Travel Stories - Portugal

The first stretch with the bus from Lisbon to Peniche is on the main road towards Leiria but then we go down the main road and stop in a number of small villages near the coast. We read in our travelguides that the Brittish under the leadership of Wellington landed here during Napoleon-times to “secure” Portugal from the Spanish. We stop at the end of the bus-trip, at a shack, which turns out to be the bus station. There is a small industrial area and we walk to a hatch where we look for bus-times which are missing like so many other times. We ask around and decide to walk tot he centre for an information centre. We pass the bridge and gate through the city walls that look beautiful. A beautiful Portuguese girl then brings us all the way to the information center and there we get a map of the city and we hear that we can put our big bags there while we look around. We walk along the waterfront and see the two large piers that are blocked by very strange concrete blocks that have to keep out the Atlantic Ocean. We discover the gate that marks the beginning of the fort "Fortaleza". We already see different openings in the gate; on the one hand we see pictures projected on a screen and we assume that these are images of 1974, April 26 - we see the army and we think this is the liberation of the political prisoners from the fort.

We do not have to pay an entrance fee and walk through the gate to the courtyard. On the other side of the building we encounter the "old" cell-blocks where prisoners could receive and talk to their loved ones, at least with glass in between. We think that it looks like an old doctor's or dentist's practice. There are also many pictures with writings on it but unfortunately only in Portuguese. We also see in the display case some papers and telegrams from people and also some secrets letters that have been smuggled out of the prison. Then we walk out and the sun has come out; we walk into the old prison garden and look over the walls to the Atlantic Ocean, the harbor where the wind blows properly. We can imagine how it must have been here. First it was a 16th-century fort, then a prison during the times of dictator "Salazar" and then a place to hold immigrants from the former colonies (after 1970). There is a strange building on the site; it looks like a façade of a church and there are two stone stairs made with a view and under the stairs somewhat resembling dungeons but there is nothing indicated. Back on the plateau we sit down against the side walls and eat our bread and cheese until some school children come here and we go into the museum out of pure misery. We still take a look in a kind of side street where we see cells on both sides and some toilets.

At the museum of “Salazar” we pay 1.50 euro’s entrance and we see all kinds of stuff on the ground floor from all sorts of times - what is striking are the big roles of lace making. This is kinda unique to see a prison of dictator “Salazar’s” time because we both know little about this dark Portugese era. Outside on a square you seem to see the water supply (the cellars with water) but since there is a whole group of children screaming and shouting we decide to skip this. Also the second floor is a mix of everything. Only on the third floor it get’s really interesting with the cell blocks, torture chamber and it is also a bit lugubrious. We walk back to the first floor where we are the only ones; there is a block of concrete in the middle and we look down through the lattice where we see the ocean coming in. The other block has a staircase and here we see the water supply cellar. On the other side is a chapel and then we walk back to the information center to pick up our bags.

On the other side of the road a few elderly women shout and wave; they want to know if are interested in a room. At the information centre we ask first how much are the rooms they offer in general. There are two campsites closeby but the one is about 3 km outside of the centre (without public transport) and the other one doesn’t look very appealing. Rooms suppose to be 30 euro’s. We haggle for the price and for 25 euro we walk with one of those “babushka’s” towards an empty house. I didn’t expect it to be a total house for ourselves but it is. We put our bags down our beds and walk around before we decide to go out for the last time today. We haven’t seen the pier properly. The wind has dropped considerably and it’s a pleasure to  walk around here with all the romantic couples. We’ve got a good view on the city with his (fish) restaurants and cafe’s. Many straycats walk on the pier waiting for the fisherman. After being at the supermarket we walk back to our “house”.