Bom Jesus do Monte

Bom Jesus do Monte is Portugal’s premier religious sanctuary.  Located on a hillside just out Braga the sanctuary stands at the top of a granite staircase, which represents a spiritual journey.  The lower section winds up from the car park with chapels showing the 14 stations of the cross.  The place reflected a certain aura of faded glory. 

 For those who cannot manage the stairs there is a hydraulically operated funicular (dating from 1822) which we took on the way down.

Braga

It’s still raining! Our journey to Braga was uneventful and the municipal campsite 20mins from the town is friendly although very soggy.  The town of Braga is the old ecclesiastical centre of Portugal.  The cathedral’s 15^th C facade was decked out for Easter and the gilded organs were very impressive. ( sorry no picture of the inside as no photographs were allowed).   

The centre has some lovely buildings one being the 14^th C ruins of the Archbishop’s fronted by the lovely garden of Santa Barbara.  

The old shopping streets were well preserved the Cafe Braziliera furnished in 19^th century salon style was a great place to watch the world go by. 

As you can imagine there are many churches, our favourite being the 16^th C Capela dos Coimbras.    

There are many grand houses in Braga, but the prize for the most colourful goes to Palacio do Raio.

The old centre has a very relaxed feel to it and the main square was filled with an Easter Fair with plenty of stalls tempting you with local products.

Bucaco Palace arboretum and Porto

A short drive took us up the valley to Bucaco National Forest.  This is a fantastic place, a wooded hill side that is partly an arboretum, a monastery and a folly of a hunting lodge (now an expensive hotel).  The weather was variable to say the least, by the time we had climbed up to the entrance of the hotel from the campsite in the valley we were soaked.  Met a lovely couple who had brought their campervan to the car park and joined them for a coffee in the hotel and got to see some of the amazing azulejos (tiles) and Manueline arched doorways.  The Carmelite monastery partially remains, and the cork lined cells reminded us of the convento dos Capuchos at Sintra.    

The camellias and the magnolias were in flower but being damaged by the heavy rain. 

The arboretum has some wonderful specimens, a magnificent Tasmanian eucalyptus planted in 1876 and the Bucaco cedar said to of been planted in 1644.

 A valley of tree ferns lead to the Fonte Fria a casade over steps ( a bit like the one at Chatsworth House).

Above the hotel an old cobbled pathway zigzagging up the hill side named the Via Sacra with small chapels marking the stations of the cross.  

The park staff were very busy in the forest as there had been a lot of storm damage with many trees uprooted and quite a few of the smaller pathways blocked by fallen trees.  A beautiful place to visit and we will come again and explore further afield, especially the spa town of Luso just down the road.

From Bucaco we headed towards the Douro valley stopping off overnight to visit our pals Eric and Susan.  They are in the process of re-building an old Portuguese farmhouse.  They have been working on it steadily for two years and say it will take another two years to finish.  The property has a fantastic outlook and their Portuguese neighbours are really friendly and helpful. They made us most welcome, cooked us a lovely meal and sent us off the next day with lots of yummy provisions.  Rob will update this with pictures from his IPhone when he works out how to do it.....

PORTO

We spent a rainy day travelling through the Douro valley which was stunning but was shrouded in mist and we did not see it at its best. We arrived at Camping Marisol just south of the city. Unfortunately the weather did not improve over the next couple of days and on Tuesday we donned our wet weather gear and braved a day sight- seeing in Porto.  The local bus took us to the centre and our first port of call was the railway station which is renowned for its azulejos (tiles) walls.

 A quick soaking later we arrived at the Se (cathedral) and the Pillory column. 

The church of Santa Clara was very plain on the outside but the interior was completely covered in gilded wood. 

   The buildings around the main shopping areas were very grand and so was the Torre dos Clerigos, 75m high.  We decided not to climb its 240 steps as by this time the rain was coming down quite sharply. 

  We found shelter from the rain at the church of St Francis which has a 18^th C baroque interior, everything that can be gilded is and supposedly 450lbs of gold was used, unfortunately for us photographs were not allowed except in the catacombs where not even 1oz of gold was to be seen.

Coimbra

This morning we took advantage of the yellow sight-seeing tour bus which conveniently stops just outside the main gate of the campsite and takes you straight down to the city.   

   

Hopped off just before the bridge to see the convent of Santa Clara a Velha (12^th C).  Its location right on the edge of the river Mondego became its downfall as it suffered from flooding right from its conception.  The church was redesigned with an upper floor added as the ground floor was already under water.  The convent was abandoned in the 1600’s and a new convent was built further up the hill.  The site has now been excavated by building a 20metre deep river defence wall.

Across the bridge and up the main shopping street we visited another church and monastery this time Santa Cruz which holds the tombs of the first two kings of Portugal, Alfonso Henrique and Sancho 1.  The monks at the church were the first tutors at the University of Coimbra.  

The old cathedral (12^th C) and new cathedral are also worth a visit - by the time we reached the university at the top of the hill we had visited 7 churches!

The tour around the old university is a must especially the Biblioteca Joanina.  An 18^th Century extravaganza – gilded woodwork and exotic woods adorn this library which holds over 300,000 books.  The streets were full of students in their gowns some looking rather red faced after doing their dissertations, we know this as part of our tour gave us a glimpse of the halls they were using!  

The city had a lovely lively feel to it and with so much to see there it was with very weary legs that we finally stepped back onto the yellow bus for our return to the campsite.

Batalha Monastery

Another day another church, this time Batalha with its Gothic architecture this is the opposite to the austere Alcobaca. 

  

The entrance and cloisters are very ornate. 

In the Founder’s chapel there is the joint tomb (the first one in Portugal) of Joao I and his English wife Phillipa of Lancaster, and also the tomb of Henry the Navigator. 

 The Manueline portals of the unfinished chapels were a highlight. 

 The afternoon drive took us further north to the university city of Coimbra to stay at the municipal  campsite on the hill outside of town.

Alcobaca and Fatima

Leaving our 6E in an honesty box for our overnight stop we travelled north to Alcobaca, Portugal’s largest church.  The church and its Cistercian monastery have been greatly added to over the centuries.   

This church is renowned for its medieval architecture the central nave and lateral aisles both 20m in height coupled with its length of over 100m gives the impression of grandeur. 

 The tombs of Pedro I and his ill fated love Ines de Castro sit facing each other across the central aisle.  

The 18^th century fully tiled kitchen with its huge chimney above a spit big enough to roast a whole ox was an amazing site. 

As we were close to Fatima we decided to visit the Shrine and take advantage of the free camping aire in the car park.  The weather had closed in but we still managed to see the great square which is twice as large as St Peter’s in the Vatican.  It was quite busy with pilgrims despite the rain.

Obidos

Just a short journey back inland to the 14^th Century walled town of Obidos (pronounced Obish!).  We parked the van at a privately run camperstop just on the outskirts of town near the viaduct, and entered the town on foot through the Porta da Vila.   

Porta da Vila

The chocolate festival finished the day before, but the town was still in party spirit, with plenty of chocolates still available (yum, yum).  The weather was glorious, and the views from the fortified walls were spectacular. 

The castle is now a Pousada (expensive hotel).  The whole town was extremely well kept and very picturesque. 

 After enjoying a cup of coffee on the Rua Direita we picked up some traditionally made pastries for our tea and returned to the camperstop for the night .