Obidos, São Martinho do Porto, Nazare, and Italy

Obidos, this is a must see for everyone. An authentic castle town with completely intact walls. It is amazing. It has several streets with cafés and shops, but it doesn’t feel like Disneyland. I’d seen on a vlog that going early was a wise move if you wanted to walk the perimeter town walls. You can do it any time, but the idea of shouldering past people on a ledge with no handrails didn’t sound like a good plan to us. Joe insisted on splurging and taking an Uber from SM to Obidos. I would have stood at some bus stop hoping I was in the right place for an hour, but thankfully we used Uber and were there in thirty minutes.

We requested to be let off at the city gate. It was ten in the morning and the only person around was a guy singing and playing guitar in the giant guard room at the gate. We took an immediate left after that room and ascended the stone stairs past the sign that warned us how dangerous this decision was.

The walkway skirts the entire town. It’s not for the faint of heart or the frail. It’s a serious climb with really tall steps. The top of the wall is on one side and nothing is on the other side. The walkway is on the interior side of the wall to give the guards a view of the valley all around through cut-outs.

This city was apparently made for the king’s wife, way back in 1195. Over time it was fortified and inhabited, but never abandoned. The main church was an odd mix of ornate and extremely simple. The exterior is simple. The interior is also simple, except the alter which is gold-plated.

We found a “medieval bar” and plopped down to rest. It was perfect as it was on a narrow cobblestone street under an ancient arch. Plus it was nice and cool, which I appreciated because the wall-walk was pretty long and in the sun.

I highly recommend a day-trip to Obidos. It was magical, especially in the morning before the crowds arrive in tourist groups, though when it got crowded Joe struck up a conversation with a 91-year-old gent. They were like two peas-in-a-pod as they discussed exercise, travel, and Spanish language schools in Mexico.

We Ubered back for another thirty bucks. I have to say it was worth it. Plus, Joe says we’ve reached that magical age when muscle and money are about equal. In another ten years we’ll have more money than muscle. Sobering thought.

Here in SM is an object of deep fascination to me… an abandoned hotel. This hotel was a thriving business for many years until they got tired of it and decided to retire. According to rumors, they just walked away from it. It’s not like they went bankrupt. They just abandoned it. Now it is being consumed by nature.

Every time I walk past it, I think how much fun it would be to play around this building with its outbuildings. IF I lived here, and IF I were really rich, I’d open it up to kids. I’d remove everything from inside and hire a little herd of goats to come clean up the grounds. I don’t think I’d even put a play structure there, except maybe a slide from the second story to a sand pit at the bottom. This absolutely could never happen in the USA. Somebody would get hurt (without a doubt) and sue me, even though they knew it was a giant old abandoned hotel. But here it could work.

Now is time to give my verdict on living in São Martinho do Porto. Nope. Not gonna happen. It is a great place to come on a week-long vacation, especially with little ones, but to live? We couldn’t do it. First of all there’s no hospital that I know of. The grocery store is a minimart. The big grocery store that you have to walk to is limited. We learned to go to the far-away one early to get the meat, otherwise all the good stuff would be gone. The local open-market is great for fish and oysters, but no red meat. Lots of veggies though and a surprising area of clothing. By the way, I solved the lack of sleep and hip pain...Thankfully they have a memory-foam futon in the front room.

We are bored here, which is why we’re planning little mini-trips like the one to Obidos. I imagine this is a happening place in the summer. I’ve seen pictures and they look nothing like it looks now. I prefer Nazare, by far. ~~ Sooo, we just got back from Nazare. We decided to spend the afternoon there and walk back up to Sitio for the best burger and fries in Portugal. Then went came back down to walk around and build up our appetite for dinner reservations at Restaurante Tabernassa for the best steak in Portugal. Nazare was absolutely chaotic. There were people, children, dogs, pigeons, and seagulls everywhere. I was honestly a little overwhelmed by it all, especially when I got pooped on by a pigeon. Joe had to wash it out of my hair and off the back of my shirt. Thankfully, I’m a country-girl at heart. I just put it out of my mind until I got home to my shower.

We walked to the quieter end of town until dinner. Tabernassa is an absolute favorite of ours, and last night was made more special by our waiter, Paulo. Joe and I always pray before eating. When we’re out in public, it’s a silent prayer, but we hold hands. When we’d finished our little speed-prayer we looked up to find Paulo watching us. He was actually emotional about seeing us pray. He brought it up several times and kept putting his hand to his heart and telling us how touched he was. It’s funny how something so simple can have an impact on a stranger.

