Portugal Part III : Nazaré and Coimbra

I neglected to document a day’s excursion that we made from Obidos, so capturing it here as it was a fabulous day to Batalha and the beautiful Nazaré.

We drive about 50 minutes to visit Batalha monastery. It’s a Dominican abbey considered a masterpiece of Portuguese gothic architecture (described as late flamboyant) and as such is a UNESCO world heritage site. The pale limestone structure was started in 1385 and various kings made their mark on the building.

We buy tickets to visit inside and get to see the tomb of King Alfonso V and Queen Isabel. We also catch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. The cloisters are beautiful……

We have a spot of lunch in the square looking at the monastery and avail of the public toilets (vitally important when traveling) and when done we continue to a seaside town called Nazaré. Nazaré got its name from a monk who apparently arrived from Nazareth with a statue of the Virgin Mary in the 4th century.

Nazaré has a beautiful beach backed by steep cliffs. We arrive to the small village (called Sitio) at the top of the cliffs overlooking the beach.

There’s a tiny building that I see people entering to say a prayer, with a small alter inside and I find out later it’s a memorial to the Virgin Mary. According to legend, the Virgin Mary saved a local dignitary from following a deer that leapt off the cliff in a sea mist in 1182.

We take a funicular down the hill and dip our feet in at the beach. It’s fairly cold (nowhere near our recent paddle in Inchidoney mind you!!)

There is a row of old ladies sitting in deck chairs but they are not looking toward the beach as you’d expect, they are facing into the town… it seems quite strange but I suppose they’re more interested in who’s who and what’s going on than enjoying the seaside!!

After a light refreshment we make the journey back to Obidos and pack up ahead of tomorrow’s departure.

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We depart Obidos and get on the road to first visit some Roman ruins. Conimbriga was an Iron Age settlement with a long history when the Romans conquered it in 136 BC. It became known as the Roman town of Lusitania. They’re not the most exciting ruins but it’s an enjoyable ramble around the site and there are some nice tiles.

We head further north to Coimbra, the former capital of Portugal. It faces the river on a hillside and is very picturesque as we approach it over the bridge…..

I’ve done a bit of research on what we should eat and an old pastry shop comes up as a must visit…. They have giant meringues which seem to be their speciality but we opt for more appropriate lunchtime fare…. There’s a fairly decent queue and on entering the building a low flying pigeon swoops Shane and nearly takes him out!!

We walk up the narrow streets toward the hilltop and the university…

The university of Coimbra is the oldest in Portugal. We enjoy rambling around the various faculty buildings and checking out the many statues

Time flies by and we must get back down the hill and move onwards to Porto.