The last few days have been quite full so I haven’t got around to catching the blog up with our progress.  Tonight we are in a fabulous boutique hotel in the Duoro Valley (home of port but increasingly of really good wine too) but since leaving Batalha we’ve visited the shrine at Fatima, Roman ruins at Conimbriga and stayedthe last two nights in the university town of Coimbra with a side visit to Aveiro and the museum at the porcelain producer Vista Alegre. Phew!  

Fatima was very calm; the area in front of the church is enormous – bigger than St Peter’s in Rome – and a week ago a million prople turned out to see Pope Francis there for the 100th anniversary of the apparations. Fortunately we were there early in the day and it was a surprisingly calm space with a remarkably simple church.  At that point it really did feel like a place for the faithful rather than a tourist attraction.  

Conimbriga was intersting, but the mosaic area is much much smaller than the one we visited at Piazza Amerina in Sicily.  Coimbra was a nice town – unfortunately the hotel (not the usual tour hotel) was a bit ordinary – clean and central but nothing fabulous.  We we ok but a number of our group made a bit of a fuss so we felt for our guide as there was nothing he could do.

Anyway, Coimbra is a university town – grand university buildings, historic centre, nice food.  

Today we’ve come from there to the Duoro Valley – it’s quite spectacular – really steep hillsides covered in vines with the river below.  The hotel we are in is on a wine estate and situated with a lovely view across the valley – a room with a view again!

I’ll post a few more pictures after dinner!

Portugal is tiled – houses, public spaces, old, new.  We paint – they tile.  I’ve been amazed by the variety, colours, styles and combinations.  Sometimes, if repairs are needed, no attempt is made to match – just patch and move on!  Here are a few. There might be a few more if WordPress cooperates later…

There is very little in Batalha except lots of souvenir shops and a very big ex-monastery – which is very impressive.  Our hotel was right next to it – which made up a bit for the slightly eccentic cuisine!

The monastery isn’t a pilgrimage site but was founded to mark success in a battle against Spain.  The stained glass was lovely and in the late afternoon sun was casting  colourful reflections on the stone inside the church.  The French pillaged the place in Napoleon’s time so the inside is very plain.

Our lunch stop was Nazare – famous for monster wave surfing in the northern hemisphere winter – a plesant fishing town with a relaxed feel and lots of white washed buildings and a wide golden beach that was being readied for a beach soccer competition – who knew that was a thing!

We took a little funicular up the hill after lunch – the tiles mosaic in the little station was a really nice modern take on traditional portugese motifs.

Portugal – probably the only place in the world where sardines (in all their forms including tinned) are a souvenir!

Obidos was a nice little town with almost complete walls and cute shops.  The Moors originally built the castle.  You can walk the walls and get great views – just don’t look down!  Fabulous tiles in the church – like so many we’ve seen tiles were used to tell biblical stories rather than paintings.

Today we packed up and headed for the first stop overnight stop outside Lisbon at Batalha – famous for its monastery.  First tho’ was a stop in the pleasant town of Obidos and a visit to its castle (and where I finally sucumbed and bought some tiles), and on to Nazare – famous for its surf, and a lunch stop at a simple seafood restaurant.  It was nice to see something of Portugal beyond the tourist circuit near Lisbon.  We finished with a visit to Bathala monastery church – with the late afternoon sun thru’ the stained glass just lovely.

Some photos to follow…

…Was a nice escape from being in a group!  After a drink overlooking the harbour we had a bit of an explore – some interesting street art, blooming jacarandas and interesting shops as its close enough to Lisbon to commute but also a weekend escape to the beach.

The view that wasn’t…

Some of the amazing tiles and internal decoration; there’s an amazing variety of tiles – not all blue and white

First trip outside Lisbon today – to Pena Palace outside Sintra, visited the tourist madness that was Sintra town, had lunch at the beach at Cascais and then had a bit more free time back in Lisbon.

Pena Palace was created from an old convent by a 19th century Portugese king and looks like something from Disneyland – colours, tiles, turrets, terraces and art with a convoluted layout of small rooms.  It was an interesting visit and luckily we were earlyish so it wasn’t too crowded.  Sintra, on the hill below the palace though was mobbed – apparently there’s a standard tour bus circuit that it’s on and its not far from Lisbon.  So after sampling a local pastry we were off to Cascais – a nice town by the sea.  We skipped lunch and instead had a drink at a lovely hotel overlooking the beach (a real beach with golden sand – not foreshore!) and then a gelati in town.

Here’s a few pics of Pena Palace – there will be a few more when WordPress cooperates!:

Drawbridge entry – every palace should have one

The architecture and decoration is quite mad!

As opposed to a disorganised wander!  The tour hit some of the highlights of Lisbon: the Cristo-Rei statue, the Bélem Tower, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument, the Jerónimos monastery. It was a really hot day and not the best for photos – but you get the idea – marble, statues, views etc…Cristo-Rei – modelled on the one in RioAnd the April 25th bridge – modelled on the Golden Gate in San Francisco

The Belém Tower – originally part of the city’s sea defences

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument – honouring those who contributed to Portugal’s age of exploration

Inside the Jerónimos Monastery