Castelo de Palmela

(Note: We apologize for being SO slow in our blog. Our surprise transfer to Évora on the continente with all the work that a small, struggling branch needs with only 4 months to be there and then a computer crash and time needed to purchase a new one and get the various programs going again. So, we are really behind. As of today, 20 January, we have less than a month here in Portugal!!! We will finish the blogs but it will be mostly when we are back home in California. And now for our first blog from Alentejo! Though we still have 2 left to do from Angra. Sigh.)

It is hard to miss the Castelo de Palmela. It sits on a high hill, visible from most everywhere in Setúbal. We saw it every day (if there were no clouds on it) when we left our apartment building, It was always inviting us to visit.

First a little history: The first indications of 'modern' use were in 300 A.D. In the next centuries, it was controlled by the Visigoths and the Muslims. The Muslims built much of the primitive foundations of the castle in the 11 and 12th centuries. The Christians reconquered the area in 1158. In the succeeding centuries, castle was added to, changed and essentially participated in all the strifes and military challenges in Portugal history. In 1910, it was designated a national monument (when Portugal became independent from kings) and in the 1940's restoration work began. The pousada (hotel) was created in a renovation of one of the buildings in 1970. (Thank you Widipedia - both English and Portuguese!)

One rainy Monday, we decided to do a car exploration of Setúbal and after various wanderings, found ourselves driving up the hill to the castle.

Thank goodness for umbrellas!!


We had time to look at one area in the castle and enjoyed the view, both up to the castle as on the left



OR






looking down from the fort to Setúbal below.

If you follow the road leading to the city, that basically leads directly to our apartment building. The first large buildings that the road leads to is the area where we lived.

Looking on the other side of the hill away from Setúbal, you see the village of Palmela. It covers the hill top and I am positive, if we drove through the streets, they would be very narrow and it would be easy to get lost.

Nearly all the larger villages in the Alentego area are built similarly. A castle on the top of the hill and either the city surrounds the castle or is just below it. The rest of the villages are very small.


When we found our apartment in Évora with about 5 days before moving, we were determined to return and do a full exploration of the castle. On a Friday morning, we returned, arriving soon after the opening hour of 10 a.m. This time it wasn't raining -- in fact it was a beautiful day. So, come and explore the castle with us!!

Here is the lower entrance to the castle (very far left). The parking area is to the left of the picture.



It really feels like you are entering a VERY old place as you enter the arched opening and up the very narrow cobblestone road in the tunnel.

Here is a bird's eye view of the basic complex. At the far end is the pousada in white. To its left is the church. The rest are building, some renovated and painted, other still very old.

The cobblestone road where you see (very small) people walking is the walkway from the entrance in the picture above. You can drive up to the top, but the parking is reserved for those staying at the pousada. It was a nice walk up!!

At the bottom center, with the 2 archways, is the ruins of a church.

 The above picture was taken from the top of the tower to the left!






You have a great view of just about everywhere from there!!

Looking on the other side of the tower, the rest of the buildings are seen.

The building at the back and the long yellow building house the museum in various different rooms.

Elder Broderick  suddenly appeared!!

This is basically at the end of the fort on this side. The covered area is a small café.




Now that we have seen the big picture, here are some of the details!

Looking through one of the  2 archways to the ruins of St. Mary's church.



Pretty impressive view of the keep tower!!

The walls of the church with old sepulchers in the middle.

 A closer up view of the church that is still standing.

The church is actually not a active church, but now houses various exhibitions and they have various programs there.

Very high arched walls. It was quite impressive.

Detail of the wall tiles.

This is very Portuguese. Nearly all church have some tile work such as this and most of it is the original tile from centuries ago.

There is always some famous or important person from the past buried in the church. The sepulcher reflects their wealth or importance. To the right, the letters are pretty clear. The 'V's are actually are 'U's.  It begins: Esta sepultura (this sepulcher).... What can you read?? One clue, even today the Portuguese just continue a word on the next line if they run out of space -- with no hyphens or indication that the word is continued.

Below is a marble casket.

Looking down on the floor, you can see the marble work.


Looking up you can see the arched ceiling with more tile., this time with some color.


We enjoy all the various scenes that are made with tile. In our wanderings in the castle we came across the one below. It is a scene of harvesting the cork from the trees. The southern part of Portugal is a major producer of cork. You see the trees all over with the bark taken off the lower trunk. Often there will be a number on the 'sheared' trunk indicating the year it was last harvested.

One of the rooms among the museum's, was a room with an artisan's tile work that you could buy. She did a beautiful job. We would like to find some tile depiction to bring home to remind us of this very traditional art in Portugal.

We enjoyed the various rooms in the museum with artifacts from the many centuries of habitation on the site. We also were interested in the 'communication' room showing ways of communicating with other military units, very important in times of national security crisis!



Rockets bursting in the air!!!

Below the telegraph! Definitely a step to faster communication.

The Heliograph

This was used at the turn of the 19th century -- using mirrors and sun to send a message by Morse code.


With the various castles/forts on top of the higher hills, you could send a message using sight.

There was a place at the open end of the castle grounds where a cement table was made and the orientation calibrated so you could place the light reflector in a certain, specified position and send the message to a particular hill.

 And getting more modern!!!

But still a very old telephone by our standards!!

Finally the pousada. It is a VERY nice hotel, from what we could see in the lobbies and plaza.

They have done a very good job keeping the original construction and making it a pleasant place for their guests.

On the right, that plant is wisteria -- one plant. A perfect place for such a plant. It would be nice to be here in the spring when it is in bloom!!

Leaving the castle and descending part way down the hill, we found the old windmills. Nearly every city has an old, empty windmill on top of a hill to grind their wheat. Most are empty shells. This one on the right, one of 3 on this hill, is actually been restored to be a private home. Of course we couldn't tour it. It would have been most interesting to see how they did it!!

We hope you have enjoyed the tour of the castle!! 

When I am at these types of places, I think of the thousands of people -- thousands of lives -- that lived, worked, laughed and cried, were born and married and died, walked these streets and worshiped in the churches over hundreds of years. You can see the worn places in stairs, indicating many passages up and down.

They are all Heavenly Father's children! He has a wonderful plan for all of us and we are all together in our journey back to His presence. And I hope those places that I have walked will have been blessed by my efforts!!!