Road trip through Central Portugal

As the 8th of december was a public holiday, we used the time to go on a four day road trip through central Portugal. As not many people were so lucky with the dates of their exams, many of my friends either had to study or even had exams on Friday. Many of them had cancelled shortly beforehand, so it was me and a good German friend of mine, who went alone. And it was pretty good that is was only the two of us as we had the same ideas of how to spend our days: no stress, but to see the most possible. Just stopping, when we like something and if not, just keep going. We never had discrepancies in our daily plans and so our road trip was very relaxed. We were also very lucky with the weather, every day sunshine and rising temperature up to 23 degrees on the last day. Just imagine that in December!

Thursday morning at 9 o’clock, we started with our rental car, heading north. We were avoiding paid roads, which means you have to pay more attention to the roads and its condition, which is normally very bad. But on short distances it doesn’t make a big difference and also, you see more of the country.

Day 1

Our first stop was the Buddha Eden Garden, the biggest Buddha garden in whole Europe. There, we went for a relaxed walk in the gardens and had a look at the different parts. We saw many beautifully made ponds, an amphitheatre, many buddhist statues, terracotta knights, modern and African art. It was very wonderful and we just spent some time enjoying the sun.

Afterwards, we continued to Peniche, where we had lunch at the beach and went for a walk at the cliffs, which were partly very steep. Deep down, the water crushed with immense energy against the cliffs and made thunder sounds. Apart from beach and cliffs, Peniche doesn’t have to offer anything particularly interesting and so we went on to our next stop.

In the evening, we arrived in Óbidos and had quite some problems finding a parking lot. Óbidos is a sweet, small town with a castle, historic city centre and an aqueduct. It is especially known for its Christmas market, which we wanted to visit. For an entry fee of 6 Euro, the market is very small and also expensive. But because of the castle, which creates a middle age atmosphere, it is worth the visit. Probably, every small town market in Germany has more stands and doesn’t cost entry. However, it was nice and we also found some delicious things to eat. The hot chocolate in the end, served in a castle cup, was the best. We were even allowed to take the cup home, so we have already a souvenir. They had many attractions for children: theme areas about the little prince, Alice in Wonderland and an ice skating arena. Of course, we also drank the typical ginjinha, which comes from Óbidos and is typically drunk in a chocolate cup. At night, it got colder fast and the market also closed very early. We still wanted to buy some sweets for the way, but they were already sold out and so we just drove to our hotel in Fátima. The hotel had been very cheap and we had a double room with breakfast. The breakfast consisted of fresh bread, ham, cheese, pão de deus (typical Portuguese cocos bread), all kinds of jam, butter and honey, fruits, yoghurt, cereals, tea, coffee and cacao. Enough to start energetical into the day!

Day 2

On the program for that day was a visit to the Grutas da Moeda(caves of money). The region around Fátima is known for its limestone and stalactite caverns. They reminded me a lot of the caves that I visited in the Nelson region on the South Island of New Zealand (you can read about that in my New Zealand blog). They fetched us with a Safari-Jeep from our hotel and drove us to the caves. The legend says that some hunters found the cave, when following a fox, who tried to hide in the caves. The name of the caves derived from another story about a group of thieves, who robbed an old man, killed him and threw him into the cave. But stupid as they were, they had forgotten to take the money before and since then the caves are called Grutas de Moeda. Our guide was very kind and as we were only four people instead of the usual 30, we got a very private tour. He explained many things about the caves and gave English and Portuguese aide-memoires for the difference between stalactites and stalagmites. The Portuguese was the same as in German, the “t” and the English one was different but I already forgot it. A few times, he let us calculate the age of some formations, which can be calculated from its height. He also showed us some special formations, which looked like a crocodile, the Titanic, a shepherd, ham, broccoli, coli-flower and invited us to come back in 600 years to see the closing of a stalactite with a stalagmite. I really liked the tour and in the end, we got a very sweet and delicious wine to taste as well as a regional sweet, which reminded me of the German “Stollen”. After the tour, they drove us back to our hotel.

The rest of the day, we spent visiting the sanctuaries in Fátima. Everything is built to cater for huge crowds: a huge place with loudspeakers to transmit the service. Huge churched with countless seating places and many emergency exits. Very modern and completely thought-through. In the church, you find the graves of the seeing kids. Apparently, in 1919 the holy Virgin Mary appeared several times to three children. She asked them to make offerings to her and to come every month to the same place. This place is on the way of the Cross, which we also did. There are the different stages of the Christ’s way of suffering, but also the different appearances of Mary. On the site, where the children saw her, a chapel has been built. To sum it up, Fátima is worth a small detour, but very catholic. The main interest points are the sanctuaries and the way of the Cross and you can find endless souvenir shops that sell candles and rosaries. We stayed one more night and had typical bacalhau com nata and carne do Alentejo in the hotel restaurant. This was fish with cream sauce and meat with mussels, both very delicious.

Day 3

On out third day, we drove to Coimbra and there, went to the Jardim da Sereia and the Botanic Garden of the university. The weather was still amazing and the gardens were nice, especially the Azulejo part in the Jardim de Sereia. Both, are small and more natural gardens with old walls, very mystic and just the way I like it. Coimbra itself is a city on a mountain, with many small winding roads – the hell to drive, but nice for discovery walks. We didn’t get the parking system. In the hotel they told us that parking is for free, but on the road the signs said to pay, so we paid, just to be sure.

