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Day Trips

February 14, 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

We didn't just waste our time in Salema. No siree. We are PROFESSIONAL tourists. We felt compelled to search out forts, churches, museums and town squares. Well, maybe not compelled exactly but something close. So, we did.

As mentioned last time, our first side trip was to Cape Sagres and the Fortaleza de Sagres. This is the most southwesterly point in mainland Europe. From ancient Roman times, the local harbor was once the last coastal port for sailors heading out across the ocean. Prince Henry the Navigator ran a 15th Century navigation school in the town or, perhaps, on the point near what's left of the Fortaleza (= fort in English in case it wasn't obvious). Currently, there are few remains from before the 16th Century. There is a wall across the point and a few guard posts that were constructed in the 18th Century and a small church from the same period. Nevertheless, the barren point is apparently good for fishing and for us non-sportsmen, it is simply a nice place to look at Atlantic beaches.

For Marianne and me, Cape Sagres was a milestone because it meant that we'd gone as far south as our current Road Trip would take us. I guess everything else will be part of a return trip. Too bad, I was getting used to this.

But, there's no time for rest for us professionals. We had "places" to see. By now, "places" means a castle, a church, a town square, and, optionally, a museum. On the Iberian Peninsula, there are a zillion towns that meet this definition of "place" and from our base in Salema, we visited two: Silves and Lagos.

Silves is a few kilometers away from the coast. The books say this spot has been settled and fortified since the Iron Age. The current fort, a 1940's reconstruction of a structure several hundred years older, crowns a hill that rises above the surrounding farms. Looking out from the fort, it was easy to imagine life inside and near the protective walls. Silves had a nice enough Romanesque church, but I think I've reached the limit of my enthusiasm for this defensive and cold style of church architecture. As for the optional museum, it was just more shards and broken pieces from a couple thousand years of local settlements.

Leaving Silves, we cut across mountains toward the western coastline. The countryside was surprisingly diverse. We went past granite quarries, one of which had blocks stacked ten high, each as big as a small house. It made our little car seem very tiny and made the driver wonder just when we would meet one of these house-sized blocks in transit. Luckily, we never did.

We also went through forests of cork trees. At first, we thought these were just the normal oak trees that dot the hilly grasslands back home in California, but then we noticed they were different. Many had large numbers painted on them indicating what year the bark was last harvested and closer examination clearly revealed where cork had been stripped. It is a process that is repeated eight or nine times in the century-and-a-half life of a tree. We would continue to see cork trees throughout our drives in Portugal, sometimes growing in natural-looking forests and at other times in orchards whose regular pattern stretched out over hills and fields.

On the drive home from Silves, in addition to cork forests and orchards, we passed through some long and desolate stretches of rocky hills, reminding me more of West Virginian than California. Then we descended into fertile farm valleys and eventually we hit coastal towns that, like Salema, had a blend of tourist condominiums and local farm and fisherman cottages. All this variety surprised me, coming as it did in just a single not-too-long drive in a small corner of a fairly small country. There's definitely more here than just cork trees.

On another day, we went over to Lagos, the "big" city closest to Salema. The old part of town is still bounded by bits and pieces of the 16th Century defensive wall. Inside are a few reminders of older times when the port city was important to Moorish rule and then to later Christian monarchs. The oldest building we saw was originally built to house slaves brought in from Portuguese exploration of Africa almost 50 years before Columbus found his way to America.

Lagos, like most Portuguese cities, was destroyed as a result of a massive earthquake and resulting fires in 1755. It was a Sunday and the churches were full of people and, unfortunately, brightly burning candles. A majority of churches and buildings were destroyed. In our visit to Lagos' Church of St. Anthony we saw a gaudy interior from the Rococo style that was apparently popular in the mid-1700's. I found this more interesting than the older Romanesque style, but I don't think we'll use it in our next building project.

Our last Lagos stop was to the small Ponta da Bandeira Fort. "Bandeira" means explorer and many of the famous Portuguese explorers' trips started out from this harbor. While we were there, an old-looking boat returned to harbor, but I expect the only exploration involved here was exploring how much money the tourists brought with them. No matter, it helped me imagine life 500 years ago and that's the type help we seek and value. We left Lagos satisfied.

On our way back home, we detoured into the resort that is just inland from our quaint fishing village, Salema. What we discovered was a very large and sophisticated resort with a golf course, tennis courts, pools and several dozen large homes in addition to hundreds of smaller condominium units. Because it is off-season, everything was pretty quiet but this was yet another sign that summer would be markedly different.

So that's it, our Salema Day Trips. A little history, a little religion, a little agriculture, and, a little insight into the Algarve coast of Portugal. John, the hotel owner, had advised us that July and August are terribly busy, crowded, and a bit too hot, but that leaves ten other months to choose from. Our choice of February was almost perfect.

Take care and visit a "place" this weekend.

John and Marianne

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Created March 2, 2002

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