God and the Sea

Today we signed up for a day trip to the nearby towns of Fatima, Batalha, Nazare, and Obidos. We bought the tickets at the Tourist Information office just up the street from our hostel, and the van picked us up just across the street from there. Our excellent driver/guide, Luis, was our companion for the nine hour excursion.

Fatima is the tiny village where three shepherd children bumped into the Virgin Mary back in 1917. She made appointments with them for return visits, and within six months there were thousands of locals showing up to share the vision and/or halusination. (I'm always suspicious of divine revelations that look exactly the way the "seers" expect them to appear.) 

The site is a shrine surrounded by two churches -- the newest of which is a barn seating 10,000. The tiny village has become a pilgrim industry. We were fascinated, but not moved.

Batalha is the scene of a battle (hence the name) where an army of Portugese who were out-manned 4:1 managed to defeat invading Spaniards and thereby sustain Portugese independence (and spawn an era of Portugese naval exploration that changed the world).

The place is a grand Gothic church, former monastery now military installation, tomb of Medieval kings, and shrine to the Unknown Soldier of Portugal.

Nazare is a beach town popular with surfers. It gets its name from a relic of the Virgin supposedly brought from (you guessed it) Nazareth in Galilee. The Virgin really gets around in Portugal! We had lunch and walked along the beach, enjoying the Atlantic ocean spray.

Obidos is an old, walled city -- sort of the Rothenburg ob der Tauber of Portugal. It's a quaint little place with more churches per square meter than would normally be expected, a castle converted to pricey spa-hotel, and aquaduct and ramparts you can walk if you're brave (no railings, uneven stone).

It was a good day. We saw and learned a lot, and topped it all off with a good dinner back in Lisbon.