Episode 31

Episode 31
Again we headed to the coast to have a look at it further south. Once again it was wet and dismal when we did so: Roughly we were due west of Coimbra, perhaps a little to the south and we drove through a large area of pine forest with soft sandy tracks heading off over dunes towards the ocean. We could hear the roar of the waves on the other side of those dunes.
Came to a medium sized resort town that was dam near deserted; we did see two cars on the street and in a car park there were 3 others. One cafe was open. All of the holiday units were closed up tight, all the shutters down and gates locked. The beach was wide and sandy for the most part with one rocky headland and thundering surf rolling in from the Atlantic. Although it wasn’t nice weather it really wasn’t cold, only chilly. I didn’t try the water:
A few k’s further south and we came to another place with just a shade more activity, well, a few more cars anyway, and two or three shops open though I must say that the units and villas appeared to be just as tightly shut. After this we turned back inland and headed for the town of Batalha where the King of Portugal had an Abby built to honour a promise he made to the Virgin Mary for her help in his wining a decisive battle against Spain.
The Abby, and what a decorative piece of architecture it is! Was begun in 1388 and took over 100 years to construct, though one chapel was never finished and still remains without a roof. Constructed in limestone it is showing quite a bit of deterioration from pollution and acid rain. Its caramel coloured with a dark mould growing on it in places. Inside the wear of many feet on the limestone has worn away some steps to the stage that something will have to be done about them very soon, and the dripping of water in another part has also worn down some floor stones leaving deep holes in them.
This is a very large building and has towers, two not finished; flying buttresses topped with turrets and all around is decorated with fine fleur de lis. A great many stone carvings adorn those exterior walls too. Inside though is a different matter, its quite plain really with massive multi columned stone pillars that reach up very high to the vaulted roof. Here the lime stone has retained its much lighter colour and even though there are only small stained glass windows it seems quite light.
In the centre of one side chapel is the tomb of King Joao 1, he who had the place built, and his wife Phillipa of Lancaster (daughter of the duke of Lancaster who aided him in the battle). Around the walls of the chapel are the tombs of his sons including that of Prince Henri the navigator who discovered the Azores and Madeira.
The exterior of the one of the cloisters is just as highly decorated with fancy stone screens along the verandas, carved stone pillars and fancy gargoyles. In one room is the tomb of the unknown warrior guarded by a couple of perfectly still military sentries. Another cloister adjoined to the first through an entryway is very plain, yet built at the same time. All have the same terra cotta tile roofs that are still the principal roofing used all over Portugal to this day.
In the unfinished chapel there is the most beautiful arch doorway with stone carving in the columns and around the arches. Although this doorway seems to be protected from the rain the other parts that are open to the elements are beginning to wear away, though I suppose it has lasted 600 to 700 years without a great deal of decay. It truly is a beautiful building:
There are many limestone caves in the hills just to the south of Batalha and we visited one of them. By chance this happened to be the one at Mira de Aire, and it’s the one with the largest caverns and was the first one discovered back in 1947, some of the others weren’t discovered until the 1980’s. This cave gets a lot of visitors in the summer months but we were the only ones on this morning. Inside it is lit by coloured lights that are positioned to highlight little nooks and crannies that hold small stalactites or some other thing of interest. Just enough light to illuminate the concrete steps and path so I didn’t trip over anything. Down we went, past a waterfall that is about 20m high, down past little pools that people just love to toss coins into, down past small clusters of stalactites. The stalactites are not large and don’t form columns here, in fact there is only one or two stalagmites, but there are large flows over the side walls and along the bottom. The limestone in these flows has formed a crust over the surface that is hollow underneath in places. All the time we could here water flowing through a stream. At one point we could look down a hole about 60m to the water at the bottom.
Nearer the bottom there were more stalactites forming shells with fringes and shapes like harps but it was the size of the caverns that was the most impressive thing. They were huge and we went from one down a few steps to the top of the next one and so one, each one at a lower level. At the bottom we were 110m below where we’d entered, in probably the biggest cavern with a ceiling about 30m above us. Here in some little pools there were some man made fountains with coloured lights playing. From here we took a lift that put us outside still well below our starting point.
These caves are nice and I’m glad I saw one, but they are nothing on Jewel Cave in Western Australia, that one is the most outstanding I have ever seen.
Next we came to Fatima: This is the place where 3 young girls, shepherdesses, saw a vision of the Virgin Mary sitting on the branch of a holm oak tree on May 13, 1917. Only one of them could hear what the VM had to say and that was that she would make 5 more appearances on the 13th of each month until October. Two of the girls died in the Spanish flu epidemic a couple of years later but the third one became a nun and was still alive a few years ago, I forgot to ask if she still is. The poor oak tree suffered too, souvenir hunters brought about its demise though a new replacement was planted a few years ago.
A huge square with a large Basilica at one end and a just completed massive round, very modern style church at the other, and two smaller chapels one of either side half way between, covers the area that was once a meadow where sheep grazed. One of the side chapels, the chapel of the Apparition, is where the tree once stood; the new tree is not in the exact same spot. This square can hold hundreds of thousands of people but today there were probably only 60 to 70 about. Like Lourdes the faithful flock here hoping for a repeat performance or miracle cures.
