Portugal: Beaches, Beauty, Burglars

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Trip Start Jun 19, 2008 Previous
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  Évora, Alentejo, Portugal
Friday, July 18, 2008

Soon after our last entry, we crossed the border into Portugal. Not far from the border lies the town of Viana do Castelo, our destination. We arrived prepared to camp. Our expectations were not high after our Pamplona eurotrash campsite. However, we were pleasantly surprised. We arrived to find a campsite filled with old growth pine trees, sand, wind-surfers, and kite boarders. Needless to say, they were there for the beach that was at the doorstep of the campsite -- a gorgeous, uncrowded beach that looked almost like Door County, WI or somewhere off Cape Cod. We set up camp and headed to the beach, where we watch a seaful of kite boarders and wind surfers. The Portuguese seem much more adventurous than the beer-and-brats Milwaukee crowd we're used to...

Our next stop was Porto, Portugal, the home of Port wine and....window-smashing thieves. We spent our first day pleasantly roaming Porto, a nearly crumbling old city still full of life. Clothes lines hang out many windows old enough to be in museums in the US. A mix of Muslim and Christian influence lend the city a stunning architectural blend. After hitting a very authentic Portuguese market (think live chickens and octopus recently plucked from the Atlantic), we ended our day along the Ribeira with a Port wine tour and tasting. Dads, we picked up a bottle for each of you. We settled into our very cosy, welcoming hostel glad that we had seen the city, and ready to go to Lisbon the next morning.

BUT...at about 9:30am, Ryan was shaken awake by the hostel staff, asking, "Do you drive a French car with lots of wine in the trunk?" After he grunted a yes, she only replied, "Come with me." Obviously, this was not good. Someone had smashed a passenger window of the car during the night and stolen: the GPS (ouch!!!! plus, the one night we forgot to take it inside), a handful of Euro coins we had used for tolls, and...very strange...a pair of Ryan's travel pants... It was a very painful way to start a morning. Our first task: make our way to the tourism police office in the center of this very old and winding city without the GPS. It took us an hour. Then, we sat with a very nice, but somewhat uncaring police officer who took our report. As we sat with him, three other people lined up behind us, claiming that their cars had been broken into on the same street. Another police officer casually said, "Huh. Probably the same guy." Great detective work, officers. As you might have realized already, smashing car windows and looting cars seems to be a regular practice in Porto. Nevertheless, not one Porto resident (hostel owner, police officer, passerby, etc.) failed to tell us, "You know, it can happen anywhere..." But it did seems to happen pretty frequently in Porto, and not anywhere else we have been. We even talked to two other people in our hostel who had also been robbed! After enduring the police station, we made our way to a crowded shopping center, the only place in town to replace the Tomtom, which pretty much derailed our carefully followed budget. With the new GPS, and many calls to Renault Eurodrive, we finally found a Renault dealer in Porto. When he saw our window, he immediately said, "Oh. The usual one." It can happen anywhere though, right? Mmmhmm. After a lot of waiting around in the garage, we were told that the car would not be ready until the next afternoon. Having no choice but to wait, we gave Porto another day of our itinerary. At least the car was parked in the Renault garage that night. We destressed with a walk along one of Porto's rocky beach front and splurged on a beach side,  sunset meal. Then, we headed back to our hostel where all of the staff comforted us and gave us advice on where to go on the rest of our Portugal trip. They may have been some of the most friendly and enthusiastic people we have met. And their advice was great. The next day, we headed for Obidos.

Obidos is a 14th century medieval town inside a castle's walls. Despite its cutesy-touristy feel, it is a really enjoyable place (especially after the disillusionment of Porto). After strolling the streets of Obidos for a couple of hours, we decided to stay. We scrapped our Lisbon itinerary (we were only going to have a day there anyway after the extension in Porto), and found a little guest house just outside of the city walls. A great decision, it turned out. After a brief rest, we headed back into the city to find it alive with the most lifelike, intense Renaissance Fair we have ever seen. It is truly a different experience to see a Renaissance Fair in a place that actually had a Renaissance. I mean, the backdrop was a castle! We enjoyed great eats, music, and parades. They celebrated both their Christian and Muslim heritage from that time, and it was realistic in nearly every aspect. We actually felt like we had gone back in time at some points! When we tired of shishkebabs, belly dancing, sangria, and swords, we found our way back to our quaint little room and had a good night's sleep.

We now report to you from a cafe situated in a 15th century cathedral's gardens in Evora, Portugal. After arriving at our camp site and a little sink laundry (at least we have 1 less pair of pants to wash...) we headed to the city center to explore the Capella de los Ossos -- the famous bone chapel of Evora. Hard to describe, it is a little strange, a little beautiful, and a lot creepy. The inscription on the door to the chapel reads, "Here are our bones, we are waiting for yours" in Latin. The bones of several thousand people make up the walls and archways of this morbid little chapel. Supposedly, the chapel is a meditation on the human condition for the Franciscans. They took artistic license, and pelvises encased heads, small bones in the arm form wings on a ghoulish skeleton in the archway, and the mummies of a young child and a man even hang from one of the chapel's walls. Tomorrow, we head to Lagos, an area famous for beaches and bars in The Algarve region of southern Portugal. We will probably melt, but we plan to have fun in the process. More soon. Ciao from Portugal.

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