We went to visit the university of Coimbra, which is the most famous part of the city. Together with the museum for sciences, we had to pay 9 euros. I wanted to see the university at any cost, at least it is one of the oldest in Europe. It is a big campus with a big place in the middle of the main buildings. As it is located on the top of the hill, you can overlook the city from here. We couldn’t get into the classrooms, because of current lectures going on. It is said that they are very uncomfortable to keep students awake – that was the plan a long time ago and now it is still like that, just that nowadays no one would do that. We visited the old library, where you are not allowed to take pictures. It was very impressive, I would even say more impressive than the Long Room in the University of Dublin that I visited two months ago. You can still borrow books from the library but, as in Dublin as well – only with a special reason and only read them in the special reading room for that. In the library are very high book shelfs with wonderful decorations in green, orange and gold. The walls are especially thick, so that the temperature is always the same and everything is made from wood to absorb the humidity. The ladders are constructed within the shelfs and can only be seen if you pay a lot of attention. The books are protected from bugs and other insects from the bats that live in the library. For this reason, the tables get covered at night, to protect them from the bats and their necessaries. We went one floor down, where sometimes exhibitions are hold. At that moment, it has been some old documents to show how good they are kept. Some of them were very beautifully decorated and written. The lowest floor was the prison for the students. There, they kept students who talked back to teachers or came too late very often. At that time, it was very modern with a compost toilet and the students were well looked after – at least they paid a lot for going to this university –, but they were only allowed to leave the rooms for their classes and were accompanied from their prison to the room and back. Next stop was the chapel, which is, in contrast to the classrooms, very comfortable. The students should be offered something for all the money they paid. The chapel was swanky as most of the churches in Portugal, but in its way very beautiful with Azulejo patterns at the walls. Afterwards, we could still visit the armory and the big hall, where every four years the ceremony of the rector is celebrated as well as the opening ceremony for the academic years and the reception of doctor titles of honour. It is a very majestic hall with high ceilings, lots of paintings and velvet.

After leaving the university, we went to see the science museums of the university, where it was a lot about physics and biology and even got a guided tour through the zoological exhibitions and old physics and chemistry machines. At the end of the tour it was already dark outside and that is also the time when everything closes, so we didn’t have a lot to see anymore. We wandered through the for Christmas decorated streets and looked at the shops. For dinner, we went to a restaurant and ate grilled salmon and squid with salad and, of course, fried. Our hostel in Coimbra was very tidy and cosy, especially our room directly under the roof. I really liked that. Until it got colder and colder and colder and I noticed that the roof was not even isolated. You could see the tiles directly through the wood. I took myself four blankets and still needed a lot of time to get warm and fall asleep.

Day 4

The next morning, we had a good breakfast with toast, lots of spreads, cereals, fruits and all of that for a good price. We went to see the Santa-Clara-a-Velha, where we got a presentation about the life in a monastery and could visit the ruins. I had thought that the grave of the holy Dona Isabel would be in that church, but they transferred it to the new monastery. Dona Isabel is the character from the Miracle of the Roses, which we talked about a lot in university. Isabel was the wife of the Portuguese king – I forgot which one – and she was very enthusiastic about helping the poor and the ones in need. Her husband didn’t like that at all and when he saw her one time sneaking out of the castle with a lot of bread under her coat, he asked her what she is hiding under her coat. She answered him: “Roses” and he said “Roses in January? That is impossible. Open your coat! ”. She opened her coat and had hundreds of roses under her coat. Out of the wish to do something good, her lies where hidden and she could continue to help the poor and ill. After her death she was pronounced indeed holy.

Before heading to the next city, we still wanted to see the Quinta das Lágrimas (Garden of tears) and the Fonte dos Amores (Love well), to which I also know the story: The story of Pedro and Inês. Pedro was the crown prince to the Portuguese throne and should marry a girl, but he fell in love with her maiden: Inês de Castro. His parents didn’t like that as she was Spanish and they didn’t want to have any Spanish influence in their kingdom for keeping the independence. They sent her to exile and made him marry the other women with whom he had a son before she died. After the death of his wife, he got back Inês and had three sons with her. The legend and especially the famous Portuguese writer Camões says that Inês got assassinated, so that Pedro could not marry her and his first son would be the only right king. His parents were afraid that one of Inês’ sons could become king. Apparently, she was murdered in the Quinta das Lágrimas, where she cried a lot, which still flow there until today. Pedro's parents thought that now all was ended, but the day that Pedro got king, he let bring the dead body of Inês, sat her on the throne and made her queen and now all of his sons could be legit kings. Actually, I don’t remember exactly what happened then, but think that his other three sons were assassinated as well. But, I do remember that Inês and Pedro were buried side a side, so that the first thing they see after death will be their loved one. The thing is, that this is what the legends say, what really happened is unclear. At the entrance to the garden, we were sent to a golf club for the entry price. We didn’t find it and also didn’t want to pay for the entrance, we just went to the garden and no one was there for paying entry. And I am happy about that because I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for that, it was not worth it. It was just a small garden with a fountain, not very special, a small river coming from an old wall. That was it. I had expected it more beautiful and more mystic. But well, at least we saw it.

Then, we continued to the north to Aveiro, which is also cold the Venice of Portugal. It had many canals flowing through the city, where many gondolas are touring and many bridges cross them. The houses are colourful and with many Azulejos. We had more than 22 degrees and enjoyed the sunshine in this wonderful city. Of course, we tried the typical sweets of the city, which are the ovos moles, a paste of sugar and egg (which are most of the typical sweets) in wafers. It was ok, but not as good as expected. We even treated ourselves with ice cream, just because it was very cheap for Portuguese and because it was still hot in December. In the evening, we only had our way back to Lisbon, which was a long drive. We had had a great time together and saw everything we wanted, which was actually a lot for four days. My highlights were Óbidos, the caves, the university in Coimbra and Aveiro. There are still so many more places to discover in Portugal.

Photo gallery