where the women take their washing and scrub it on the ribbed stone scrubbing boards. Real Portuguese city life!
Down near the port we came across an archaeological dig in progress. Talking to one of the archaeologists, we found out that they were digging the area of one of the 12th century town gates. They knew of its existence but has found that a second wall had been added in the sixteenth century.
We then walked back to the commercial centre and travelled in an 'elevador', which was actually a lift transporting passengers up to a point higher on the Bairro Alto hill. More wandering followed and we travelled on another 'elavador', this time a funicular called Elavador da Gloria to get another view over the town. Back then by metro to Praca da Figueira and bus to the campsite. An excellent day with plenty of walking.
Photos: Exterior of Lisbon Cathedral; A square in the Alfama district; The Elevador Santa Justa; A wheeled policeman – these were electrically operated and, we assume, allowed the police to move quickly although with only two wheels, they need to have a good sense of balance!; The Elevador da Gloria waiting to descend.

Thursday 24th January 2008

Whenever we spoke to Portuguese people about our plans, they always told us that we had to go to Sintra and today was the day. We had noticed that then was a minor road in green on our Michelin map and this indicated that it should be picturesque, although we have found cases when this is definitely not the case. The road also appeared to be the most direct and the Garmin sat nav, on a casual inspection appeared to use that route. However although it started off on that route, it knew of another minor road that lead up through the hills. It was extremely pretty and took us past the Convento dos Capuchos (Cork Convent), which we had both read about but dismissed because it was a little way out of Sintra itself. As we were passing it, we decided to visit it and were glad that we did. The monastery was established in 1560 by the Franciscans and given the name Santa Cruz. It was built on and around the huge boulders that litter the forest here and it blends in so well to the landscape that it would be easy to pass close without noticing it. The name Cork Convent was associated with it because the monks used cork to line their cells – doors, walls, ceilings and window frames. The cells themselves are tiny (approximately 2m square) and, in contrast to the monks at Alcobaca, they were very poor and led lives of seclusion and silence. Philip II of Spain and Portugal declared that it was the poorest convent in his kingdom and it is easy to believe that.
We then drove on to Sintra passed the castle and the Palacio da Pena, because we had decided to visit the Palacio Nacional in the town itself.
The Palacio Nacional was a former royal palace until the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown. It was added to and re-modelled by successive monarchs and is an intriguing mixture of different styles with a strong Moorish influence in many areas. It was an interesting visit but I have to say that much of the decoration was over the top and I would not like to have lived with it.
We then wandered around the town admiring the many hand-painted tile workshops and studiously avoided buying any! This was obviously a fashionable place for the rich to live and there are many ornate villas dotted around, even the town hall looks like something out of Disney.
Lisbon was the next stop and the only campsite in the city – Lisbon Municipal Camping. We arrived later afternoon, set up on our allocated pitch and soon found Marie and Michael's Hymer over the other side of the site. They were obviously still enjoying Lisbon, so we left them a note inviting them for a drink when they got back. They duly arrived clutching a bottle of rosé and a wine glass identical to ours (Sainsbury – 4 wine glasses for £4.99!). The evening went very well and we decided to share a gourmet meal of Cassoulet (the French, slightly more sophisticated, version of bangers and beans) as we had two cans available. The red wine went down very well – too well if the truth be known as by the time that we said “good night” we had exhausted our supply of four bottles and had drunk another two that Michael had fetched from the Hymer.
Photos: Convento dos Capuchos blends into the rocky scenery; Three tiny monk's cells; The exterior of Sintra's Palacio Nacional with the two distinctive kitchen chimneys; Painted tile scene in the Palace – this is the way that royalty spent their time, hunting and dancing!; Hand-painted tiles were everywhere in Sintra and this, rather good, example was on the wall of the Byron café.

