Obidos, São Martinho do Porto, Nazare, and Italy

Obidos, this is a must see for everyone. An authentic castle town with completely intact walls. It is amazing. It has several streets with cafés and shops, but it doesn’t feel like Disneyland. I’d seen on a vlog that going early was a wise move if you wanted to walk the perimeter town walls. You can do it any time, but the idea of shouldering past people on a ledge with no handrails didn’t sound like a good plan to us. Joe insisted on splurging and taking an Uber from SM to Obidos. I would have stood at some bus stop hoping I was in the right place for an hour, but thankfully we used Uber and were there in thirty minutes.

We requested to be let off at the city gate. It was ten in the morning and the only person around was a guy singing and playing guitar in the giant guard room at the gate. We took an immediate left after that room and ascended the stone stairs past the sign that warned us how dangerous this decision was.

The walkway skirts the entire town. It’s not for the faint of heart or the frail. It’s a serious climb with really tall steps. The top of the wall is on one side and nothing is on the other side. The walkway is on the interior side of the wall to give the guards a view of the valley all around through cut-outs.

This city was apparently made for the king’s wife, way back in 1195. Over time it was fortified and inhabited, but never abandoned. The main church was an odd mix of ornate and extremely simple. The exterior is simple. The interior is also simple, except the alter which is gold-plated.

We found a “medieval bar” and plopped down to rest. It was perfect as it was on a narrow cobblestone street under an ancient arch. Plus it was nice and cool, which I appreciated because the wall-walk was pretty long and in the sun.

I highly recommend a day-trip to Obidos. It was magical, especially in the morning before the crowds arrive in tourist groups, though when it got crowded Joe struck up a conversation with a 91-year-old gent. They were like two peas-in-a-pod as they discussed exercise, travel, and Spanish language schools in Mexico.

We Ubered back for another thirty bucks. I have to say it was worth it. Plus, Joe says we’ve reached that magical age when muscle and money are about equal. In another ten years we’ll have more money than muscle. Sobering thought.

Here in SM is an object of deep fascination to me… an abandoned hotel. This hotel was a thriving business for many years until they got tired of it and decided to retire. According to rumors, they just walked away from it. It’s not like they went bankrupt. They just abandoned it. Now it is being consumed by nature.

Every time I walk past it, I think how much fun it would be to play around this building with its outbuildings. IF I lived here, and IF I were really rich, I’d open it up to kids. I’d remove everything from inside and hire a little herd of goats to come clean up the grounds. I don’t think I’d even put a play structure there, except maybe a slide from the second story to a sand pit at the bottom. This absolutely could never happen in the USA. Somebody would get hurt (without a doubt) and sue me, even though they knew it was a giant old abandoned hotel. But here it could work.

Now is time to give my verdict on living in São Martinho do Porto. Nope. Not gonna happen. It is a great place to come on a week-long vacation, especially with little ones, but to live? We couldn’t do it. First of all there’s no hospital that I know of. The grocery store is a minimart. The big grocery store that you have to walk to is limited. We learned to go to the far-away one early to get the meat, otherwise all the good stuff would be gone. The local open-market is great for fish and oysters, but no red meat. Lots of veggies though and a surprising area of clothing. By the way, I solved the lack of sleep and hip pain...Thankfully they have a memory-foam futon in the front room.

We are bored here, which is why we’re planning little mini-trips like the one to Obidos. I imagine this is a happening place in the summer. I’ve seen pictures and they look nothing like it looks now. I prefer Nazare, by far. ~~ Sooo, we just got back from Nazare. We decided to spend the afternoon there and walk back up to Sitio for the best burger and fries in Portugal. Then went came back down to walk around and build up our appetite for dinner reservations at Restaurante Tabernassa for the best steak in Portugal. Nazare was absolutely chaotic. There were people, children, dogs, pigeons, and seagulls everywhere. I was honestly a little overwhelmed by it all, especially when I got pooped on by a pigeon. Joe had to wash it out of my hair and off the back of my shirt. Thankfully, I’m a country-girl at heart. I just put it out of my mind until I got home to my shower.

We walked to the quieter end of town until dinner. Tabernassa is an absolute favorite of ours, and last night was made more special by our waiter, Paulo. Joe and I always pray before eating. When we’re out in public, it’s a silent prayer, but we hold hands. When we’d finished our little speed-prayer we looked up to find Paulo watching us. He was actually emotional about seeing us pray. He brought it up several times and kept putting his hand to his heart and telling us how touched he was. It’s funny how something so simple can have an impact on a stranger.

That night when we returned to São  Martinho, it felt incredibly peaceful. It felt like home. So, I guess the verdict is: If São  Martinho had a good grocery store, we’d prefer it. We could always drive to Nazare for entertainment.

The weather is supposed to clear up for the remainder of our stay here. Joe will probably join all the school kids getting in the water. The other day they had a group of middle-schoolers out there in kayaks. I’ve mentioned this many times, but the willingness of the Portuguese to let their children take risk fascinates me. Until we started coming here, I didn’t realize how much we’ve removed risk in America.

Regarding the mysterious tunnel from the bay to the open ocean. I posted some videos on Facebook and I got lots of questions asking why the tunnel is there? What’s its purpose? I have two answers, one more charming than the other. The first hypothesis is the tunnel was built to help defend against invaders trying to get into the bay. I like that one. It’s very pirate-like. The other, and probably correct, purpose was it was built in 1948 to divert sewage to the open sea. That seems more of a medieval plan to me, but so does defending the bay. I don’t know which is correct.