Friday 9/6/19 – I did another day trip today but I didn’t realize it was a “big bus” tour with about 50+ people. The tour guide, Anna, was OK, but she was no Fabio! OK, OK, I think I did have a man crush on Fabio! Lol. But he was a really good tour guide!
This tour was another all day tour and we went to 5 different places. A lot of them were churches and I thought, why am I going to all these churches since I got all my sins absolved yesterday! Lol. But those who’ve followed me for awhile know how I love the European churches.
First stop was to the cute little walled town of Óbidos. Founded by the Celts (300 BC), then ruled by Romans, Visigoths, and Moors, Óbidos was known as Portugal’s “wedding city”. In 1282, when King Dinis brought his bride Isabel here, she liked the town so much he gave it to her. Whatta guy! Today, this medieval walled town is popular for weddings.
Next stop was the town of Alcobaça and the Monastery of Santa Maria. The church represents the finest Gothic building in Portugal and its largest church. While the church is beautiful, the love story of the two people buried in it reads like a Jerry Springer show! Twenty year old Prince Pedro met 17 year old Ines at his wedding to her cousin Constance. Pedro dutifully fathered a son, the future king Fernando, with Constance while seeing Ines on the side. When Constance died Pedro settled in with Ines. Although Pedro’s Father forbade their marriage, they married secretly and had four children. Pedro’s feather had Ines murdered and Pedro staged an armed uprising against his father and won. Pedro exhumed Ines’ body, dressed it in a wedding gown, and put her on the throne and made his enemies kneel and kiss her putrid rotting hand. OK, even Jerry Springer ain’t that crazy!
Next stop was the beach town of Nazare. It had some beautiful sandy long beaches and some high cliffs right next to it. They say during the winter time, the waves here can get as high as 78 feet!
Next we stopped at Batalha and saw the Batalha Monastery. On August 14, 1385, two armies faced off here to decide Portugal’s future. King Joao I of Portugal defeated the Castilian king and thanked the Virgin Mary by building this church and monastery.
Our last stop was the town of Fatima. On May 13, 1917, three children were tending sheep when the Virgin Mary appeared standing in an oak tree. On the 13th day of each month for the next 5 months, Mary reappeared with 3 messages. 1. Peace is coming and WWI will end. 2. Russia will reject God and communism will rise, bringing a Second World War. 3. Someone will try to kill a bishop dressed in white. This third message was kept a secret for decades in a sealed envelope in the Vatican. In 1981, on May 13, the year’s first pilgrimage day of Fatima, Pope John Paul II was shot. Upon recovery, he became convinced that he was the “bishop” of the prophecy. In the year 2000, he visited Fatima and made the three children saints.
So here’s a summary of the pics. 1&2 are of the narrow lanes of Óbidos.
Pics 3&4 are of the Alcobaça Monastery.
Pics 5-7 are at Nazare. Pic 7 I decided to go traditional for today’s eats and ditch the octopus for salmon!
Pics 8&9 are the Batalha Monastery.
Pics 10-12 are at Fatima. If you look close at Pic 12 under the little globe on the inside of the crown, you can see the bullet that they took out of Pope John Paul II’s body. The interesting thing is that crown was made years before he was shot and there was already a hole there where the bullet fit in perfectly without having to widen the hole. That’s pretty eerie! They put this crown on the statue of the Virgin Mary every 13th of the month when the pilgrims arrive.
TGIF to all!
PS: Since I gave a shout out to my Dad the other day, based on today’s sites, I wanted to shout out to my Mom as well. She too passed a few years ago but was a devout Catholic and probably would have loved to go to Fatima. Her favorite song was Ave Maria, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, so I thought about her often today. Love you Mom!
The Wandering Italian 