Tourism, History, Religion and a Bygone Era

With some other things to take care of, we headed back north early.  Unfortunately, it was one of the few rainy days that occur here, so we traveled in the more than usual humidity.  We decided to pass by three principle cities that are major contributors to the Portugal experience.  We first headed to Nazare, a very touristy city on the beach.  Plenty of seafood restaurants and souvenir shops along the boardwalk, but what makes this city even better is a major outcropping or rock from which you can see the city.  Of course there on top are plenty more souvenir shops and women in traditional folkloric dress selling all variety of nuts to all the people getting off the tour buses.

From there we headed in land to a major historical monument at Batalha, where a great example of baroque architecture is on display at the local cathedral and monastery.  Even though Batalha is only 20 miles from the coast, it takes about an hour to get between cities since there are no real direct routes between the cities.  Instead you go along all the local, one-lane back roads where you can get stuck between large trucks that have to down shift to first gear to get over the local hills.

Our final stop was at one of the most famous religious sites in Portugal, Fatima.  This is where a couple of proclaimed miracles have occurred.  The first was with an appearance by the Virgin Mary to three local children, and the second was witnessed by a large group of people gathered at the sanctuary that was subsequently built for the first miracle, with an apparition of the sun.  Even to this day over 80 years later, millions of tourists are drawn here each year.

Along the back roads, you sometimes come across the most unique and memorable places.  One such place I first encountered 11 years ago on the outskirts of Nazare.  We saw an announcement for a concert featuring one of the biggest groups of Portugal, Xutos & Pontapes (the U2 of Portugal) and one of the newest groups at the time As Tentacoes.  I passed this same concert venue today and was devastated to see that it had been abandoned and left in ruins.  It was a strange sensation to see what had been the site of so much energy and entertainment, left to rot and deteriorate.