Óbidos is a town we had not heard of until a few days ago. Now it ranks high on my “cute town” list. It is about an hour from Lisbon on the way to Porto. Our delightful tour guides, David and Daniel, gave us nearly two hours to explore this charming medieval town. I could have stayed a few days.
The first sign of ancient architecture is the aqueduct as we turned into the town. This was the lowest aqueduct I have seen; the rest have run sky high through valleys and meadows.
Óbidos - obi-dosh - means citadel.
The name is derived from…hold your breath…castle on a hill, what else?
The castle in Óbidos dates back to the Roman era and changed hands as you might expect - to the Visigoths, Moors and finally the Christians. Fortunately, it has remained intact through these handoffs, the 1775 earthquake and the intervening centuries.
Here’s a panoramic view, thanks to Wikipedia.
Today, the narrow and hilly alleys up to the castle are dotted with food carts, souvenir shops and homes, perfect eye candy for tourists.
The church in the center of town was open so I beelined to the chapel to keep alive a long-standing family tradition. I lit candles for the kids and prayed for peace, good health and wisdom.
The stores were adorable with some of the wares neatly displayed at the entrance. The staggered roof tiles, colors on the walls and moss completed the visual symphony.
With two intrepid fellow travelers, I did precisely what our guides told us not to do. We climbed the treacherous castle walls to soak in the views from the top. Why, you ask? Because we only live once and better do now what the knees may not allow on the next visit.
From Óbidos we went 30 minutes north to Nazaré on the Atlantic shore. The history of Nazaré dates back to the 4th century when a wooden statue of Virgin Mary was brought here from Nazareth. In addition to the religious history that followed, the town is famous for some of the highest waves in the world. The canyon in the Atlantic near Nazaré is the source of these gigantic waves and the reason why professional surfers come here to hone their skills. If you are into surfing or want gorgeous cliffside views, definitely put Nazaré on your itinerary. For me, the town appeared a bit sleepy because this isn’t the season of big waves.
As we drove to Porto, I thought about the dozen friends in our group. They started life in similar contexts, had the same education but took away different life lessons and traveled on varied personal and professional trajectories. Mostly they agree about life and things that matter and sometimes they don’t. That’s alright because they make great effort to realign with urgency and with a sense of camaraderie. The lesson I am taking back from this reunion is we take different alleys to the same end - from dust to dust - and the point is to live, laugh and love in between.
Portugal, its hospitable people, scenic towns and amazing food have provided us just the right mix of ingredients to do this and for that I am incredibly grateful.
Also, what’s not to like about XXL pastries?!
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