That night when we returned to São  Martinho, it felt incredibly peaceful. It felt like home. So, I guess the verdict is: If São  Martinho had a good grocery store, we’d prefer it. We could always drive to Nazare for entertainment.

The weather is supposed to clear up for the remainder of our stay here. Joe will probably join all the school kids getting in the water. The other day they had a group of middle-schoolers out there in kayaks. I’ve mentioned this many times, but the willingness of the Portuguese to let their children take risk fascinates me. Until we started coming here, I didn’t realize how much we’ve removed risk in America.

Regarding the mysterious tunnel from the bay to the open ocean. I posted some videos on Facebook and I got lots of questions asking why the tunnel is there? What’s its purpose? I have two answers, one more charming than the other. The first hypothesis is the tunnel was built to help defend against invaders trying to get into the bay. I like that one. It’s very pirate-like. The other, and probably correct, purpose was it was built in 1948 to divert sewage to the open sea. That seems more of a medieval plan to me, but so does defending the bay. I don’t know which is correct.

Sao Martinho do Porto; Would we live here?

When we arrived in Nazare it was in the middle of a storm, but it cleared up a bit after that. For a few days the ocean was calm enough to get in and the lifeguards changed the red flags for yellow. Joe promptly got in. I watched. It was rough, but the enjoyable kind of rough. You know, the kind of waves you have to pay attention to and decide; over or under? Most waves were the dive under size.

One day we were walking down the promenade and we noted the overcast skies. I was surprised because my weather app is usually pretty accurate and it had called for clear skies. My next observation was the following morning when Joe came in from the patio with reddish-brown feet. That hadn’t happened before. I got the broom out and swept the red dust to the edges of the patio. Later that day we noticed people wearing covid masks. Finally the news made its way to us English speakers and we learned that a Saharan dust storm had reached us. The locals cheerfully told us that the red mud rain would come soon, but that night the sunset was stunning.

The rainy weather returned… and the red mud rain. We decided that we’d better make our climb up the cliff one last time before we wouldn’t be able to. We hadn’t taken into account how slippery the cobblestone steps would be when wet. Every couple of steps my arms would go shooting out to keep my balance as my foot would skate over a stone. I’m sure I looked ridiculous. I don’t know how Joe looked because my attention was on myself. They’ve also had an invasion of ladybugs. They’re everywhere! This is tough for me because I love ladybugs, and I don’t want to accidently step on one, so once again I look pretty silly.

Every day, a tsunami alarm would go off at 1:00 in the afternoon. It was an eerie sound. Tsunamis have devastated Portugal before, so they’re wise to be prepared. I kept eyeing the massive cliff wall surrounding Nazare and mapping out our escape.

The rainy weather has returned with a vengeance. Coastal storms are a different breed of storms. It’s so intense, it’s difficult to even walk… especially down the perpendicular streets. They normally look so peaceful and inviting. Now they look, and feel, like wind tunnels for testing jets. We forced our way through the wind across the beach to get a closer view of the crashing waves. Isn’t it incredible how powerful waves are?

We wisely retreated to a café along with a bunch of locals. After an hour of eating peanuts, we started our trek back to our condo. We almost made it, but growling stomachs and more rain drove us into our favorite tapas bar where we ate ginger-shrimp, bacalhau (cod fish which we still don’t like), sausage-stuffed mushrooms, and split a bottle of wine.

Well, we’ve arrived in Sao Martinho do Porto. This is a gorgeous little city with a natural bay shaped like a fan. It has a narrow mouth which makes for incredibly calm waters.

Because of this, the Portuguese call it, “Baby Beach,” though I think “Geriatric Beach” would also apply. Recall, when I mapped out this three-month trip, it was to determine where we’d like to move. I chose this because it’s fairly level and easy to get around. There are some hills with homes built on them and that area has a two-stop elevator to ferry the residents down to the promenade. The rental prices are surprisingly low to a Californian; a furnished two-bedroom/two-bath goes for around 1,200-1,800 Euros/month. That’s pretty amazing considering this town has the status of Malibu or Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated with us. I’m truly layering my clothes here and in a half an hour I can go from t-shirt/fleece jacket/raincoat shell/scarf to a t-shirt. When the wind blows here, it truly blows (like Nazare), and then it’s calm. The bay always has calm waters, but right now the water is a muddy brown. That doesn’t keep the school kids out of it though.

