My Trip To Portugal

[smooth rider]

we boarded the bus and were dropped at rosseau square. we had time to kill and explored the area. there were people dressed up and standing as statues. they were making money. we were interrupted by a tall guy who asked whether we wanted cocaine. we politely declined and walked away. saw a piaggio auto beautifully painted, driven by a lady. there was a band playing by the waterfront with a tall lanky fellow dancing to the tune. we had dinner from the same indian restaurant and returned to our hotel.

 

[AppU]

Excellent Write up and Pics SR(As usual)

Waiting to know more about Portugal :)

 

[smooth rider]

i was woken up by 5 am by my dear pals for going swimming in the hotel pool. i declined as it was cold and the poll was not heated. also i don't know swimming and have a phobia for water above my waist i watched my pals having a swim from my balconey. we set out to see the town of sintra after break fast by 9.30 am. i saw a poor soul begging for money at a signalwe boarded the bus which took us on the highway named IC 19. its about 29 kms from Lisbon.i saw a poor soul begging for money at a signal. portugal is one of the poorest country in the European union. intra is an ancient city with palaces & forts and is a Unesco world heritage site. we visited only the palace with 2 chimneys though. as we had lots of other places to cover on that day. its a major tourist destination of Portugal. for more details on the palace with 2 chimneys-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra_National_Palace
for more on Sintra-
Sintra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
here are the snaps of the palace with 2 chimneys

 

[smooth rider]

more snaps mates

 

[smooth rider]

few more from the lot

 

[AR Ram]

excellent pictures and photography.

The human statues - may be a part of self employment there.

Portugal - though a poor country in Europe, keeps the city very clean.

 

[smooth rider]

after the tour of the palace we were standing on the steps of the palace when we saw lots of school kids. the syllabus in portugal must be very light or it must be vacation time there as any where we went there were lots of kids from school on picnics. then we noticed an interesting vehicle . it looked like a locomotive but had wheels like an automobile. it was pulling few carriages. my attempts to learn about it came a cropper as the driver didn't know english and i didn't know portugese. i presume its called as techu- techu from a small badge on its side. it had the toyota emblem on the steering wheel. its used to ferry people around sintra for sight seeing for 5 euros. saw many other vehicles there- there was a mini cooper, BMW, horse drawn coach, volkswagen etc etc.

 

[smooth rider]

more snaps from sintra

 

[smooth rider]

we were asked to wait for our bus at the place were we were dropped and hence we proceeded to the place and sat there for some time. next we were told that we would be taken to a Nazare a small little fishing village. eek who wants to see a fishing village definitely not me as i have a fishing village in my panchayath, which isfull of smell of rotten fish with puddles of dirty foul smelling water but had to tag along to see a little portugese fishing village

 

[smooth rider]

we drove on a highway. the countryside was beautiful, see for yourself, we stopped en route at a picnic spot to have a beer and packed lunch. it was a small place among pine trees. there was benches and tables there so also toilets. there were some school kids too. one of them caught my eye. he was really naughty boy and we named him Dennis the menace. the chap was tking othe kids to the waste bin and then cajoling them to have a peek and a sniff inside. the other kids were seen retching and running off.

 

[smooth rider]

the first view of Nazare impressed me. there were rows and rows of beautiful houses. some village it turned out to be. have a look. it had two neighbourhood one on the cliff , where we went first and the other along the beach. the town is built around a church on the cliff. legend says that a wooden statue of virgin mary was brought from Nazareth by a monk who lived on the cliff and on whose death a church was built and the statue placed on the altar by the king.the legend of Nazare says that the virgin mary saved the life of a knight in the 12 the century by divine intervention. for more info -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar%C3%A9,_Portugal

 

[smooth rider]

another interesting thing that the guide told us was the peculiar custom of the women of nazare followed was - they wore six skirts one on the other on the first day of the week when their men folk ventured out into the sea. the next day they removed one of the skirts and another the the third day..... till they came back on the week end. some one in our group enquired to our guide what happens next ? to which she said any " body's guess with a mischievous smile

 

[smooth rider]

next we went down to the beach. we spent an hour there. next we went to see the city of Fatima.

 

[Mathew]

mathew those are the teasers. iam tied up with my pending works & the world cup at night ..... will post the TL as soon as i get some free time

WOW.

I take back me previous comments.

Excellent Travelogue with excellent photos.

All photos are very clean, i.e. you are also excellent behind your camera.
By the way, which camera?

 

[smooth rider]

mathew thanks for your comments. canon 1100.
Fatima is a famous pilgrimage centre for catholics in portugal & the world over.the attraction being the church of the our lady of fatima. our lady of fatima or our lady of rosary, refers to the virgin mary whose apparitions was experienced by three shepherd children viz Lucia santos and her cousins jacinta and francisco. there are several legends associated with lucia who later became a nun and died in 2005, one was the prediction of the beginning of world war 2 and another was the miracle of the sun. for more details here are the links
Our Lady of Fátima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fátima, Portugal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia