Obla-di-Obidos

Are you feeling like I was away for a month rather than a week? Sometimes my recaps are like that. Just a couple more days and we're home. But... they were full days and maybe my favorite days of our holiday.

On Day 4 we took a little breather. We wanted to walk on the beach, the one sitting just on the other side of the cliffs at the edge of our resort. The beach was accessed via wooden steps built into the very steep hill side. The Atlantic is wild and rugged here. It pounds the shoreline and there are places you can see where the mountain has literally moved. Thankfully not while we were on it. ahem. The highest wave ever ridden by a surfer happened just up the coast and there's a crazy photo of it here.  

We did not ride the waves. I almost accidentally rode a wave, but it wasn't 100 ft. and it only soaked me up to my shorts.  

We noticed a particularly prominent point and thought it would make a fun picture. You know, pretend I'm holding up the hillside? So I jogged out that way while hubs got the camera ready...

SURPRISE!!

The surf came up a lot closer to the rock than it appeared from a distance. And it was fa-ree-ZING!

I changed my mind...

Decided this plan had the potential to go awry, and I might end up on the nightly news as the tourist swept out to sea because she was doing something stupid.

Hubs and I regrouped. We re-evaluated the tide and tried again...

Whoohoo!  I lived to tell the tale-ha! After our beach adventure mama needed to lie down. The sun was brilliant and the air just right so we planted ourselves beside the pool for a couple of hours. Delightful.  

Later that afternoon we drove a few miles down the road to the nearby medieval city of Obidos. Enchanting! A storybook hilltown encircled by a wall dating back to the 14th century. The construction is impressive. 

Somebody had to haul an awful lot of rock sans bulldozer and forklift back in the day. Lots of somebodies I imagine. 

Way back in 1282 King Dinas presented this charming little village to his beloved Isabel as a wedding present. 

You enter through a gate whose underneath side is dressed in colorful tile. FYI-beautiful tile is everywhere you turn in this country.

Once inside the city walls the narrow streets wind and climb, and flowers spill out of window boxes and up the sides of ancient white washed buildings.  

There are shops and restaurants and churches, and a castle turned hotel.  

You can also climb up onto the wall and walk the sentry path, so up we went. 

Mind your footing now!

Uh, it's high. 

Scary high. 

And along much of the wall along one side, there's no railing. Yup, open all the way to the ground, some 50 feet below. 

In some places you can crawl climb more cobbledy cobbled steps also without a railing, and go even higher. 

Not nervous at all. Ha!  

And to make it more 'exciting' it was gusty up there!  Hubs wanted me to climb into this space in the wall which in essence was like climbing into a wind tunnel. 

If you look closely you'll see me  peeking out of the rampart.  Hubs kept shouting for me to 'lean out a little further'. My stomach kind of flip flops just writing about it. 

We walked the entire way around, and some parts were less terrifying than others. When I had to press myself against the wall so a dad carrying a baby on his shoulders could pass by I told hubs we had to climb down. I did not want to witness him stumbling with that baby. Seriously dad! Come on! Not smart!

We were meeting up with the rest of our group for dinner in one of the restaurants and it was such a cute spot.  Low beamed ceilings, stone walls, and wonderful local cuisine.  The perfect ending to a perfect day. 

I love the way it makes me feel to walk in these old cities.  To think about the people who built them and how very different the world is today. The way time, for just a little while, stands completely still.