The other day it suddenly turned into a nice day, so we started walking along the bay. We found a boardwalk which seemed a reasonable choice. Forty minutes later found us completely around the bay, across a river, and in another town—Salir do Porto. The largest sand-dune in Portugal is here. It doesn’t look that big from across the bay, but it’s huge. We watched little specks run and tumble down the side.

One of cool things about Sao Martinho is that its market is Portuguese, not foreigners. That means it’s really calm and the prices are low. The most popular restaurant is Portobello Pizzeria (reminds me a bit of Il Forno Classico in Gold River CA). This is a high-end place and needs a reservation every night. The food was exquisite. We had the gorgonzola cheese garlic bread, the house pizza, carbonara, and three glasses of wine for 38eu… that’s only about forty bucks! In one of the most prestigious cities in Portugal. Amazing.

Apparently the first king of Portugal (Afonso I, The Conqueror and Founder ), back in eleven hundreds acknowledged Sao Martinho as a community. Over the next nine hundred years it turned into the royal’s vacation spot. The population seems to be a slightly more affluent Portuguese, which is hard to say because Portuguese see themselves as being equals. This is an odd mix of elegance and sand-covered children. Right now, I’m sitting at a café overlooking the park and bay. The glass of wine I’m nursing costs two bucks. I could get used to this.

Would I want to live in Sao Martinho do Porto? Hmm, I think so but services are limited. It’s close to lots of important towns like Caldas de Rainha with its big hospital and Obidos with its famous medieval castle. Nazare is only a twenty-minute drive for the surfer vibe. Peniche with its world famous surfing competitions is close. I think I could do it, but it would be hard because the grocery store is pretty lame. I know, I keep harping on that, but I like to cook. It’s easier and often cheaper to go out to eat. Today we finally made it to the market. It closes at 1:00, so we keep missing it, except Monday when it was closed. Today I lucked out and bought three fat salmon steaks, parsley, garlic, a lemon, and a couple of potatoes. Tonight should be a feast.

The number one flaw in this place is our house. It’s nice enough and well laid out with two bedrooms and two baths. It has three pretty windows that give us a sideways view of the bay. It’s only one block from the promenade. The problems are; The bed is too hard for me, it’s freezing cold, and there’s a bar below us. Normally I can solve hard mattresses by putting fluffy blankets under the sheet, but the blanket is needed to keep us warm. Now both of my hips hurt—common problem for me with hard mattresses. I can deal with the cold by bundling up, but it is by far the coldest home I’ve ever been in.

The other major problem is the bar. I’d read that a bar was below and that if you’re a light sleeper you may need earplugs. I was thinking it was like a café bar with people sitting out there chatting until ten or eleven… uh no. This is a hotspot bar for twenty-somethings. There’s nothing else like it in Sao Martinho. Dart board, pool table, and open until 4:00 am—04:00! The music is just loud enough to make everybody talk really loud, and of course they step outside for the national past-time of smoking. Really loud people seem to have no idea how many people don’t like it. I swear, all you have to do is add alcohol and they turn into noise-machines. And then once the bar closes the employees clean up and talk loud for another hour or so. Thank goodness for earplugs. The bottom line is I’m exhausted.

Nazare; Critters, The Funicular, and Barbershops

The critters are always of interest to us. As I’ve said before, the area behind our house is open land. There’s a little farm and a big chained-up dog. I struggle with that poor dog being chained up all the time, but there’s nothing anyone can do because its healthy and barks playfully when the farmer arrives. There’s also a little terrier who stays faithfully by the big dog. A really fat and hairy horse lives there and occasionally two white horses show up.

I’ve seen a goat/sheep herder go by in the distance a few times. Joe and I ran across him with his herd the other day when we followed a dirt road (just to see where it would take us). The front-runners were goats and the sheep lagged behind. The border collie kept them all in line while the herder occasionally called out some mysterious order.

Seagulls are pretty weird here… in California they sound a certain way. To me it’s just the way a seagull sounds. Nazare seagulls sound like a cat in heat, or a baby crying, or a seal barking, pretty much anything other than a seagull.

