Tomar and Nazare

On to Portugal

The border with Portugal

Welcome to Portugal Hill Towns

Heading from Avila (pronounced a-vi-LA) to Castelo Branco was in keeping with our idea of doing approx. 300 kms. a day. The ride was easy , with no traffic to begin with, then we began climbing up into a mountain pass and then down on the other side with really tight corners and sheer cliffs to one side. It was such a change in pace but it was nice too. 

When we got into Plasencia we picked up some fruit to eat and headed for Castelo Branco with the deal being we wouldn’t make a decision on whether to head on further until we saw the town. The border crossings between Spain and Portugal was probably the most interesting in that there is no formal crossing now because of the EU rules, but of course there are all the old buildings and the required country signs. 

By the time we got here it was very hot so we changed into the “air” version of our riding gear, had some fruit and continued on. When we got to Castelo Branco it wasn’t anything impressive so we decided with approx 100 kms of Autobahn we’d gain the time and stop in Tomar. Now Sandra did the research for this area and of course consulted the UNESCO World Heritage Sites register to see if there were any in this area. 

Some of you may think we are either on a UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS ) quest or a religious pilgrimage quest, neither is the case, the fact is our human history is intrinsically linked to religion because it was so central in human development and the historians were most often clergy.


Segovia ( Aquaduct) and Avila (Walled City) are two WHS. There was mention of a “Convento o Cristo” in Tomar in the UNESCO book .

Convento do Cristo Order of the Knights Templar

Entrance to Church

Sandra had made a note that if we were going thru there to stop and see it. Well the next morning when we did we were absolutely blown away with our impressions of it. 

First it was right out of an Indiana Jones scene, and with nearly no one there it is apparently not on many of the tour routes yet, though some did show up later.
Next, it hasn’t really been restored yet, some work is being done, so the old mold, moss, and patina colorations are all original and authentic. 

Then of course the architecture dates from 1160 to begin with, and then the mystical story of the Order of the Knights Templar comes to reality here, with this being the preparation convent where the 'Reconquista' plan for pushing back the Muslims in Spain and elsewhere was developed. 

Then as we toured, the inner sanctum of the church was revealed and it was like you stepped back in time completely. Needless to say we spent a lot of time touring this place and it has become to highlight of our trip so far.

An Explanation on the origin of Convento

Order of the Knights Templar Symbol

Inner Sanctum with Crucifix in Centre

See explanation below

On to Fatima, a major stop for anyone Catholic. Needless to say it was a very powerful and personal experience for me. And to round out our WHS for the day, Batalha, another monastery town about 11 kms from Fatima, so we can count it. We will have an serious hit list by the time this trip is finished.

We then headed to Nazare, a town on the Portuguese Atlantic coast that is famous for it’s Phoenician style fishing boats.








Rick Steves makes the place famous as well as it is covered in his videos. Fortunately it is off season so it wasn’t busy but it sure got hot. We stopped down in the beach town part, then headed up to Sitio, the upper view part. There we met a lady selling nuts and dancing in the traditional crinolines of Portugal. I thought I’d ask here if she knew of any rooms and she ran over to another lady who was eating in the tavern and before you know it we were shown a “house” right at the viewpoint. 

The view from our "House" a $1M for 40E a night

Cliff views like from
the restaurant we visited
Breathtaking!

 

Needless to say we took it. After we’d walk the upper town part and found Arimar a restaurant with a million dollar view of the coastline, and great grilled salmon and wine for supper. We stayed an extra day, and since the house came with a washer we did laundry as well. Life is good in Portugal.