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!!!

Sejam Bemvindos, Sam e Kat!!

Enjoying a walk in the Angra jardim

When we got our call to the Portugal Lisbon Mission, Sam and Kat expressed interest in coming to see us. Of course, we said, "Of Course!!!" In February, 2016, we all got serious and chose the what we wanted to do, researched flights and bought all the airline tickets.

Then we had to wait until the end of August!! We were very glad to meet them at the Lajes airport after an eventful journey (though it wasn't SATA, the often delayed airline that raised their anxiety level.) But they arrived, and it was a wonderful reunion.

Our week together was split between 2 islands. First, Terceira and then São Miguel. We were glad to show off our island and looked forward to exploring another island.

Angra

 First, the Fortress of São Filippe/São João Baptista do Monte Brasil

This is the fort at the foot of Monte Brasil. Its walls were part of our daily view from the windows in our apartment. The fort was started in 1594 by the Spanish to protect their interests and was named Forteleza do São Filippe in honor of King Phillip II. Later in 1642, the Portuguese drove out the Spanish and renamed it Forteleza São João Baptista in honor of John IV of Portugal. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

It has been an active military base for centuries and continues to be so today. We often would pass the gate as we would do a hike or walk up Monte Brasil. If we said Hi to the guard, he often would snap to attention and salute us. There are parts of Monte Brasil you can't go to because it is secure military property.

Below is a picture of the base from the road above.

I always wondered how we could visit the church that we could see from the road and just before Sam and Kat arrived learned that they give daily tours. It was a good thing to do on the day they arrived (after a morning nap). It was close and did not require a lot of time!

This is the crypt underneath the church.

It was a nice and cool on a relatively hot afternoon!!

A group picture at the doors of the church.

The inside of the chapel is simple. The tile roof is pretty impressive.



It is an active church with services each Sunday.

O'er the ramparts we could see .... the ocean! It was also a good view of Angra.

The same general place, but looking inland to São Mateus and the countryside.












There are actually several interesting places to walk to in Angra. Nearby to our apartment is an old fort that houses a pousada, (a hotel). They have done  a good job preserving the look of the fort as you can't really see the hotel until you are inside!!

this is the view of the fort from the road by the port. It is quite a climb to get up to the fort on our morning walks in that direction.











Below is a view of the fort from Monte Brasil on the other side of the bay. You can see the colored buildings of the pousada. but you have to be higher than the fort to see those buildings. It is a fun fort to explore going up and down stairs and ramps to the various levels.

 Dennis and Sam pose at the entrance.

Sam and Kat are on the ramparts looking towards Ribeirinha - away from Angra.

You can see the fort walls are like cliffs down to the water. The white building on the left is part of the pousada.

A very special couple!!
















You can see the end of Monte Brasil in the background.

AH!! Sam and Dennis found Vasco da Gama! Look like friends from a LONG time ago!

We went to visit Fátima Silveira, a member of our branch. She wanted the temple work done for her father, who she adored and her mother. Janet was able to get the dates and information needed to request the ordinances to be done -- as well as her mother's parents and about 4 generations of family. (Janet had way too much fun and learned a lot about doing family history in the Azores!)

We asked Sam and Kat if they would be willing to do the temple work for her parents and her mother's parents before they came to Terceira, which they were very glad to do!! It was a special visit as they brought the completed temple ordinance cards and talked about their feelings about the temple and their experiences there as they were doing the ordinance work. She was delighted to meet Sam and Kat! She thinks Sam's smile is wonderful! I agree!

One thing Sam really wanted to see was a tourada -- the bull on a rope. There just happened to be one near Praia on Thursday. So Kat went with Janet to a baby shower at the church (a very rare event in the branch) and Dennis and Sam went off to see the bulls.

Again, you see the very traditional dress of the rope holders. They are getting the bulls ready to release.

They always have the rope on the bull BEFORE it gets out of the box.That is quite a task with a bull that just wants to get out and shaking his 'box'!!

 They do all they can to keep everyone safe!!








