Portugal

Cascais

The beautiful town of Cascais (one of the richest municipalities in Portugal) was our first introduction to Portugal, it was wonderful to anchor near the white sand beach in a protected bay.  After completing the formalities we explored our new country for a few days then followed Steve on SV Christina Pearl up the Tagus river to Seixal a small fishing village where we anchored in a narrow shallow river.  A fast ferry makes a quick trip across to Lisbon.  During low tide our boat lies in the few metres of water deep enough for her keel while all around fisherman harvest clams from the muddy bottom.  A beautiful picturesque peaceful setting – I never want to leave.

Marina Parque da Nacoes  (Park of the Nations)

Sadly leaving Seixal behind we make our way across the Tagus River to the marina in the area known as “Park of the Nations” – this is the location where the 1998 World Fair was held.  The area is full of artwork, parks, restaurants and one of the largest multilevel shopping centres in Portugal.  Being only 2 metro stops from the airport the shopping centre is very popular with visitors with a few hours to spare.  White Rose 1 spent the winter in the marina – I must say my little fan heater was rarely turned off.   When we first arrived the area was full of school children, families, runners, bikers – people everywhere – once the cold weather came everyone disappeared – we were the only occupied boat in the marina over winter and the streets were bare.  Once the weather warmed up again everyone reappeared, quite amazing.  During the long winter I tried to teach myself a few words in Portuguese – the only people I found that spoke English were the marina staff.  I failed according to the confused look locals gave me. I just couldn’t get my mouth/tongue around the lisp / guttural sounds.

Sintra

We spent a day exploring the fairy tale city of Sintra.  Sintra offers many historical buildings to explore, it was difficult to decide which ones we could enjoy in the time we had.  The area is mountainous, lush green, heavily wooded, calm and quiet.  I felt I was in a different world as we wandered through narrow steep streets amongst the spires and escarpments of historic palaces, castles, monasteries and monuments – a World Heritage site, UNESCO.

The Sintra National Palace (Palácio Nacional de Sintra), is the best preserved medieval Royal Palace in Portugal, having been inhabited more or less continuously at least from the early 15th up to the late 19th century.

The Pena National Palace (Palácio Nacional da Pena) was my favourite. It is a Romanticist palace standing on top of a hill above the town. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world.  With the fog swirling around the spires high on the mountain top the feeling was serene and surreal at the same time – even spooky as I am sure I could hear the guards in their armour calling to each other.

The Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouros) is a hilltop medieval castle. Taken by Christian forces from the Moors after the fall of Lisbon, it was an important strategic point during the Reconquista.  The castle was constructed during the 8th to 9th century, during the period of Muslim Iberia.  The walls remain and some structures within – the view from the walls over the countryside was worth the hot climb.

Obidas

When 13th-century Portuguese Queen Isabel passed through Obidos and marvelled at its beauty, her husband King Denis I simply gave it to her. For centuries after, the kings of Portugal followed suit, presenting the picturesque little town to their queens as a wedding gift.

Surrounded by a classic crenelated wall, Óbidos’ gorgeous historic centre is a labyrinth of cobblestoned streets and flower-bedecked, whitewashed houses livened up with dashes of vivid yellow and blue paint.

Each July Óbidos castle hosts a traditional 'Medieval Market'. For two weeks the castle and the surrounding town recreate the spirit of medieval Europe.  We were fortunate enough to be there at that time – we stayed in a small B & B, our room had enough space for the bed but so much character and a very impressive breakfast of fresh baked breads, various cheeses, meats, olives and lots of freshly brewed coffee.

Flowing banners and heraldic flags were hung around the walled town together with hundreds of entertainers and stall holders dressed as merchants, jugglers, jesters, wandering minstrels, soldiers and more. Traditional handcrafts were available along with medieval shows, horse displays and a costumed parade that winds its way through the streets. There are also displays of jousting knights and armed combat.

Spit roasted hog, hearty soups, rabbit, lamb, cod, quail, sausages and other grilled meats are just some of the many medieval style meals on offer from dozens of "taverns" and stalls spread throughout the market. Drinking from pewter tankards and eating from wooden trencher all adds to the experience.  It was fun, especially practising the skill of correctly drinking the local specialty “Obidas” sour cherry liquor “Ginja”.  You take a tiny chocolate cup, fill it with the sour cherry liquor and place the entire morsel in your mouth – it is so good !!!

Porto

Our trip to Porto was fun - nice to get away from boat jobs.  We hired a car, mapped out the route without using the “toll” roads (Portuguese tolls add 30 euros plus to a trip to Porto and return).  After going around in circles for an hour we thought our cost saving route was moot as we were using the savings in fuel going nowhere and spending precious time exploring dirty dark back streets.   We had booked a room in a Castle just above the city – it looked very Impressive on the internet – “Santa Catarina Castle” is part of the romantic hotels collection, and classified as a building of heritage and architectural interest in the city of Porto (read between the lines lol ).   The castle was bit of an imposter having been built in the 19th century but filled with period furniture and beautiful gardens and staff to suit – a lovely treat. 

We visited a "cave" which is the holding place for wooden barrels of port - very long lines of barrels stacked upon each other.  The brand name was "Taylor" and the port wonderful.  We intended to drive alongside the Douro river and visit the area where they grow the grapes and of course sampling along the way but somehow half way along we took a wrong turn - and no one is putting their hand up as to whose fault that was but Don was the driver :-)  We ended up high in the mountains in the snow.  We stayed the night in a small village and drove through the Estrelle National Park situate on the highest mountain in Portugal.  Who would have thought Portugal would get a thick covering of snow – we really were not dressed for the occasion but had a great time regardless.

