Travel Stories - Portugal

Arriving in Obidos, it still drizzles as we walk up a small road and see a cafe where we order a nice cup of coffee and a "pastel" (a milk pie) that tastes great. When we get outside we see busloads of tourists coming from the parking lot on our side. We walk the opposite direction towards the tourist information. There we can dump that terrible heavy bag we are carrying around. We walk through a gat which is part of the city-walls where a gentleman is playing guitar under a canopy in one corner and in the other a woman is embroidering with a big sign in front of her work. Between the city walls there is a beautiful tiled wall applied with even more beautiful performances. Inside the city walls occurs a labyrinth of white houses with yellow, blue and red paint. The rain stopped and we see the many "ginja" (liqueur drunk in a chocolate cup) ads. We will do that later, first we enjoy the very narrow main street and the many small side streets that go up and down. Flower pots, decorations, paintings and many souvenirs make the street look like a fairground attraction, a very romantic town.  

A small square with a church, more flower pots and then the castle looms up for us This castle is built within the city-walls on the other side of town. There is even a "pousada" (hostel) in the castle and we have a look at what the price is: cheapest is 230 euros per night. We walk a bit over the citywalls with a perfect view of the town with all its roofs, patios, gardens etc. and then walk back to try a "ginja"; we look for where we saw the 1 euro sign and then drink our liqueur from a tiny chocolate cup; it is red, sweet and delicious and after that you can eat your own cup. We walk back quietly to the information centre, pick up our big bags and then go to where we have to take the bus to Alcobaca. Relieved, we take a breath when a bus arrives three quarters of an hour later.

We arrived in Alcobaca and walked in vain to a campsite that no longer exists. We visit the information center and then go where we came for this afternoon. A beautiful church or monastery in the distance with terrible large pillars; it looks renovated and only because it is so big it is impressive. But first we go to the real monastery in "Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaca". A large room with large statues of saints I guess with beautiful blue and white tiles underneath and something similar to a large Asterix & Obelix sauce-pan. A patio with orange trees and large galleries with grotesque lamps in it. Dom Henriques, the first king of Portugal, had this built as a tribute after the battle of "Santarem" which was won on the Moors and at the peak there were about 999 monks who were first farmers and then teachers. In the end they picked up pots and pans and made sculptures of stone, wood and clay. The latter is also reflected in the next large room where again large statues stand. 

On the first floor is the view amazing – we see a real 16th century garden with a labyrinth with hedges. Through a window we also have a view of the two tombs of Dom Pedro and his beloved Dona Ines. Upstairs is a very large room where you can give a big big party with a lot of columns and for the rest the space is completely empty. Back down we ended up in the kitchen, with a waterparty coming straight from the river - a way to catch the freshest fish you can think of. Large water pipes with taps with images. In the last large space again images and a number of niches; one thing stands out; there is a very small door that leads out of the room; if the monk did not fit through, he had to vast until he was able to go through the gap again. We are going to look at the two tombs of the two lovers; Dom Pedro and Dona Ines. It is a chilling story where Dona was murdered to not let her marry the heir to the throne while they were already secretly married. When he became king he still crowned her queen and first took the heart and then ate it from all her murderers. The graves look very renovated with some pieces missing; the French have searched for gems in the graves and didn’t care about semi-destroying the tombs.