Another thing we saw just a few k’s away was more dinosaurs footprints. These were larger and more ‘paw’ shape. They are is a layer of rock that has been uncovered during quarrying so they have been a little damaged but if it hadn’t been for the quarrying then they would never have been unearthed at all. There are 3 distinct sets of tracks going off across the rock. The type of dinosaurs that made these tracks was an herbaceous one and very large. These prints are about 600mm across. Wouldn’t like him to step on my toes:
Spent a while wandering about the town of Santarem, many parts of it are in similar state of decay to its Brazilian counterpart on the Amazon. Really the only thing worth seeing is the view from what was once the castle walls on top of a steep escarpment overlooking the wide fertile valley of the Tejo River. Pity it was misty and hazy with some showers around, really couldn’t see very far at all. The main churches that didn’t look is a good state of repair from the outside were all closed anyway, so to a ‘time’ museum with lots of clocks.
The one thing we saw a lot of in this general area are the tile pictures. Mainly in blue and white tiles they were all around the market place depicting scenes from long ago. Similar tiles are also used for window decoration, and we also saw some tile ‘pictures’; one was a landscape another was a more religious theme.
A lot of melons and strawberries are grown around here and we saw large fields that are being prepared for planting with sheets of cream plastic laid on top of raised beds. Big irrigation systems are currently standing idle across the fields. Plenty of vineyards in various stages of being pruned and the ever present olive trees. There are some cork around too so I read but as yet I have not been able to identify a cork tree.
In the town of Alcobac̨a we had a look at the huge monastery. It dates from the late 12th century and is one of the most important religious sites here in Portugal. It’s not an attractive building; it has a frontage of about 100m with the church right in the centre with a stone entrance, fairly plain, but most of the rest is white washed plaster with a terra cotta tile roof. It fronts a very large open Prac̨a (square). The church is very plain inside with high vaulted ceilings.
Up to 999 monks used to live here at one time and apparently they lived very well indeed, according one British writer who visited here. Not sure if there are any monks here now, but I don’t think so. The town is very tourist orientated with a street facing the Monastery full of sidewalk cafes and the side streets full of tourist shops. Unlike Batalha just a short distance away with its beautiful abby and very little tourist infrastructure:
Visited a small walled town called Obidos: David had seen the long aqueduct from quite a distance away; it leads right up to the city wall though the last few metres are missing where it was possibly removed when the road was built: It leads back into the hills three k’s to a spring and was built in the 16th century. It was a gift from the Queen of Austria.
This walled town is another of narrow lanes and stepped alleys. Some streets are wide enough for cars, but only one way traffic and not through the gate we entered by, that was pedestrian only. Once inside there are a large number of artisan shops and souvenir shops. A popular item seems to be the tile pictures that we have seen a lot of in this area. They are really lovely with sailing boats being a popular theme.
All the houses are whitewashed with blue paint around the bottom and look quite pretty though some are in need of a refresher coast. Naturally there are several churches and we looked in them. Two had tiles all around the walls and the only parts not tiled was the frescos. At the north-eastern end there is an old fortress and there had been some sort of stage and stalls set up in there probably for Christmas and New Year functions; the whole area was covered in some white stuff that was meant to be artificial snow. We climbed up on the walls and walked along some way with a good view out over the countryside then when the path got too narrow we climbed down again.
More tourists here than we’ve seen anywhere so far. Being within 100k’s of Lisbon I expect that some of the coaches are day trips from Lisbon. A large group of school kids wearing orange and yellow paper hats: Several foreign cars in the car park too.
Out on a small peninsular connected to the mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus is the town of Peniche. Along the north shore of the Isthmus are sand dunes and a lovely beach with a gently rolling surf. It looked so good that we went for a paddle, boy! Was that water cold; it took my breath away as it washed over my feet. The day had been so warm that we had got out our sandals:
This was a quiet and sleepy little town after all the tourists at the last place. Everything was closed up for the lunch time break when we arrived but opened up again at 2pm. There is another fortress here that was used by Salazar as a prison especially for political prisoners.
From a high vantage point we sat and watched the sardine fishing boats returning to port. These are modern boats not the old brightly painted wooden ones. Further around the headland we came to the lighthouse and could see several offshore islands. These islands are a nature reserve but there are some fishing families that live on them too. Just below the cliffs here there are a number of rocky sea stacks. With the warm sunshine and deep blue sea, it was really lovely.*
Followed the coast around to a town called Cascais, it’s a distant beach suburb of Lisbon almost. Linked by commuter train that runs every 20 mins most of the day we thought it would be a good place to stay a couple nights while we had a look around Lisbon. So that is what we did.
