Thought we’d head back to Nazaré today to see if there were any giant waves for Guy to photograph.
We stuck to the little roads, trying to avoid any areas that still had flood warnings on Google map’s.
Still, we were met with some devastation on a scale we haven’t seen before. Whichever storm(s) it was that came through this area must have been absolutely terrifying. Trees are snapped in half for mile after mile, but the weirdest thing was seeing all the metal road signs twisted and bent in half or completely up-rooted. I feel so sorry for the people here, mainly between Coimbra and Leiria, as I’m sure this was the same area where we witnessed complete devastation from forest fires in 2017.
We managed to park on the outskirts of town in Nazaré with a half hour walk uphill to the famed lighthouse at north beach. Normally this place is an absolute Mecca for surfers but not a single one in sight today. Red flags on the beach and still a few big waves, but nothing compared to what we saw here a few years ago. The photographer was very disappointed.
Moving a bit further south mid afternoon, we have come back to Obidos – a site of sheer terror for me a few years ago, when I was persuaded to walk around the walls. The views are amazing and you can walk a long way all around the ramparts, but for the most part, it’s on a narrow shelf with a sheer drop on one side – not for the faint hearted. Guy went up the steps at one point just to make sure it was as bad as I remembered…it was!
The town itself is lovely. There are coach loads of visitors and many ‘I saw you coming’ shops but it still has a nice old atmosphere with its cobbled streets and whitewashed houses.
Finally got lured into trying one of the Pastel de Bacalhau in this fancy place with a man playing a violin (very similar to one in Porto). A small fish cake coated in breadcrumbs with some melted mountain cheese in the middle – three bites maybe? Tasted a bit like Captain Birdseye’s finest offering off of the ‘70’s! An accompanying glass of white port between us and a bill for €26 …I nearly choked on it! 🤣🤣🤣
One good thing though – you get to keep the port glass.
