On to our second day in Portugal, still in Óbidos. Since we arrived at 6pm the night before and went straight to the medieval festival, we spent the morning exploring Óbidos, looking forward to walking on top of the walls. The small town has flowers everywhere and so I took lots and lots of pics of those but I will spare the lot of you from those and only post them if someone wants to see them.
Rua direta in Óbidos
The “main” street in the village of Óbidos. We started from the castle towards the entrance, here is the pillory used to punish delinquents and criminals in bygone days and the Fountain of Dona Catarina.
Pillory and fountain of Dona Catarina
In front of the fountain is the Igreja de Santa Maria, Saint Mary’s Church.
Church of Santa Maria in Óbidos
A view of the interior of the church:
Inside view of the church with all its azulejos
We then headed towards the walls and started climbing and walking. Here is a first view over the city.
View over the village from the walls near the main entrance to Óbidos
Here are the walls:
It was very easy to walk along the walls although some areas required attention as there is no barrier to the inside of the village
Stefano on a part of the walls that required a little bit of climbing
Another view of the city, this time away from the castle
We soon arrived at the castle and here the walls end on this side … the walls that surround the castle are on a separate circuit. We also discovered that the castle itself is now a hotel! It is called a Posada. You can go into the main courtyard and see the castle from this point of view, but no further.
Courtyard of the castle, now a hotel called a Posada, very high class lodgings
We were enchanted with the town of Óbidos and glad we had decided to stay and enjoy the village for more than most people see it. We continued our walk around the town along the walls until we were back where we started, then headed off to search for lunch. We ran into our friends from La Giostra who were with other artists taking part in the festival. Our new acquaintances, Olivier from Os Cavaleiros do Tempo, soon recommended a place to eat at a good price and even suggested a dish we should try. We were happily satisfied with our meal and then went back to our b&b for a nap before getting dressed for our second day at the medieval festival. Our pictures from the second day at the market are very similar so I’ll just a few from the horse joust in which Olivier and his group participated in.
Here is Olivier as he comes back with a broken spear
Knight in the jousting tournament on horseback
A close up view of Olivier on his magnificent horse
And that’s all for the second day folks!!