Europe Journal 1999
Nazaré-Coimbra
Hello, all. I'm passing on a journal entry from my trip – it's a little long, and I won't be hurt if you don't read it. Here's a summary: Portugal is beautiful, we're having fun and eating well, and always look into your orange juice before you drink it.
-Tony
Wednesday, October 6
There is something amazing about Portugal. The country is mostly mountainous, which makes it quite beautiful, especially as you wind down mountain roads. The roads are, however, a little narrow, which tests my skill as a driver. I have to keep slowing down for curves, speeding up again, and slowing down again. And you always have to keep on your side of the road because you never know when a big semi will come barreling around the corner. The semis are, of course, European-sized, but they still take up most of their allotment of the road. But I've gotten more or less used to it, though I still drive a little slower than most of the locals.
So my day began most inauspiciously when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw some of the pulp in my fresh-squeezed orange juice move. That got my attention – could it just be the eddies in the liquid, stirring the pulp? Nope, it was a little white worm in the juice – I saw three altogether – and OH MY GOD I had been DRINKING it! Ugh! I tried to tell myself it was just a bit of extra protein (the waiter joked that it was sumo com carne – juice with meat) and not a prelude to dysentery or a tapeworm. So far, by the way, I'm fine. Anyway, the waiter told me he had just squeezed the juice, and he took some oranges and squeezed some more, and there was one worm in that juice. So, no juice for me. The waiter was nice about it, and I just laughed about it – it was funny, after all, and there wasn't anything more to do about it anyway. All of this reminded me about a cheese I read about, a local specialty in Corsica, which has little white worms in it. I always wondered if I could bring myself to try it (I love special cheeses) and I think probably I could not. I could tell myself it would be okay, but I don't know that I could actually eat it.
On our way out of Nazaré we drove up to the top of the head of land where the old town is. That's the same head of land that the Funicular leads up to. Last night we had seen the town square there, and had walked part way out on the point, which was very beautiful. After breakfast, after a quick visit to the tourist office I divined that on the end of that point was the building (a farolim, a word I must look up [it means "small lighthouse"]) that I remembered from my visit when I was eleven. I had gone there with my mother and sister (by car, although I now know it can easily be hiked by adults) and we had scrambled down the side of the bluff near the farolim to the wide, flat, beach, and we sat a moment down in the shadows of the cliffs. I had promised myself that I would go back, and so I convinced Eric to accompany me down the side again. The building itself, by the way, is of limited interest, and has no markers on it except for the words "farolim de Nazaré", whatever that means. Anyway, we went down there, and when I reached the bottom I could see why I had felt then that I had to return. Of course, I was only eleven, so I was probably being a little dramatic, but anyway it was worth the climb down. The exposed rock of the cliff is made up of many different kinds of rock, and you can see how the ocean wears it away all in different ways. Some of the rock is sedimentary rock clearly made from compressed sand, and you can touch it yourself and rub some of that sand away.
That kind of rock is similar to cement, and now I can see how man invented cement – he looked at this kind of rock and said "I can do that."
We hit the road after that and took the scenic route to Tomar. It was the most direct route, but a diversion down to the tollway would have been faster anyway. I preferred this, though – these were the winding mountain roads I describe above, and I saw some really beautiful scenery. The mountains were not really high – it might be best to call them big hills and not little mountains – and they are covered in lush greenery, mostly shorter trees. Some have castles and citadels perched on top, and most have towns spilling down them into the valleys, all whitewashed houses with red tile roofs.
On the way we saw some interesting town names: Chão de Maçãs (Ground of Apples) and Vale dos Ovos (Valley of the Eggs), plus others I don't remember.
On the way to Tomar we passed through Fátima, and stopped to look at the shrine. It's a big, impressive shrine, with a truly vast open space in front of it for crowds (comparable in size, I think, to the plaza at the Vatican that people crowd in front of to see the Pope).
In Fátima we had lunch – simple ham-and-cheese sandwiches from a snack bar, to go.
Tomar is the site of the hilltop citadel headquarters of the Knights Templar in Portugal, and a convent was later built in the citadel. It is now just an antiquity, though it's not all open to the public yet (it's still being restored), and it is another UNESCO world heritage site. My guidebook had some quite interesting stories about the Knights Templar, and how they had too much power in Portugal, and the king had them disbanded and they re-formed under a new name. However the information brochure we got there had nothing but glowing things to say about the order, and how they had helped with Portugal's exploration of the world, etc., etc. It said hey had a "mission of chivalry" that they continued with in Portugal, after fleeing persecution in France. It makes me want to learn more about them.
The site itself was beautiful. Some of the areas are falling apart completely, and others are in very good repair. They were working on it while we were there. The famous octagonal temple of the Knights Templar was covered in scaffolding. It is covered in stunning frescoes which are only half-there now. There were also several nice cloisters, and three sample convent cells. These were all very simple, with built-in stone chairs and desks that were little more than stone blocks (very modernist!). One style of room had a fireplace in the middle which occupied most of the room. The fireplace was just a raised stone on the floor with a small pile of logs in the middle. Above this was a large vent up to a covered chimney – simple and practical.
Our next stop was Coimbra, the University town and one-time capital of Portugal. The University is the oldest and most prestigious in Portugal, though the town itself is rather small (at 80,000 people, it is half the size of Providence without the surrounding metropolitan area). We have not gone up the hill to the oldest section yet, which is where the University is. Our hotel is in the baixa, the lower town, and we walked through there tonight. It is mostly off-limits to cars, but cars could hardly fit down most of these streets anyway. It fact, it would be completely impossible in many of the streets. They are on average wide enough for four people to walk abreast, but most widen or narrow as they go along. In most apartments you could look out you window and see easily into your neighbor's without even trying. There is a lot of shopping here – there are scores of shoe stores, plus clothing stores, dressmakers, and so on. On some streets you forget that you are in a real town and you think that you are in a mall. Other streets, though, seem like dark alleys.
Our restaurant, Adega Paço do Conde, was in the baixa. It featured grilled meats, and was cheap and good. I had a steak (a little overdone, to be honest – I might have done better with pork), and Eric had alheira, a garlic sausage made of garlic, bread, and bits of meat. That was delicious (of course I had some of it too). It was similar to the migas (which is sort of like a big meat pancake) that I had in Estremoz in eastern Portugal, but with more garlic and a crispier outside. For desert, Eric had a leite e creme, a sort of custard similar to a crème brulée, but without the sugar crust. I had a disappointing slice of cake with nuts. We drank the house red wine with dinner, and it was good, especially for only three dollars.
Then we strolled back to our hotel and hefted ourselves up the four flights to our room.