I love the pets who wait faithfully for their masters to come out of the bar or store. In this case an old guy pointed to this dog and said “Stay.” And as you can see she did. All the men who came in and out said hello and patted her on the head, but she was unmoved. She was waiting for Poppa to return and you could tell she knew there was no back door—he wasn’t going to get past her.

Cats are a big deal here in Nazare. They have these random little houses built for them. We thought it was pretty silly, but we’ve seen the cats go inside, so I guess it has a purpose.

A gorgeous blue-eyed cat showed up on our patio the other day. It lurked around amongst the potted plants for most of the morning.

Apparently, there’s a horse ranch up on the cliff city, Sitio. I loved the photo I took of the horsemen going through the old town square past the souvenir shops, but here’s one of them next to the overlook of the lower city of Nazare.

There’re a few pets we see consistently around town. One medium-sized dog is the politest beggar I’ve ever seen. Last night we stopped at a little pizza place to get a beer and a glass of wine at one of their sidewalk tables. A car pulled up and a couple got out with an enormous dog that looked like a black bear. They longingly eyed our table and moved on. Five minutes later they returned to obviously wish an outdoor table was available. We got the hint and moved indoors. They were so grateful!

This guy is one of my favorites; he always carries a deflated ball in his mouth. It’s like a security blanket or something. I first saw him way up on the cliff by the fort lookout. His owner is this pretty lady who sounds French. She never has him on a leash because he never leaves her. The other day I saw a dog who looked remarkably like him staring a t a shop door, and then I saw the ball about fifteen feet away. My curiosity was piqued. I wondered if he’d notice if I touched his ball. He didn’t give me the chance.

We wore ourselves out today. I thought maybe we ought to try finding the big grocery store way up the hill. I figured if went up to Sitio to have lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant and then went sideways, we’d kill two birds with one stone. The restaurant was closed. We went somewhere else and shared some Belgium fries—delish. Then headed sideways across the crest of the mountain. Long story short, it was a super long day of walking (4-5 hours) and the grocery store was a disappointment. I’m trying to come to terms with a big change since our last time here. I could always find Skippy peanut butter. Now I can’t… anywhere. This borders on a tragedy, especially because I had one in my suitcase and took it out thinking I wouldn’t need it here.

The funicular (big sideways elevator), that takes tourists up and down the mountain, still isn’t running. We got into an interesting local topic of debate here. It turns out that the funicular works fine. The problem is the cliff it comes up under, and through, is becoming unstable. The logical solution is to reinforce the cliff around the top where it’s in danger of falling down onto the city below.

There’s an overhang another fifty yards away which is also deemed unsafe. It has a lookout shelf on it that tourists line up on to get that perfect iconic photo. The protesters showed up with their little “save the cliff” and “don’t change history” signs, etc..  I think if the cliff plummets down into people’s homes, and takes the funicular full of people with it, that would certainly be a historical moment—not a good one. They succeeded in stopping the reinforcements to the lookout, but the funicular cliff is getting fixed. It was quite the political upheaval here in Nazare.

Almost every day, we walk past a barbershop or two. Yesterday, Joe finally decided it was time for a haircut. We found a shop with bicycles hanging in the windows and a bunch of young Brazilian barbers. Marco seated Joe in his chair and asked his name. When Joe told him, they all looked at each other with big smiles and repeated it several times. My name, Heidi, usually gets that reaction, but not Joe. I finally caught what they were saying in Portuguese, “Like Joe Biden.” I got a good laugh out of that one.

It was laundry day again today. This time we put it on the proper setting for 60 minutes and we went across the street to the beach gym for an hour. Having learned our lesson, we loaded up the wet clothes and went in search of a nearby laundromat to get ‘em good and dry. Nearby turned out to be wishful thinking. We wandered in circles—covering more ground than necessary. When we finally found one, we lucked out and had a local using the drier also. I subtly spied on her and when she asked if I needed help, I said no… I’d watched her every move. ;)

Nazare, Should We Move Here?

Nazare—my first impression was it was a busy little hub of activity. Second impression, a little boring. Third impression? A busy little hub. It’s interesting how much more a community develops after you get to know it. In Nazare, there’s a pretty famous cultural thing regarding the traditional fisherman’s wives. They dress in these unusual skirts that are similar to petticoats. They wear scarves around their heads and usually have knee-high thick socks. They station themselves at street corners with handmade signs offering their rooms for rent. If you’re interested, then they hop to their feet and beckon you to follow them.

