Tour #2 Óbidos, Nazaré and Porto

We thought yesterday was a long day but today was significantly longer. It began with a brisk walk through town and up the Avenida da Liberdade. This 1km long boulevard is considered to be one of the most expensive streets in Europe. Our destination was a hotel on the Marques De Pombal roundabout where we were joined by a handful of others.

Boarding a large coach we settled into our seats and begun soaking up the scenery during the hour long drive. First stop was the medieval town of Óbidas. According to many, it is the most picturesque and well preserved fortified town in Portugal.

Óbidas was very small. The Rua Diretia, the main cobbled street is lined with whitewashed houses and shops with the occasional pop of bright blue or yellow highlights or a cascade of purple bougainvillea flowers. It certainly made an impression.

At the end of the Rua Diretia was the ruined and currently being renovated Castelo de Óbidos. A quick wander through this area revealed not much. We discovered that the town walls, the Muralha de Óbidos were much more interesting and also provide fantastic views of the surrounding farmland and over the rooftops of the town.

Realising that we were quickly running out of time, we scooted back down Run Diretia sad to not be able to visit the little local shops but we did arrive back at the bus at the requested time.

From Óbidos, our next stop was only a short distance away and we would have an even shorter stop! Nazaré best known by surfers as the home of big waves! From the Miradouro do Suberco, we had awesome views over Nazaré city centre, the main beach however no big waves insight! In the square, locals were selling biscuits, candied almonds, dried fruit and various nuts. We purchased a selection as well as a few souvenir items from the local shops. On the way back to the bus, we discovered a small fruit market. The fruit looked ripe and delicious. Shannon bought her new favourite donut shaped peach and I opted for cherries and apricots.

Another 2 hour journey before we reached Porto. Our guide informed us that Portugal was the largest producer of cork. We realised that this is why we had seen so many souvenirs made from cork!! Interestingly from the bus there were no cork plantations in sight. Instead surprisingly there were forests and forests of eucalyptus trees!! Portugal is Europes third largest producer of wood pulp and it turns out that eucalyptus trees due to their low maintenance and fast growing are perfect.

On arrival in Porto, we had chosen the traditional Portuguese lunch option. With 5 others, we enjoyed a tapas style lunch. After lunch we had a the slowest ever walking tour showcasing Porto's soul. The poor guide had to deliver the audio in English and Spanish! 

We began looking at this church. Turns out that this is actually two churches - Igreja dos Carmelitas Descalços and Igreja do Carmo separated by the hidden house. As two churches were not allowed to share a wall, they built a 3 foot wide house which until 1980 was occupied! 

Again we felt we could have easily spent a week here rather than a 3 hour tour!! Little streets with tall houses, lots of people, cobblestones, lots of traffic, steep, short hills and several Miradouro views were our experiences.

Bus trip home was smooth but long with a short snack and toilet stop then we eventually rolled into Lisbon around 8pm! We were hoping to wander through the flea market on Avenida da Liberdade as we headed home but were out of luck there.