 Sam and Dennis had a great time!! The bull came close enough to give Sam an opportunity to tease him with his hat -- from a protected place!

Our exploration of the island included a hike along the coast near Agualva! We had done the hike about a year ago with Elders Hobson and Pickrell and at that time, it was a very windy day and the waves were astonishing. This time, it was a beautiful, sunny day. And while the waves weren't wild, we noticed so much more of the beauty of the area. It was a completely different hike, but equally as enjoyable!! 

First, the steep descent down a ribeira -- a ravine dug out by a stream. 


These yellow flowers were the current season bloom. They were all over.

 It was very lush and green and we enjoyed the descent!

 The ravine opened up into a 'valley' bordered by large cliffs on one side and the ocean on the other. We saw the yam farm again.

Here also was a house with an entrance way that begged for a picture.

I think Sam is glad he doesn't have to live here. He would have to duck every time he came home!! 

It really is a beautiful coastline. 

It is hard to capture the beauty in pictures. You should come here sometime!!

Doing a selfie!!!

 
Leaving the coast line (though you really never stop seeing the ocean!!) we walked through the grassy places, with the cows contentedly eating in the neighboring field.

I often wondered if the cows really appreciated the beautiful place where they lived. Especially those whose pastures went right to the edge of a cliff with the ocean below. Maybe they don't look past the stone walls.


We also did our obligatory visit to the Gruta do Natal and the Algar do Carvão

The Gruta do Natal is a series of lava tubes that you can walk through. It got its name because they opened the caves for public viewing on December 25, 1969 and there is a traditional Catholic Mass in the lava tubes every Christmas (Natal). 

Dennis and I weren't going to go through. We had been there before and didn't feel the need to go again. But we wanted Sam and Kat to see it! Dennis had been there the week before so they just let him go in for free. And then they just added my admittance as well, just to be nice. The Gruta was VERY busy that day with several bus loads of tourists so they weren't out very much money (it was only €3 each)

You have to wear helmets because there are some low lying ceilings and volcanic rock is like glass and you could get a nice cut on the head if you weren't careful. And you wouldn't want to trip and fall either as the walls and floor were also very rough!! 

Then, we went to the Algar do Carvão. 

The stairway down to the center of the volcano is exposed to the light from the volcano opening above and with the dripping water, the algae find it a good place to grow!! 

Our turn for a picture in the 'Cathedral'. It was still just as beautiful and we always enjoyed taking our guests and visiting it again!

São Miguel

Our adventures continued on Monday when we flew to the island of São Miguel. We had been there twice for zone conferences, but that was just land at the airport, take a taxi to the church, go back to the airport  at the end of the conference and take off to go back to Terceria. We were excited to explore!! There are many things to see and do on this island. We decided to focus our time on the western end in the Sete Cidades area

Kat had found through Airbnb a beautiful home in Várzea, a small village very near the caldeira (volcano crater). You can see the big house in the photo below -- that is our place!! It had been the local doctor's home who was very generous with the residents there. In the upper right corner, you see the high edge of the caldeira. That is our goal for the next day!!

And the hills were very beckoning!! Dennis and I enjoyed our morning walks seeking for paths that took us up!! The picture above of Várzea is from one of those walks.

To the left, is the abandoned windmill at the top of a hill. We had a very good view of the village and the ocean on the other side. 















 On Monday, once we were settled into the house, we went to a beach nearby!! One fun and fascinating feature of a volcanic island is the natural pools that are made by the volcanic rocks on the coast. Some islands, like Terceira, have made concrete platforms and walkways to the various natural pools. Here on São Miguel, they just provide ladders to get into the water. 

The one below was a particularly exciting one. There are ropes stretched across the water and when you get in the water you grab a rope and hold on. Then the big waves come in and toss you around. Dennis (of course) is the one furthest out. Sam is the closest but he is on his way out to enjoy it with Dennis. Dennis said that actually the further out was not nearly so forceful as closer in when the waves approached the rocky edge. Kat and I enjoyed watching them and taking pictures!! This particular pool has some natural hot springs that feed into it, so the water is not quite so cold, especially when the waves are not so big. 

