Where: Obidos, Portugal
When: August 24-25, 2012
With: Dave
Looking back on our trip, I think that the small town of Obidos, sitting on top of its hill with castle walls surrounding it, was my favorite.
After another death-defying drive (this time, a narrow dirt lane that switched back and forth up the side of the mountain), we found this tiny archway that allowed passage through the castle walls. After squeezing the car through, we were able to officially call our terrifying Lisbon driving experience complete (though our adventure driving in this country was far from over).
After our little break, we wandered the rest of the town. It reminded me of a small Greek village. The walls were all white-washed and painted in blue (to ward off flies) and gold (to ward off evil spirits). Slippery cobblestone lined all the streets and bright magenta flowers were in full bloom at every corner.
At the front of the city is the main gate (the one that was attacked). When you enter the city through this archway, the view of the towns two lanes was a cool sight.
The wall was pretty much a similar experience to the steps all the way around: narrow and no railing, except much more slippery.
When we finished the walls, we had a lovely sangria to toast our accomplishment in the churchyard.
By the time dinner finished, night had settled into the village and almost all the tourists were gone. It felt like it was just us and the locals. The shops remained open much later than I would expect for a tourist town with no tourists - the owners just all sat outside chatting with each other.
We returned to our ginjinha bar and ordered a bottle of wine while enjoying the quiet of the town outside. The only things we could hear were the soft chatter of the bartender and his friends and the fan keeping things cool. On TV, we sat hypnotised watching Portuguese bull fighting. It was the laziest and most relaxing night we could have had.
The next morning, I wanted to stay in the village I'd fallen in love with, but as the tourists started filling the streets, we realised that the charm would likely not return until the evening, and it was time to go. The adventures with our car started right back up again as we had the pleasure of trying to drive it through the front gates. This required assistance from our fellow tourists, who shouted out directions in a whole variety of languages, to help us get out. Can you imagine navigating a car through this?
Goodbye Obidos, onto our next hilltop village...
When: August 24-25, 2012
With: Dave
Looking back on our trip, I think that the small town of Obidos, sitting on top of its hill with castle walls surrounding it, was my favorite.
After another death-defying drive (this time, a narrow dirt lane that switched back and forth up the side of the mountain), we found this tiny archway that allowed passage through the castle walls. After squeezing the car through, we were able to officially call our terrifying Lisbon driving experience complete (though our adventure driving in this country was far from over).
We headed straight for the hotel, a small inn just inside the castle walls. The owner spoke just enough English to make it cute and homey.
After dropping off our bags, we started exploring the tiny town. Within the 14th century walls, there is a small village dwarfed by a large castle. At this point, it is mostly just a shell, but back in 1148, it was home to a Moorish ruler. That was when the first king of Portugal decided to lead an attack on Obidos to free the people from the Moors. While the Moors defended the front of the town, a group of the king's men disguised as cherry trees snuck up the back of the mountain for a surprise attack. The Moor inhabiting this castle ignored his daughter when she asked "Daddy, do trees walk?" Needless to say, that was the end of the Moorish rule on Obidos.
Now, the small town is a series of narrow alleys and gift shops, frequented by several daytrippers over from Lisbon. As we headed through the main street to explore, we could see how the streets could easily be crowded shoulder to shoulder with tourists. Luckily, at this point in the day though, they were clearing out, and we were able to explore in calmer conditions than normal.
We decided to wait out some of the rush by stopping into a tiny little bar off the main street. The main speciality? Ginjinha again! This time, served in chocolate shot glasses.
After our little break, we wandered the rest of the town. It reminded me of a small Greek village. The walls were all white-washed and painted in blue (to ward off flies) and gold (to ward off evil spirits). Slippery cobblestone lined all the streets and bright magenta flowers were in full bloom at every corner.
Overall, the town only has a few main attractions, and most of them are churches. They're all pretty small and simple, but it was still pretty funny that this tiny village had 3 of them.
After walking through the town, it was time to get the aerial view from the top of the castle walls. Small staircases leading to the top of the wall could be found from basically any corner of the village. They are tall and steep and have no railing, but we made it.
The wall was pretty much a similar experience to the steps all the way around: narrow and no railing, except much more slippery.
However, the view of the town within the walls was stunning. I'm glad we came later in the day. It allowed us to just enjoy this view without tons of other tourists pushing around us.
From the end of the wall, you can almost see out to the ocean.
When we finished the walls, we had a lovely sangria to toast our accomplishment in the churchyard.
Dinner that night was one of my best meals on the trip. I had an octopus stew, which consisted of a big clay pot with big chunks of octopus, other seafood, rice and a tomato sauce. We sat in this tiny alleyway stuffing ourselves until we could fit nothing else in our bellies.
By the time dinner finished, night had settled into the village and almost all the tourists were gone. It felt like it was just us and the locals. The shops remained open much later than I would expect for a tourist town with no tourists - the owners just all sat outside chatting with each other.
We returned to our ginjinha bar and ordered a bottle of wine while enjoying the quiet of the town outside. The only things we could hear were the soft chatter of the bartender and his friends and the fan keeping things cool. On TV, we sat hypnotised watching Portuguese bull fighting. It was the laziest and most relaxing night we could have had.
To complete our quiet night in Obidos, Dave got himself an ice cream. Then danced his way home, happy with the day we had and the ice cream in his hand.
The next morning, I wanted to stay in the village I'd fallen in love with, but as the tourists started filling the streets, we realised that the charm would likely not return until the evening, and it was time to go. The adventures with our car started right back up again as we had the pleasure of trying to drive it through the front gates. This required assistance from our fellow tourists, who shouted out directions in a whole variety of languages, to help us get out. Can you imagine navigating a car through this?
Goodbye Obidos, onto our next hilltop village...
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