Day 15 Big Beach, Castle, Caves & breathtaking Church (Fatima)
Today we started with a lot of rain pouring down. So we stayed in and did some cleaning and a load of laundry. Dave did some payments for our next two accommodations. Also talked with our contact for the Lagos condo to let her know what time to expect us there on Sunday.
After the rain stopped we headed out to Nazare again to see if there were any big wave surfers out today. We walked to the light house to see the magnificent waves. But no surfers. We attempted to walk to the beach but the terrain would not let us and the rain came again. Short but enough to get us soaked! Thank God for waterproof jackets!
We walked back to Sitio and checked out the museum for the main church. It was small but lovely. It had a gift shop there where the items were quite well priced! Gale bought a lovely cork wallet for 5 euros.
We then headed to the nearest Pingo Doce for Lunch. There was only a small cafeteria, so we picked up some wraps, cheese and bacon balls and a couple of pastel do natas and of course a bica!
Next stop a new town of Porto de Mos. There we visited a castle perched high on a hill in the town. We found a nearby unique looking church but it was closed. Quaint little town.
We were close to the next stop of the day, the Grutas of Moeda…the underground Grutas (caves)! It felt like you were in a movie! Lots of pictures taken, but doesn’t give the experience justice. After touring the underground caves we walked through an above ground museum of different minerals found through the world. Some pretty fascinating displays.
The tour of the Grutas also included a sampling of local Portuguese bread and a taste of sweet Portuguese wine; tastes a lot like portwine. Both were very delicious and served in the gift shop of the facility. The bread we tasted has a very unique history. It is what the Portuguese children go door to door to get on the night after Halloween. The bread is made of walnuts, cinnamon, fennel, and grapes. It is widely available in local supermarkets.
Next stop of the day was to the town of Fatima. The story of the Our Lady of Fátima miracle begins on May 13, 1917. Three peasant children, Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia were tending to their family’s sheep. The children under 10 years old were blessed with the presence of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. In Portugal, she is also known as Fátima. Fatima is considered a historic religion shrine and many people visit, particularly on the May 13 anniversary date.
In Fatima, at the Sanctuary of Fatima, there is a magnificent church with a breathtaking exterior and surrounding area. People travel miles to make this pilgrimage of prayer and walk on their knees to an outdoor chapel of the church massive square. There were people taking part in this ritual on the day we were there. They take off their shoes and crawl on their knees while praying. There also was an area where you could purchase a candle and have it lit in a special area, again outside of the church in the main square. I bought one, lite it, said a pray and placed it in caldron with hundreds of others. The candles were of many different sizes and costs. We took lots pictures. The main square in front of the church is twice the size of St. Peter’s in Rome and has a capacity to hold 300,000 people.
Before leaving we went back into the church and there was a service going on. The music was very powerful experience. The acoustics in the church were unbelievable. You could feel the music in your soul! You can hear this in a video we did that is at the link posted below all of the pictures. It is posted on Youtube. That video has the sound from a live church service at Fatima when we were there, recorded with an iphone.
Once back into Sao Martinho do Porto we headed directly to the Indian Food restaurant on the wharf. It had only been opened for 3 weeks. So while we waited for our food to be prepared we had a large beer and snacks at the bar. The snacks were delicious. It had Indian chips with three different sauces to dip in. the take away food was absolutely delicious. We had lamb curry, butter chicken and vegetable rice with naan bread.
It was a great day! Even though it rained in the beginning it certainly didn’t dampen our spirits.
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| Underground cave |
Mpictures below along the road at roundabout of statue in middle and of some windmills very close to roadside……
We then left the Grutas of Moeda and travelled a short drive to the town of Fatima……here are some pictures of the religious iconic sights at the main square in Fatima.
Below is the link to the Youtube video with sounds from church service at Fatima. It begins with music, then has the Priest speaking in Portuguese and then more singing and music. The second segment of song and organ music is really striking.
Here is a bonus video from the caves at Grutas de Moeda!
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