A Gift To My Wife

(Bill McInturff is not allowed to read the next paragraph).

Portugal's highways can not be real.  They are well-paved, and have few cars on them.  The speed limit is 75 mph (120 kph), but that is more speed suggestion than limit.  I regularly averaged 87 mph, often doing as much as 93 or more.  Once, for kicks, I hit 100 mph, and Carol didn't even freak out, because there were literally no cars around.  I saw one policeman on the highway the whole time, and that was on Tuesday, the first day of highway driving.

I reiterate, there were very few cars or trucks on the highways.  One reason maybe the high tolls, but when you give me great roads, no enforced speed limits, and zero traffic, I will pay the higher tolls.  And, at least the rental car had a EZ Pass on the car, so we could roll right through the tolls.

Our next stop on the tour after Sintra was Obidos.  It is a small town (approx 3,100 people) living within city walls on a hill.  It has a castle at the top point of the hill, and the 14th Century wall is walkable.  At 45 feet tall, it can be daunting to those with height and/or knee issues.

The long tradition of Obidos is that Portuguese kings would give it to their brides for a wedding present.  Protected from the government from modern development, Obidos is a throw back to 1282 (well, not quite), which is when it was first made a wedding gift.  So, anyhow, the townsfolk don't know, and neither does Carol, but I'm going to give her the town of Obidos as a wedding present.  

In early November, it is a bit on the sleepy side, but that's okay.  I can see the place in a non-COVID summer jam-packed with tourists thronging the streets and shops.

Half the fun, sometimes, is getting there.  The GPS took us along the city walls to the east, to the northern gate (there are three car gates and one pedestrian-only gate through the walls).  We parked outside the gate and took the short walk through two small gates, past the castle to our hotel.  We were staying at the Pousada Castelo Obidos.  The Pousada has rooms both in the castle and in a villa next door.  I booked the villa as the castle rooms are small.

The desk clerk told us to drive right in through the two gates and park in front of the castle.  So we did.  For both gates we pulled the side view mirrors in.  Phew, we fit through without any scraping.

(Editor: Portuguese drives go through those gates all the time without drama.  Writer: They've got the "local driver" button their car that makes it smaller as they pass through the gate.  As an American, I don't have that button!). 

We set off to explore Obidos for the afternoon.  One day is all you need in the town, but it is quite charming.  There are also a lot of book stores in Obidos, as there are in all of Portugal.  I read somewhere that Portugal has the most independent bookstores per capita of any country in the world. 

We walked down the hill to the "start" of town, the main gate.  It has blue tiles showing battles and religious activities from the days of yore.  Then, we walked up the main lane (not really a main street) called Rua Direita, which has most of the shops in town.  We stopped at a restaurant, Tasca de Torta, and it did the job.

A view of the city wall.

This is the gate I drove through.

It was a good challenge.

Blue tile art on a random building.

Above the main gate into Obidos,

at the bottom of the town.

We went into a couple of churches, while bypassing the many ginjinha of Obidos stands.  The Church of St. Mary was right in the middle of the town square, and is from the 16th Century.  We also "admired" the town pillory, which is where wrong-doers were tied and either flogged or mocked for a period of time.

The town pillory.

No such thing as too many tiles.

You wouldn't believe how many

photos of them I'm NOT posting.

A typical Obidos street.

Carol in an archway.

The altar of St. Mary's.

We ducked through the gate and went to the city walls.  Climbing the city walls is harder than the already difficult Castle of the Moors in Sintra.  The stairs are, at points, disturbingly narrow.  At 45 feet high, having narrow stairs with nothing but a slip and fall standing between me and death was a bit harrowing.  

The views were great, especially back to the castle, but Carol retreated after a bit.  I pressed on, and then actually lost interest.  Thankfully there are numerous stairs, so I cut my wall walk short. 

Obidos Castle from the city walls.

The wall's stairs may look small

in this photo, but believe me,

they are even smaller.

Another angle on the castle.

Next to the castle is another old church, but it is now a bookstore.  The setup is very cool, as they've combined the best of a bookstore with the flow of the church. 

The bookstore, from the second

level, looking towards the altar.

After the bookstore, I headed back down to the bottom of town to buy a bottle of wine.  Our room had a nice big patio off of it, so we had half of the bottle before dinner whilst sitting out and relaxing.  After dinner at A Nova Casa de Ramiro, it was too cold to sit outside.  Instead, we walked around taking in the well-lit castle and walls, and then finished the bottle in our room.