Don spent a few days in Virginia, USA.  I sent him off with a long list of boat parts and a short list of food products one of which was rolled oats, not easy to find in Portugal.  His return to Portugal was funny - they have a 27% VAT payable on any imported goods Don brings into Portugal - Don boldly assured customs officials he didn't have anything to declare and brazenly walked through with a bulging bag, rattling with metal parts and leaking porridge oats from its wheel cavities leaving a long trail of “minute” oats.  I was horrified as I watched him hold his head up high and continue to wheel his bag down the ramp to freedom - the cardboard cylindrical container burst in his bag and leaked oats throughout. 

We celebrated Valentine’s Day by hiring a car and driving to the beautiful town of Evora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site complete with Roman temple and Moorish buildings partly surrounded by a 14th Century wall.  I had researched what to see and "Chapel of Bones" was top of my list. 

Survey
In typical Portuguese fashion it was difficult to book the travelift - the mainstream Portuguese are very relaxed and what can be put off until tomorrow surely must be !!  Our marina has a tiny boatyard with a 36 ton rated travellift - White Rose is 23 so all good.  We booked our surveyor for 10.30.  Our a 9am lift was 1.5hrs before high tide to allow enough time to be lifted, have the boat washed down, the surveyor to inspect the hull, a couple of anodes replaced on her hull and back in the water before the tide dropped - the marina has a bad silting problem so not a lot of water underneath White Rose.  Our lift kept being put off as the tide had not risen enough meanwhile the normal calm day changed to strong cross winds - 24 knots. 
Our surveyor arrived at 10.30 and we had not left the dock to motor to the boatyard - he came along with us which was a bit scary as we did not know how well WR would perform with strong cross winds and a barnacled propeller - Don did an amazing job winding her in and out to get her into the travel lift slip but we were on the bottom - had to plough our way in which meant they could not get the straps underneath her keel so we waited for more water.  She finally got lifted, the tires on the travel lift were almost flat with the weight - no one in the boatyard had bothered to check her depth - one of the most important aspects of a lift.  Her bottom was cleaned and looked surprisingly good - no blisters and paint job good - must be the difference between tropical waters and cold water either that or we could take the credit on a great job in Trinidad.  We put her back in as soon as the last anode was replaced - the sealant required 1 hr to dry before launching but Don didn't want to waste that much time as the tide was going out - just as well because once lowered we were sitting in the mud in the bottom again and had to plough our way out and keep forcing our way until we got back into the marina - all against waves and strong wind - not much fun but was nice when we were tucked in tight in a berth again.  The survey document was complimentary (favourable that is not $ free !), smiles all around !
Next stop – Gibraltar….

Evora

The “Capela dos Ossos” was built in the 16^th century by a Franciscan monk who wanted to prod his fellow brothers into contemplation of life being transitory.  The Chapel is located next to the entrance of the Church of St. Francis. The warning at the entrance states “We, the bones that are here, await yours.”.   The chapel is formed by 3 spans 18.7 metres long and 11 metres wide.  Its walls and eight pillars are decorated in carefully arranged bones and skulls of approx. 5000 monks held in place with cement.  The ceiling is made of white painted brick and painted with death motifs.  Two desiccate corpses, one of which is a child, dangle from a chain.  I was fascinated, the bones were artfully placed to create different designs and add shape to the Chapel.

Monsaraz

The following day we drove to Monsaraz which is one of Portugal's oldest settlements.  Monsaraz is a tiny fairytale walled village that maintains a delightful medieval atmosphere. It was originally fortified by the Knights Templar, and today its 150 or so permanent residents live in 16^th and 17^th Century white houses with outdoor staircases and wrought iron balconies.  The area of Monsaraz was successfully occupied by Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Mozarabs, Jews and Christians.  After its final reconquest from Almohads or Arabs in 1232, Sancho 11 donated this region to the Order of the Temple.  It was only during the reign of Alfonso 111 that Martin Anes, one of the King’s most trusted knights, began the Christian repopulation of the region, issuing a charter in 1276 that turned Monsaraz into the administrative, judicial and military seat.

I mentioned our trip to Steve “SV Christina Pearl” whose boat was anchored in the river Guadiana on the boarder of Portugal and Spain - much to our delight Steve and Alex turned up in Monsaraz and we spent a wonderful day exploring and an amazing dinner at the Knights Templar Restaurant - Don had most tender tasty octopus ever known and I had the local delicacy - black pig - the skin is black, the pig eats the fruit surrounding the acorns that fall from the cork trees therefore has a distinct flavour - I didn't notice the flavour but it was nice meat.  I fell in love with Monsaraz, so old, pretty and completely different to what we see in Australia. 

On our way out of the region we stopped by the Menhir of Outeiro, (sites of fertility rites) one of the tallest menhirs ever discovered at 5.6m. 

Our insurance company insisted on a boat survey for insurance for 2014.  We were fortunate to get away with not having one performed until now.   Having a list of all the places a surveyor looks for problems we began work.

The dock lines were finally untied some ….. months after arriving.  We made our way down the western coast of Portugal into the area known as the Algarve – this is the popular holiday destination area and where we found English speaking visitors.  Stopping along the way in small fishing villages we made our way to Iiha de Culatra.  An almost land locked lagoon, clam, peaceful and free – a haven.  The tiny island did not have any motorised vehicles with the exception of a few tractors to launch the fishing punts – the roads and footpaths were sand.  We caught the local ferry into Olhao then a local bus to Faro where we explored the ancient walled city.