Peniche, Portugal, Leiria District, PortugalOBIDOS - PENICHE
A good breakfast as the start
– is like being on vacation
This is one of the places with
breakfast included – and it was super yummy: we started with fancy coffee and
then continued not only with bacon and eggs, lots of different cold cuts
cheese, those filled little meat, chicken and fish snacks, buns, and pancakes –
as well those yummy Portuguese pastries…. Now that is like being on vacation!!!
Historic Obidos
As we had such a wonderful
breakfast, we were a bit late leaving – so why do we go to the town of Obidos?
Because Gine read:
- That it is one of Europe’s best preserved medieval walled town and one of the best examples of traditional Portuguese village, they also call it Portugal’s prettiest little town (and we know this is true because they have a big paid parking right outside the walls) – oh and let’s not forget: we read the same about a lot of other little towns
- Today around 2000 people live withing the walls
- The name comes from the Romans: oppodum means walled city – they took it from the celtic word: Eburobricio
- It got founded by the Celts around 300 BC, the Romans took over 100 AD, the German tribes came in the 5th century, the Moors in the 8th century and the Portuguese reconquered it in 1149
- Once it was an important port city, until the river silted up
- It is also known as the Wedding present town: in 1282 King Dinis and Queen Isabel spend their honeymoon here and the king gave his queen the entire town as a wedding gift. From then until 1834 the Queens of Portugal controlled what happened here
Porta da Villa: the main
gate, you don’t only enter – no we had to stop and admire the amazing blue –
white azueljo tile panel which is by the way from 1740 and amazing.
As it started to drizzle we
decided to finally by an umbrella: as per Murphy’s law then the rain will stop
and then it would be the best invested money – and see there it stopped. We wandered
along some narrow alley ways, saw a lot of white washed houses, blue and white
trims, and everywhere a little tiny turnoff to another narrow alley. We came by
an old church and then ended up at the:
Igreja Santa Maria – Church
of our lady of the Assumption: we went inside and Paul was not very impressed,
when I told him the historic part that the 10 year old Afonso V married his
8-year old bride Isabel in 1444.
- It got damaged in a 1535 earthquake, so most is from the 1600s
- The painted wooden ceiling is from 1676 and the amazing blue-white tiles are from 1680
- Inside the church are also some famous paintings from 1661 done by Josefa de Obidos
The church was super amazing:
all the walls covered in the blue-white azueljo tiles: the pictures hanging on
top of the tile and then you look up at the remarkable painted ceiling. And all
together with a lot of gold.
We continued on and went in a
“bookstore” at least we thought it is a bookstore, until we went inside and
they sell cans of sardines and fish – super amazing – yes we are in the country
of Sardines
Obidos Castle: now loomed
in front of us, we walked around the whole castle and tried to go inside which
was not really possible, but it was still super cool and impressive to see. And
from here we already had some amazing views.
- In 1148 Afonso Henrique (who also became Portugal’s first king) led an attack on Obidos to free it from the Moors. He attacked the main gate and meanwhile a band of Afonso’s men disguised us cherry trees snuck up the steep hillside behind the castle. The Moors ignored it when the kings daughter came from here window and asked “Dady do trees walk”
- It is built on the highest part of the city and the kings after the reconquesta built a lot more towers to it
On the wall: from here we
went the stairs up to the wall: the view on the country side was amazing, we
could see the castle and then walked on the wall with super cool views towards
the town and the old shingles on the roof and the narrow alleys as well towards
the country side. I do have to say: the walkway was maybe a foot wide and there
was no railing, but it could get slippery when wet!!
Rua Direita: at one time
we went down again and found our way through teeny tiny alleys to the “main”
street which is cute and has a lot of tourist shops, there was always something
to see – can you believe that this road is from the 1300s?? When we were back
at the main town square we saw
The Pillory – so what so
special about a stone column?
- The accused were often hung naked and locals would throw object at them – they often have the Portuguese kings symbol on top - This one here was built in 1492 and indicated Obidos independence
By the way the huge pots we can
see here: are not for flower but once held oil
Back at the main gate, we went
again up on the wall and walked towards the other end, so we had another great
view on the town, could admire the Aqueduct from here and also walked until we
could do a closer inspection of those old roof-tiles: which we wondered how
they can still keep the roofs from leaking. Once we were at the bottom we read
the sign which said that it is very dangerous to go on the wall!!! Really??