Wednesday 23rd January 2008

We decided that we deserved a relaxing day and vowed to do nothing more than sit in the sun and go for a gentle walk. And that is exactly what we did.
The alarm was set for 07:30 and after two cups of tea we had a relaxed breakfast – having got some real, fresh milk rather than UHT, I enjoyed some cereal. I then typed up some of the blog before Jane dragged me away (actually I was quite keen) for a walk down to the sea. We walked down the road and then over the dunes to the surfing beach. As we approached the beach I noticed in the distance a silver Hymer motorhome parked in a car park. There were two people sitting outside it but it was not until I saw the British number plate that I was sure that it was Marie and Michael whom we had met at Conimbriga. They were as surprised as we were to meet up again. We were sure that they would have been much further on but they so liked the spot that they had found that they decided to stay for two nights. We had found they as they were preparing to move on to Lisbon. This is also our next destination and there is a good chance that we will meet up there in a couple of days. They had found a lovely pitch (see photograph) but they explained that the car park was also a meeting place for lovers, which was a little off-putting.
Having said “Goodbye” to Marie and Michael, again, we continued our walk along the coast. Jane thought about joining the surfers but, realising that she didn't have her swimming costume with her, she decided just to paddle (see documentary evidence). We then walked back over the sand dunes to the campsite where we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, reading books. It was warm enough for tee-shirts and shorts - not bad for January!
Photos: Praia do Guincho – Marie and Michael's pitch is just to the right of the large hotel on the peninsular; Evidence of Jane's paddling.

Tuesday 22nd January 2008

We were very impressed by the site's dump facilities and the area for washing motorhomes complete with power washers. However, we decided that, rather than staying for two nights, we would push on as there was nothing to keep us. Our view of the campsite improved somewhat when we discovered that it only cost €8.20 (about £6).
We wanted to see the Peniche fort and, on the advice of the campsite owner, we turned left and headed around the tip to the other side of the peninsular. This was a revelation! Here was the pretty part of Peniche with a huge tumble of fissured rocks, stacks and huge boulders with the Atlantic crashing in beneath. It was very reminiscent of Portland Bill in Dorset although that was created by quarrying and this was a natural phenomenon. There was a sign to 'Revelim dos Remedios' pointing to the rocks and the sea. I knew that 'remedios', fairly obviously, was 'remedies' but didn't know what 'revelim' meant. I followed the sign and found a large perforated rock. I remembered that in England, passing someone through a split tree trunk was meant to cure all sorts of ills, often infertility. I decided that passing through the perforated rock would cure lameness on the basis that to get there in the first place, scrambling over the rocks, the person would have to be cured before they got there! I must use the Internet to translate 'revelim'.
We found the fort and, although it wasn't terribly inspiring, it did give us the opportunity to see the working port and investigate the local restaurants. We changed our plans and decided to take advantage of the excellent fresh fish and eat at one of the restaurants. We chose one that was obviously popular with the locals, even on a Tuesday lunchtime. Jane had Sea Bass and I had Golden Bass – both absolutely delicious, served with boiled potatoes and salad rather than chips.
The sat nav plotted the route that we wanted down the coast and so we set off for a campsite at Colares on the coast west of Lisbon. Unfortunately, after we stopped for supplies at a supermarket on the route, the sat nav suddenly decided to change the route and take us in land. It was a while before we realised what it was doing and we had to enter a 'via point' to force it back down the coast. The route was however very pretty, so it was no great loss. The coastal scenery was also dramatic and the weather continued to be sunny apart from a brief period of mist when we climbed over the Sierra de Sintra mountains.
We had found details of the campsite in our old Portugal guidebook that said that it was open all year. It wasn't and it looked as if it needed a lot of work done on it before it opened again. Fortunately we had plenty of time and headed on to Praia do Guincho and a large campsite run by Orbitur that we new was open. It was not as convenient for visiting Sintra, but turned out to be a very pleasant site next to dunes and above the sea. Suddenly we were with other British motorhomes and caravans - we saw more British vehicles in the site than we had seen in the whole of the rest of Portugal. We are getting closer to the South and the warmer weather!
Photos: The rocky Peniche coastline; Sign to 'Revelim dos Remedios'; The remedy rock???; Houses on the coast at Peniche town.

