Day 3 - Fátima, Óbidos & Sintra

An action packed day! 3 amazing towns and all quite different. I will post pictures and a little bit on each. First stop Fátima. On May 13th, 1917 three children were tending sheep and the Blessed Mother appeared to them and brought a message that peace was coming and the end of World War I. She appeared to them on the 13th of each of the next 5 months and on October 13th 70,000 people assembled there and witnessed a miracle. Since then millions of people have visited there and now we can say us too! Of course now it’s a large complex of various buildings - a chapel built where Mary appeared, the original basilica built after for the large groups of people to attend Mass, a new church that seats 9,000 people, a museum and various other places of worship. We had an hour and a half there so lots of ground to cover. We were fortunate to receive communion in the apparitions chapel where an English mass was going on first, visit the basilica where the body’s of the three children are buried, the museum and light lots of candles.

Top - Chapel of apparitions, Bottom left - statue of Mary on a marble pillar where she actually appeared, Bottom right - original basilica where the children are buried.

Candle lighting is a big deal to Catholics, and they have taken it to a new level at Fátima. They have a special area off to one side of the Apparition Chapel where you actually light the candles, but you go to another area to purchase them. The candles are quite inexpensive as they recycle them. After you purchase the candles you take them to what I call the inferno. If you want to experience the fires of hell - Fátima is a place to experience it. At times the flames were shooting 4 feet into the air - I felt like the hair on my arms was singed! I finally resorted to literally launching my stack of candles into the flames. I prayed for Tom, Keeley, Matt, Anna, and all my friends and family. It was a special experience.

Top left - Julie lighting her candles, Top right - large modern cross in the square, Bottom - crown the Blessed Mother statue wears on the 13th of every month that has one of the bullets that hit Pope John Paul II on the 13th of May, 1981.

Next stop - Óbidos. I had never heard anything about it until I started researching Portugal, and what a delightful town! Óbidos sits atop a hill, with a 14th century wall 45 feet tall surrounding it. It has narrow lanes lined with whitewashed houses trimmed in blues and yellow. Lots of cute shops and restaurants, and lunch was uppermost in our minds. We went off the beaten path and picked a great little spot where we could sit outside in what felt like someone’s back yard. It was called The History Man.

Caprese salad for Julie and veggie with goat cheese for me. And delicious inexpensive Portuguese wine😊

The walls of the city while totally intact are under renovation, and the tour guide advised us strongly to not climb up and walk on the wall. So of course Julie insisted that we immediately find a place to climb up and do it. I’m glad we did - the views were wonderful!

Height is not my favorite! Top right - you can see two people walking the wall. That’s where we were!

Last stop - Sintra. Sintra is just 15 miles from Lisbon. It was the summer getaway of Portugal’s kings, and there are many castles and palaces. One of the most famous is the beautiful Pena Palace which I visited in April 2016. If you’re interested in seeing it refer back to my archive and an entry dated April 25, 2016 for the history and lots of pictures. We had an hour and a half on our own so browsed through the cobblestone tiny windy streets in pursuit of Ginja, a cherry liquor that is pretty much the national beverage of Portugal. You see it being sold everywhere - always priced at 1 euro - a shot glass or a smaller amount in a chocolate cup. We had been wanting to try it and this time we were doing it.

We went with the dark chocolate cups. Tasted like a chocolate covered cherry. Ginja has a very high alcohol content so a little goes a long way but it was delicious.

Lots of tiny streets like this with shops and restaurants.

Beautiful tile everywhere. I love the yellow and blue.

Back to Estoril for dinner and packing. Off to central Portugal.

Spaghetti Bolognese for Julie and risotto with cod for me. More Portuguese red wine too. Delicious!

Such a great fun interesting day. We are both loving Portugal. The weather is great, the food and wine fantastic and inexpensive and the people are so lovely. There is so much history here. I can’t wait to see more! Thanks for coming along!