Awakening to a bright, sunny day, we gazed out our corner window on the 2nd (3rd) floor of our beachfront hotel to see several fishermen casting lines with long poles into the sea. During breakfast, we watched as mothers, or grandparents, walked children to school. And the dogs - playful, friendly pups enjoying another day on the beach. After walking the half mile to the car park (underground) in the sun rather than rain, we headed to Calda da Rainha. A smaller road than the autopisa - N242 - took us away from the sea and through areas of farmland, forests, and small towns. Yellow and red flowers abound - an old-fashioned windmill was spotted (the Don Quixote type). We arrived at the market or the center of Calda da Rainha, a crowded city with narrow lanes for one-way streets lined with cars. Finding a parking placed proved to be difficult. We waited in a car park for someone to leave and they did - we pulled into a narrow parking slot with the help of a man who directs the cars for a donation.
The market was a life-style painting, so colorful, so pretty and so completely full of stands offering any type vegetable one desired, most fruits (fresh and dried), olives, cheeses, and gorgeous fresh flowers and potted plants. We purchased some fruit and olives. Walking back to the car we strolled by some modernistic sculpture standing in connected ponds. The tall iron structures were decorated with tiles. The sun feels so good today. We almost purr as we bask in its rays.
The countryside is painted with brown and green fields, scatterings of villages and towns with white walls, and tile roofs - very picturesque.
As we enter Obidos, we can see a castle and walled city atop a hill. Just to the south of it is an aquaduct still standing. We wandered around various winding streets, but could not located Obidos centro. We kept driving out into the countryside . saw beautiful onions in rows along with some other garden crops we could not identify. Eventually turning toward the walled city we found a big car park. From there we got a pamphlet regarding the old city and the castle, stopped to have tea and coffee. Entering the gate of the walled city, found us among many other visitors speaking multiple languages including school groups. Potted plants along porch rails of homes situated among steep streets are blooming, beautiful and soon to be growing furiously. Today we all thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of the sun - not only are we absent of our outer coats (bought in St. Jean Pied de Port, remember?), but we are also not waring our light weight inner jackets. we brought from home. Today we are down to long sleeved shirts . except Fannette who is clad in a t-shirt. Of course, we still carried our umbrellas. Obidos, the inner city, is a cobblestone work of art, consisting of Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque features - created, destroyed, and rebuilt throughout the centuries. Outside the old walled area lies a modern city with colorful neighborhoods, new schools, a shopping mall - yet the narrow, winding streets persist because the topography demands it. Between these towns and cities, we sometimes ramble along the countryside; other times we hop a toll road and zip along to our next destination. Portugal, like Spain, has a well developed, modern road system - sometimes we miss our turn off, but oh well, we are here to see the country. Even if we do not always know where we are, we are NOT lost.
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