Monday 21st January 2008

Not far from Batalha is another beautiful abbey, or rather a monastery – Alcobaca – and this was our destination today. The monastery was founded by Dom Henrique to celebrate his victory over the Moors at Santarem in1147 and became immensely rich due to the huge amounts of land with vinyards and orchards. It also held jurisdiction over a dozen towns and three ports.
The romantic figures of Dom Pedro and Dona Ines de Castro are buried in the church of Alcobaca. Dom Pedro was deeply in love with Ines de Castro but Alfonso IV, Dom Pedro's father, forbade the marriage because Ines was the daughter of a Galician (Spanish) nobleman and there was great concern over Spanish influence on the Portuguese throne. They were secretly married in a remote town and Alfonso came under great pressure to have his daughter-in-law murdered, to which he eventually agreed. We can only imagine the effect that this had on Dom Pedro and when he succeeded his father to the throne in 1357 he personally ripped the hearts out of the murderers. He then exhumed the body of Ines, crowned her and forced the entire royal entourage to acknowledge her as queen by kissing her decomposing hand. More gruesome than romantic I would say. Their beautifully carved stone tombs are on opposite sides of the church in front of the alter and are inscribed “Ate ao Fim do Mundo” (Until the End of the World). On Dom Pedro's instruction, the tombs have been placed foot to foot so that on the Day of Judgement they will rise and feast their eyes on each other. I can class that as romantic.
The wealth of the monastery lead to the monks becoming far too worldly and at the turn of the nineteenth century the Englishman William Beckford commented that he became tired of the “perpetual gormandising” and he described the “fat waddling monks”. Unsurprisingly, the kitchen is extremely impressive and even has a diverted river flowing through it that delivered fish directly into a basin. Goldfish swim now in the basin, although I suspect that these don't come from the river! Beckford also informs us that the monks had a Chinese lay brother chef who cooked birds' nests and sharks' fin. I particularly liked his comment that the brothers had to file through a narrow door on the way to the refectory. If they could not fit through, they had to fast until they were slim enough.
We had spare time before we needed to get to our campsite in Peniche (just down the coast from Nazare), so we called in at the town of Obidos and were very glad that we did. Approaching the town was very impressive, a small but perfectly formed medieval walled town on the top of a hill. We parked in the car park next to the 3 km long aqueduct built on the orders of Queen Catherine of Austria in the sixteenth century.
For the third day running, it was a beautiful day and we decided to walk around the top of the walls. Although the views in the distance were quite hazy, the view of the town was really interesting and a good precursor to walking around the town. We had to come off the walls briefly at the top of the hill to go round the Old Arms Square and the castle, now a very impressive (and no doubt very expensive) poussada (hotel). In the square they were taking down the extensive Christmas Fair stands and putting up new stands for the forthcoming International Chocolate Festival. When we went into the tourists office in the town we found that it was run by an English couple and they told us that there had been over 200,000 visitors to the Christmas Fair and they had to close one lane of the nearby motorway and use it as a car park in order to accommodate the visitors. They also told us about the Chocolate Festival, which was started five years ago. The first one was sponsored by Cadbury and they totally underestimated the number of visitors. They ran out of chocolate, and the restaurants ran out of food and drink. It was so busy that, for the first time since Medieval times, they had to close the town gates as the town was full. The finals of the international chocolate competition (including life-size chocolate figures such as Batman and Robin) are held here. This has all been the work of a young go-ahead mayor who has put this small town on the international map.
Obidos up to the fifteenth century used to be on the coast with boats moored at the base of the hill. This is rather difficult to believe when we drove for forty minutes to the coast! Peniche, an island until the sea receded, sounded really nice in the guide book but our first impressions were not encouraging. The sand dunes looked good but there was a great deal of not very attractive development and a number of factories. It is a large working port, so this is understandable. The campsite was also a little disappointing and we were the only guests.
Photos: Interior of Alcobaca church; Ines de Castro tomb; Dom Pedro tomb; Alcobaca kitchen; Alcobaca refectory – sacred texts were read from the pulpit during meals; View of Obidos from outside the walls; Obidos castle from the walls.

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.