Obrigado Portugal

Portugal has been our favourite country so far! Why? Because English is widely used, it is much cheaper than Spain (a beer or coffee is $AUD1.10), most of the country is against the Atlantic (making it bearable) and it reminds us more of the Greek villages. Other high points are that the countryside is greener, lots of olive trees and wine and the Portguese can pay their household bills using any ATM!!! The Portguese language is not like Spanish, it has many guteral and "sh" sounds reminding you of Dutch or even one of the Slavic languages. "Thank You Portugal!"

We spent our last day in Portgual visiting Faro, a city of 55,000 against the Atlantic, in the southern province of Algrave near the Spanish border (near Sevilla). Faro has a strange claim to fame. Inside its main church, the Igregia de Nossa Senhora de Carmo is a little chapel called the Capela dos Ossos or "Chapel of Bones". Have a closer look at the photo of it and you will see, yes, human skulls and bones!!! This chapel is constructed not with bricks but the skulls and femurs of 1,245 monks who served in Faro over the past few centuries! Gruesome but true!!!

Extremities

The most south-westerley point in Europe is also in Portugal - Cabo San Vincente! No wonder these guys were good navigators. Here we are in front of Europe´s second most powerfull lighthouse that can be seen 100km away! We are trying to find Eourpe´s "other extremities" so we can go there - what the heck!

We also visited many splendid beaches near Albufeira where we were based. Sagres is near this point as well as Lagos, all with deep green waters and one with its own eroded "six apostles"!

The other vital fact is that, in this picture, we are at the furthest point away from Sydney - which is in fact on the exact opposite side of the planet by approx 500km from here.

Go West

The most westerley point in Europe is in Portugal!!! It is called Cabo Da Roca. Paul and I decided to go there and point north and south. There were many Japanese but they were not pointing.

The area around Sintra features many coastal towns that resemble Greek island villages. Here is one that is built on the cliffs called Azenhas Do Mar. Everyone was sleeping.

Portugal is a great place - reminds us a lot of Greece and the people all speak English!!!

Portguese Winds

Sintra is a magical place in the Heavens (height up to 500m). It is an old city surrounded by mountains, castles, beaches and parks. It is only 20km from Estoril where we were located and some 30km from Lisbon.

We visited two major castles: Palacia De Pena and the Regularia. The former was built by King Ferdinand I in the late 1800´s as a "summer residence" and the later by a doctor in 1910.

Here we are at one of the balconies of Palacio Da Pena - no one told us ãbout the strong winds!!!

Liz-Boa

For all of those who keep asking "where are the women?" - meet Liz-Boa or Lizzie from Lisboa!!!

We met her on top of Lisboa at the St George Castle.

She has a heart of stone and plays hard to get.

Tonight we are going to have a Portguese tart each!!!

Lisbon is Greek

According to the Portguese themselves, Ulysees discoverd the site that is now modern Lisbon (Lisboa).

Therefore it is Greek.

Lisbon is an ultra-compressed Athens - 2.5 million people living on seven steep hills covered in apartments over an area roughly 20 by 20 km. Most streets are cobbled and every shape other than straight. As a result traffic is chaotic and congested.

This photo was taken from the 5th century castle of St George. Other highlights include the fairly clean Douri river (with cool breeze) and the Monument of Disovery which salutes Portguese ocean explorers between 1427 and 1525.

Fatima

On 13 May 1917, three children, Lucia (10), Fransicso (9) and Jacinta (7) saw a lady in brilliant white light, which turned out to be the Virgin Mary, in a little town called Fatima approx 130km North of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Virgin appeared three more times culminating in a miracle on 13 November 1917, witnessed by 70,000 locals who saw the sun "descend down upon them" and could look at it directly.

A white pillar with a statue of the Virgin marks the spot where the children saw her. All three children are buried in the Basilica you see in the photo. Fransicso and Jacinta died in 1919/1920 and Lucia in 2003 at age 96. Fatima has a population of 7,000 locals, with hotels that can sleep another 10,000 and they get 4 million visitors a year. The children where beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000 but have not yet been canonised. Paul and I also visited the house that Fransicso and Jacinta lived in, which has been preserved.

On the way from Oporto to Lisbon, Paul and I also stopped by Coimbra before visting Fatima. This is a medieval town built around a 13th century university and a 12th century church contains the remains of the first two kings of Portugal. Distance travelled to date: 4,265km.