Another function of these sweet-looking ladies is to rope you into buying something from their little booths of nuts and dried fruit. Trust me, this is a serious threat to your wallet. They are super cute little ninjas. I went to the outdoor beach gym and one of these ladies was working out in her petticoats. They train for this!

The older men won’t give you the time of day. Especially to me… a woman. Now wait, hold on before you jump to conclusions. Portuguese men do not strike up conversations with women. It’s not acceptable. Picking up on a girl is a seriously difficult job here.

Looming over Nazare is the upper town, sometimes referred to as Sitio. It is perched on the cliffs overlooking Nazare, but is connected to Nazare on its inland side. A funicular glides up and down the cliff-side to give you access. Usually. For some inexplicable reason, it’s not functioning right now. That means we have to go up the stairs—to the cliff. We went a couple of days ago. I was so tired that I got conned into buying five dollars worth of cashews from one of the petticoat ninjas. Then we went down to the fort at the point. This is where the largest recorded wave came in at one-hundred feet high (30.48 meters). It was rough weather, but no hundred-footers. We wandered around the town square and settled into an Italian restaurant run by a New Jersey woman. Delicious.

We returned today. This time we visited the church and found the hospital with its awesome ocean-view. On the road going to the fort is a series of fast food booths. We stopped and got one of the best burgers I’ve had in my life. This time when we came back home, we skirted the stairs and went through the neighborhoods. We eventually ended up at the place we always end up at—the Cubato Bar. Joe’s favorite for their draft stout beer and it has a fantastic sunset view.

Something I haven’t seen here in Nazare is roasted chestnuts. These mobile roasters are everywhere in Lisbon. I tried them for the first time on this trip and loved them. I see I forgot to tell you about my evening at Antonio and Martinho’s house before we left. They did have a special dinner for us (and invited their friend, Pascal) and gave me a gorgeous scarf and a bottle of port from Antonio’s hometown. I think it’s amazing port and was sooo happy to be given a bottle!

Another place we like is the Irish Pub. Not because it’s good, because it’s not. But they have a great vibe and often have a band. It can get packed in there regardless of the weather or the quality of their boxed-wine. As you know, I’m a people watcher. The other night a young couple was sitting in my line-of-sight. She was really moving to the music—more than seems possible while seated. This was all lost on her partner whose eyes were locked on the futbal game on TV behind her. It’s possible she thought he was watching her, but I could see his eyes. Hilarious.

So this brings me to the question… would we move here? IF we could move to Portugal, which is currently not feasible, Nazare would be a fun place to live. I know you all think we live adventurous lives, but normally our entertainment is working out and hanging out with friends. We’re not fans of concerts, events, or sports. If that is your style than you probably wouldn’t like to live here. We like the variety of tourists and locals, the expensive gourmet restaurants and the cheap cafes. 

The promenade along the beach is excellent. I like how flat the front part of town is and how it goes straight out to the sand. If we want to get some hill climbing in, we can cruise around the back streets or head up the cliff. The biggest drawback to living here is the grocery store. Star is very, very limited. Surprisingly they do have BBQ sauce, which we couldn’t find in Lisbon. The fish market is open everyday but Monday and therefore Star doesn’t carry any fish. If we want fish, we have to go to the market before it closes at noon.

Another factor to keep in mind when choosing where to live is accessibility to Lisbon for the airport and other Lisbon chores. It’s about an hour and half from here by bus. A large hospital is located about a twenty-minute drive in the city of Caldas da Rainha. They do have a small hospital here on the cliff with an amazing view of the ocean.

I’m not sure what the swimming pool situation is here. I didn’t bring my swim-gear this trip. One thing I like is the gym on the beach… typical free Portuguese open-air gym. I’ve worked out there three times and I’m so sore—in a good way.

Doing laundry is a challenge. This washer is in French. It appears to have three choices; 3H, 6H, 9H. Though we found it hard to believe that the H represented hours, it turns out to be the case. One load of laundry took 3 hours. It also happened to get cold and rainy again, so it took 24 hours to dry. We are now on the hunt for a close laundromat to dry the clothes for the next time. We did figure out how to wash the clothes for a 60-minute cycle for the next load. That felt like such an achievement.