Portugal!!

We are situated in the small coastal town of Nazare about 110kms north of Lisbon (pronounced Lisbo). It’s a traditional fishing village that has managed to maintain much of its identity, even as modern tourism has found the village with its lovely parcel of sand fronting the town, towering cliffs and the massive waves that thunder continuously against the very steep wall of sand. Some amazing winter and spring storms must roll in from the open Atlantic to set up a sandy beach like this.

 

I mentioned that while tourism has found this town, it has also managed to maintain its traditional identity. On arrival you are met by women from all over town with rooms to let for the night in their homes dressed in colorful multiple layered dresses…I haven’t been greeted like this since walking off the small ferries in the Greek islands in 1975.

We were tempted to be led off, but felt that wifi (pronounced weefee) might be quite hard to come by so we made the decision to stay in an old, very funky hotel on the waterfront. It’s the sort of place we like to stay, clean with a nice dose of character. At E35/night ($42) it’s a steal! Bed a bit hard, but it’s the price you sometimes have to pay for funky! There is a shower and ensuite bath so all is well, but as in Spain breakfast is not included in the price (oops...turns out it is!!). Turns out there is wifi here, but we are up 3 floors (walking only) and the walls are just too thick…so I write this early downstairs while Annemarie sleeps.

In any event I have wandered off again. After walking the beach and finding a small store for water we stopped in at a small bar for a cold beer where we enjoyed learning a bit of Portuguese with the owner of the place. Quite willing to help with this limited English…son lives in Toronto. As we wandered back to the hotel to get ‘dressed’ for dinner we were quite surprised to be greeted by the site of dozens of small elderly women all dressed in widow’s black walking the waterfront promenade. It’s a southern European tradition in most towns and cities for the population to dress up and walk the streets in the early cool of the evening just before dinner where they visit with friends, family and neighbors. There is a name for this which I forget for the moment. In any event, in this town it is mostly the elderly who take a stroll…quite an unusual sight!

As we went in search of a place for dinner we passed the fish drying racks on the beach with a local woman taking down and covering the racks for the night. I expect we will see them all set back out in the morning.

Dinner was excellent. The sea food is abundant and the primary source of cuisine in Portugal which suits one of us just fine! I selected my fish from an amazing array of options displayed in crushed ice, it was weighed and a price agreed on before it was whisked off to the brassier.

We ordered a bottle of Vinho Verde which is a very young local white wine and very tasty. We talked (with our eyes occasionally tracking to the Euro 2012 game which was silently been broadcast across the room)...and then the food started to arrive. There were salads, bowls of new potatoes, bread and the main event, followed by a shared dessert…all for about $45. In Holland a meal like this would have cost about $85+. We finished eating at about 10PM just as the Portuguese began to arrive for their meal. We have learned from our Spanish travels that we just aren’t equipped over a short visit to eat on the timelines the locals use. We don’t take siesta and while we have been staying up late most nights, 2 or 3 AM just doesn’t work well when you want to go places the next day!

We have decided to stay here for at least the weekend and tour from here. There are some good historical villages within easy driving from here and of course some good walking beaches. Time to wake up my pal and get on with this day…promises to be warm and full of new discoveries :0)