Now it started to rain as we are
finished with out “walking tour” around town. Only one more stop:
The Aqueduct: we drove to
it with the car, so we could park right near it and then enjoy the view up and
down in the rain. Also here is an RV park (we discovered more on our trip
around the country later on)
- In 1573 they built it to bring drinking water to the town, it was 3 km long – the queen paid for it by herself by selling land around the town
Time for a coffee on our
balcony
We decided to go to the bakery
to get some buns, and then found an open supermarket in this nearly dead little
suburb of Peniche. We also went quick over and stopped to have a first glimpse
at one of the famous sand beaches. Time for a coffee and good for us, it
stopped raining and was a bit warm, perfect to have coffee on our little
balcony in the t-shirt. Now we are ready
to head out again: this time towards Peniche
- Peniche is on a Peninsula and we will drive around on the outside and stop a few time
Checking out the dunes and
sandy beach
As we drove along we saw those
gigantic sand dunes to our right with wooden stairs going over, as there were a
lot of parking spaces we stopped and went over the sand dunes: absolutely
beautiful – no wonder people come here. It is super gorgeous. Paul can’t believe it,
that most of the apartment buildings are closed up and this whole area is like
a ghost time…. Guess we are not here in tourist season.
A walk along the Peniche
Sunset cliffs
Gine was picking a few spots on
the drive around the peninsula which sounded ok, and one was this one. It
looked a bit weird when we were driving the road there, but we did find the
spot and were amazed once we left the car. We did then walk all the way to the
end, it was very muddy and we got super dirty reddish shoes – we had amazing
views on gigantic stone stacks with waves crashing around them, the plant and
the red muddy earth with stones looked amazing – and the sun came out. Around
each corner it was more beautiful: luckily sometimes they had bridges and
stairs. At the very end we stayed a while and watched and listened to the waves
crashing. One side you look up the coast, the other side you can see the
Peniche Peninsula. And let’s not forget the ladder: at one point we saw a
ladder going down the cliffs for fishing or climbing over the rocks?? What an
amazing walk….
At Farol do Capo Carvoeiro
Sure, we have to stop at a
lighthouse – ok it’s a nice view – but we decided to soon turn back because we
saw some better spots on the way here. Before leaving we talked with a couple
from Britain who converted a Van and are now living in their camper van and
travelling around Europe.
Veranda do Pilatos
Good thing we have a small “off
road” vehicle that made it easy to drive into the unofficial parking: and then
we walked over those cool stone formations which are sticking out like little
pillars. So amazing – I think we parked at the best spot and we watched the
waves crashing in, climbing over those rocks.
Waves at the Marina
Next stop was near the castle at
the Marina – we couldn’t drive all the way out, and discovered soon why: the
waves are crashing over the barrier and literally flood the “parking lot”. We
parked and walked a bit toward the front and then were sitting in the beautiful
sunshine and listened and when we heard a roaring sound we knew a big wave is
crashing. Some at the lighthouse – some behind us and some over the wave
barrier. It was super cool – those waves are so amazing.
Wave watching at Praia da
Concolacao
Our last stop for today was at
this famous beach and it is also the closest to our hotel – only 1 km down the
road. And with being off-season it is always easy to find a parking spot. From
there we walked down to the sand and to the water. Ok so it is not lying on the
beach warm – but it is sunny and warm, it is also not let’s go in the water–
but it is super wavy and amazing to watch. What an amazing beach: we sit down relax:
watching and listening to the waves crashing on the golden sand. Our day could
not end more perfect.
Hotel time
Tonight we had some sandwiches
in our room and then went to play some billard – the question is who is the
winner đŸ˜Š. I may should mention they have a super nice
salt water aquarium here with some very nice colorful fishes – it is a lot of
fun to watch them.
And the cats say Good bye
Ok so we don’t have anything to
make coffee in our room, but they do provide you coffee and you can use the
microwave for free. So, in the morning Gine went with 2 cups of coffee and
warmed them up in the microwave – so that we had a wakeup coffee before they
open the breakfast buffet. This morning when Gine opened the patio door 3 of
the cute little black kittys came in and said hello to us – yesterday we
discovered that they actually have five of them – so Paul really likes the hotel.
Today we also sneaked out 2 buns
and some butter for our supper tonight.
2025-05-22