November 2, 2021
Nazare to Obidos
Before leaving Nazare we stopped to purchase a phone data plan for nine more days as our French Free Mobile ended on November 1st. Next a quick trip to the post office to mail a letter before beginning today’s ride. These delayed our departure by a half hour or more and with a lot of miles planned for the day, we decided to share the road with the cars and trucks along the more direct, main road. The towns and views from the road were not memorable.
The plan was to ride to Obidos, a medieval town and one of the most well preserved fortresses in Portugal, for lunch before continuing on to Lourinha, our destination for the night.
After two hours, the impressive fortress came into view on top of a hill and soon we were pushing our bikes up the cobblestone streets to the castle. The walls of the fortified town are amazingly complete and strolling through the maze of streets and white houses with colourful window boxes we pondered how many times this place has been ransacked by battle and degraded over time, but then re-built again. Indeed, Obidos may have fewer abandoned, crumbling buildings than any other place in Portugal that we have seen.
We parked our bikes and found a place for a traditional Portuguese lunch. Once our stomachs were filled we climbed and walked along the walls for great views of the fields below, towns on distant hillsides and the white buildings with red roofs within the walls.
It was getting late and with the October 31st time change, which made it darker an hour earlier, if we were to make Lourinha before nightfall, it was time to move on.
We no sooner were outside the walls when black clouds rolled in and a torrent of rain fell. We holed up in bus stand and decided not to ride the wet roads in the failing light and put our new data plan to use finding and booking a room right in Obidos. As the rain lessened, we made a dash for Casa de Santa Thiago de Obidos back inside the walls. By the time we had filled the room with our wet gear, the rain stopped and we wandered back along the lanes bike-free, like tourists. We warmed up with a shot of ginja, a liqueur made with locally grown cherries and served in a tiny chocolate cup that you eat after enjoying your drink and, actually went into the shops to look at the art, crafts and tacky souvenirs on display.
Obidos is one of those places that many people visit for the day, but few stay the night, so everything shut down just after dark. After some searching we found a restaurant open for supper and settled into the warmth for a pizza. In the end, staying Obidos was the right choice.
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Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 2,256 km (1,401 miles)
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