Our second day tour was to four different town north of Lisbon. They are outlined below in the order we saw them. It may be better to drive to and through these towns on your own. Otherwise the tour bus was the best option if self-driving was not possible.
Obidos
Obidos Side Street
Obidos is a hilltop fortified village and castle which was established atop of a Roman town. Prior to the first king of Portugal taking over this area, the village was under the rule of three groups – the Romans, then the Visigoths, and finally the Moors – all of whom had their influences on the architecture. Of course, while walking through the village, we were noticing all the stalls that had the cherry liqueur, Ginjinha. It’s the touristy thing to do while Obidos as it is a typical drink for this town along with Lisbon. I had already tried this liqueur in Lisbon in a chocolate cup.
Obidos
Obidos is a small little town worth stopping for a short time just to walk through and look around. I don’t think I would have wanted to spend a night but could have a spent a little longer than the half hour or so we had with the tour company.
Obidos
Alcobaça
The next stop was Alcobaça to see the Abbey of Santa Maria. As the tour guide was providing commentary in three languages, it was hard to pay attention and to remember much about any of the stops. So I went online to find more information about the building.
Abbey of Santa Maria
The abbey, a building of the Cistercian order, was established in 1153 and was completed in 1223. The building was built to commemorate the victory against the Moors. Now the abbey is a World Heritage Site as UNESCO defines this building as the finest example of Cistercian architecture in Europe.
One of two Carved Tombs
The reason for the stop, other than to admire the architecture, was for the carved tombs of King Pedro I and his beloved Inês de Castro. You can read about the story here. While admiring the tombs and the work that went into carving them, we were told the story of the king and his beloved.
Nazaré
Nazaré
Nazaré is a small seaside village on the Atlantic coast. This is where we stopped for a lunch break. We chose not to dine with the group but instead explore the village during this time. Our tour guide was telling us about the traditional costumes the local fisherman and their wives wear. The wives have a tradition of wearing 7 layers of flannel skirts – we saw a few walking around but couldn’t tell if they were wearing 7 layers. Also, there was a long stretch of sandy beach and we overhead a different tour group hearing about the great, and dangerous, surf that this village has. Before we knew it, we were back on the bus heading to Batalha.
Batalha
Monastery of Batalha
There really isn’t much to see in Batalha other than the monastery. The Monastery of Batalha (literally meaning the Monastery of Battle) is a Dominican convent and was built to commemorate the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota. According to the Wikipedia entry for this covent,it is the best and original example of two architectural styles in Portugal – Late Gothic and Manueline. It is worth the stop to admire the architecture and the monastery is a UNESCO world heritage site as well.
Fatima
Our final destination on the tour was Fatima. This was the longest stop of the tour which may be ok for some, but for someone like me, it was too much time. It was interesting to hear the tour guide tell the story of the apparitions that appeared to three girls. Other than the story, it only takes a moment to check out the churches (old and new). We walked around for a while checking out the many stalls selling only religious mementos, sat and munched on our mixed nuts and fruits and waited patiently for the tour bus to return.