We started in Prac̨a do Comercio, a large square with colonnaded buildings on 3 sides, open to the waterfront on the 4th (south). It had a lovely arched entrance to the commercial centre of the city through the north colonnade. This is the Baixa district; built on a grid design it was all rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake that flattened the city. In fact most of the city was destroyed and ideas were put forward to abandon the site altogether and build a new city elsewhere but in the end it was rebuilt. The streets in the district have been named designating the trade that went on in them. Names like Goldsmith Street, Silversmith Street, cobbler street etc. Many buildings are all very much alike, mid to late 18th century and square concrete blocks though there are some very attractive ones sprinkled about if you look about as you wander along.
That district ends as the land starts to rise and beyond that past the lovely Rossio railway station with its 2 horseshoe shaped entrance doors there is a wide avenue, 90m wide and 1000m long, it rises steadily uphill leading into a large parkland area, Parque Eduordo 7th, named after the English King who visited in 1903.
Just as the avenue starts at the lower end there are some high steep hills off to the sided and up these funicular run linking the higher suburbs with the lower ones. There are at 2 funiculars: A large part of the not so steep areas of the city are serviced by trams, very modern looking ones except for a few of old wooden ones on certain routes, for the rest of the city there are busses, and a metro system.
A large red brick round building with blue onion domes, built with a definite Moorish influence is the ‘bull ring’. In Portugal the bull is not killed so I have been told and read. Under the bull ring is a large underground shopping mall. A walk along a long straight road from here brought us to the Gulbenkain museum. On display here is the once private collection of art and artefacts put together by the ‘Father of the oil industry in the middle east’. It is a beautiful collection that includes Persian and Central Asian carpets, both wool and silk, Egyptian pieces that have been raided from tombs including a gold death mask. Ming and Qing dynasty china, and enough paintings and sculptures by European masters to make any gallery drool.
We had taken one of those open topped busses for a tour around the city and to get acquainted with it somewhat. We got off and waked about and looked at things then caught a later bus, they run every 20 mins and it was really good. As we went along the audio guide gave us some of the history and told us something about what we were seeing. We passed part of the old aqueduct; it runs for some 30k’s and was not damaged in the earthquake.
In Belem, a waterside suburb 6k’s west of the centre that used to be the main port back in the era of discovery, a quite new monument stands at the waters edge; representing a Caravel in shape it is to honour the discovers, people like Henri the Navigator, Vasco de Gama, Pedro Cabral etc. Behind this 150m further back is a huge Monastery that was built especially to honour Vasco de Gama who is entombed there. Built with money raised by a tax on the spices that could then be brought back and sold to the rest of Europe after Vasco de Gama discovered the passage to India and the far east.
It is a beautiful building built in the Manualine style with highly decorated entrance archways and around the windows, plenty more ornamentation around the roofline and towers too. It is built in a light coloured stone. The interior has low vaulted ceilings at the entrance then in the Nave, the high vaulted ceilings are supported by decorated pillars that look almost like palm trees as they meet that vaulted roof. It’s quite impressive:
We rode around on the buses and old trams, though there are modern ones too, just that the routes we took only the old trams ply. Saw the castle that has been rebuilt to a great extent since I sat on the old ramparts with my friend Vicki when I was last here in January of 1970. Rebuilt castles don’t have the same ambience as the ones that have been left in their ruined state. This one was destroyed when the Moors were finally beaten and driven from Portugal.
There is an elevator that goes from the Baixa district and lifts you up about 6 stories through a wire mesh cage and deposits you at the top on a bit of a viewing platform with a steel walkway that connects to a street in the Barrio Alto district next to an unfinished church. The church has been in that state for a very long time. From the top of the elevator you can then climb up two more stories of winding narrow steel steps and come to a cafe and a higher viewing platform where there is a great view of the city below and the rebuilt castle on the hill opposite.
We looked in souvenir shops and sat in cafes drinking coffee and eating pastries. Lisbon is a very pleasant place for such past times. They made the best pastries here, it used to be London that had the wonderful pastry shops, and perhaps they are still there but so expensive now, while here a coffee and a pastry is probably cheaper than in would be in Brisbane, and certainly cheaper than Sydney. We also rode the funiculars and had to laugh when, as we were sitting waiting for it to depart we saw some cars driving up and down its path, they just squeeze in and can manage to turn into side streets. This is quite legal but they must give way to the funicular. Along these routes too, there is a narrow pavement on both sides and houses and small shops line both sides. Can’t say that I would like to live overlooking a funicular:
Many of the drivers are women, same with the trams and busses. The tram drivers do have a lot of problems with cars parked in their path. They are extremely good as they edge past a parked car with barely a millimetre to spare. People tend to just park anywhere though there are marked zones and parking and no parking signs, these signs are mostly ignored and only once have we seen anyone that actually looked like a traffic cop. Still, we would hate to try it ourselves as they may ignore the locals and target foreign cars, this happens in lots of places.
One thing in particular that strikes us in Lisbon is the number of beggars on the streets. On Sunday morning there were a lot out and about, especially in one area, but on Monday there were even more, on the train into the city and the everywhere we went. The vast majority seem to be older people too.
© Lynette Regan January 22nd 2008