Fatima to Lisbon

20th January Fatima

We awoke the following morning glad that we had not parked near any trees.  There was a real scene of destruction around us.

A large percentage of the tall fir trees had either blown over or had their tops blown out but the Basilica had escaped unscathed.  Fatima is an important catholic pilgrimage centre 'a status deriving from 6 apparitions of the Virgin Mary.  On May 13th 1917 three children who were looking after their parent's sheep when they saw 'a lady brighter than any sun' sitting in the branches of a tree.  The vision returned on the thirteenth day of the next five months, culminating in the so called miracle of the sun on October 13th when a swirling ball of fire cured life long illnesses.' The basilica is capable of holding crowds of up to 100,000 people. Two of the children who witnessed the apparition died in the Eropean flu epidemic of 1919-20 and are buried in the church.  Mike and I wandered around trying to understand the devotion of some there.  For example in the pouring rain a young mother carrying her baby made her way on her knees across the basilica.  Mike wondered if the child she was carrying was ill.  I do find it difficult to understand but it was an interesting place to visit.

We left Fatima after coffee and headed for Batalha.  The wind had died down but there were still trees on the roads and it had started raining again. There is one building worth seeing at Batalha.  The Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Vitoria.  It was built in 1388 and is a splendid building although the winds of last night had succeeded in bringing down some on the roof ornamentation.  There was also a small street market here where i bought a carrybag full of watercress for 1.50 euros.  I did not want that much but it appeared to be the smallest quantity.  Watercress soup and salad coming up!

Again due to the weather we decided to drive straight to Belem, Lisbon.  Belem is an attractive suburb of Lisbon and offered suitable overnight parking.  We had a short walk in the evening and were able to get into the chapel of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos which was a beautiful building and contained the tomb of the explorer Vasco da Gama.

 

 The following morning (21st Jan) we were pleased to find the sun was shining as we wished to explore Lisbon.  The van was in a relatively safe place so we caught the train which 4 stops later took us into the centre of Lisbon.  To see the sights of Lisbon you need to go uphill.  This can be done on foot, by tram or using some of their elevators.  We set off on foot with our first stop being the Elevator de Santa Justa and from there we took an uphill cobbled path to the castle. it was lovely to walking around in the sun after all the rain we had had recently.  from the castle we continued walking until we arrived at the No.28 tram stop which was supposed to be a good experience and gets good reviews in the guide books.  It was quite fun but not that special although it was made more interesting by two youths who held onto the outside of the tram for a free ride.  In parts the tram goes so close to shop windows and parked vehicles I was worried that these guys would seriously hurt themselves but they seemed very unconcerned.  By the time we had got off the tram and walked backed down into the Baixa area of Lisbon we were both quite hungry so we treated ourselves to lunch and a glass of wine/beer before heading back.  By now it was overcast and it led to another wild night and we did not sleep well.  But I got up and walked/jogged for 30 minutes along the Tejo estuary and found a small outdoor gym which was fun to use.

After breakfast Mike and I walked down to the Torre of Belem which is  key landmark of Lisbon.  It is an interesting building and has been described as a chess piece - it does look rather like the castle.  We had to dodge the very heavy showers but there was some sun too.  On the way back we took time to admire a small group of Sanderlings which were expert at dodging the waves as they looked for food and then it was on to Sintra.