Victoriously leaving the pool!!

When we got there, there was a group of young adults enjoying the scene but no one was in the water. When Dennis got in, they got brave enough to try it.  





The next day, Tuesday, our only full day on São Miguel, was devoted to exploring the Sete Cidades area. We left our home around 10 a.m. and within 10 minutes we were approaching the rim. We saw a sign with the symbol for a view point on the road to the right. So, yes, let's go there!!

 Soon we found ourselves on basically a one lane dirt road that just followed the rim.  In many places it was steep down on both sides. Fortunately (for Janet) the bushes on both sides hid that fact. And it was generally wide enough to have 2 cars pass (or pass a parked car). We weren't sure where we were going, but determined to find the viewpoint. Besides, it wasn't that easy to turn around!!

And we enjoyed the flowers in bloom along the road, mostly hydrangeas.



Then it came. Just a break in the bushes. The full caldeira spread out beneath us. It was breathtaking and absolutely beautiful. I had never seen anything like it!! It is so hard to capture it in a photo!!

 Proof all four of us were there!!

When we finally got to the official viewpoint, basically on the other side of the caldeira, it wasn't nearly as perfectly composed as the wide spot in the dirt road!! And there were TONS of people. But still impressive and beautiful.

Leaving the view area, we found a trail that led to other various smaller lakes. It was a hike with an up and over high cone hills and finally down to the lakes. It was a great hike with vistas from the hill tops and beauty up close and personal down below!!

One of the vista scenes!!

One of the lakes along the hike

Another lake. The little house is an old pump house.

The plants on the side of Sam are an interesting type that we learned about on Angra. They are like a sponge and can soak up to 15x their weight in water. It basically serves as a water storage for the island. When the weather is dry, the plants release the water. We found the plants on the natural rock walls along the trail, just dripping like it was raining (and it was not!)

On the way back. I was glad we didn't have to climb up the high and bare hill tops where it was quite windy. 



Instead we walked through a lush canyon. Here we are almost out and ready for the final walk to the car. The side slopes are lined with the water storing plants. 







We then went to the actual village, Sete Cidades. Sete means 7 in Portuguese, and I didn't know exactly why because I saw only one city!! Wikipedia says that Sete Cidades was a historical/mythical area from the 8th century and this area just inherited the name.
.

Sam's great desire was to kayak in a volcanic caldeira!! We arrived around 4 p.m. and the kayaks rental closed at 5! So, Sam got his wish with an hour's exploration of the lake!! Kat and I enjoyed a stroll along the lake

The far out view!! 



Sam has now kayaked in a volcano and a fjord! Where will the next place be??

We got back home in time to fix and eat dinner. It had been a long and busy day with wonderful views and fun. It was such a delight to share it with Sam and Kat!!!

Wednesday dawned and we had until 6:00 pm when we turned in the rental car at the airport to return to Terceira.

First order of business: go to Mosteiros and go swimming.  There were natural pools and a beach with crashing waves and we wanted to do both!

Exploring around the rocks, looking for a good place!! 

Found a great pool! It was cold and Dennis didn't stay in that long. Sam and I are the people in the water.

The waves would come and crash on a small rock opening. It was pretty tame -- just my speed. We did get one really good one that knocked us off our feet! And the small rock barrier that the waves crashed over in the opening kept us from being washed out to sea with the back wash!

Then on to the sandy ocean beach! The view from the sandy beach was quite amazing. The waves don't look that wild, but they were strong. 

Janet thought about trying the waves, but decided it was just a little too rough. You don't realize the power of a wave until you get close to it and try to go through it! Sam and Dennis got past the crashing breakers and enjoyed riding the waves. The day before we had seen some surf boarders. I think this was just too early in the day (11am) for them to be out.

Enjoying the warmth of the black sand!

Then time to go home, clean up, pack up, eat lunch and start our drive back to Ponta Delgada and the airport. It was astonishing how much black sand we took home with us. It really stuck to us! 



We decided to drive around the coast of the island to Ribeira Grande and then use the via rapida across the island to Porta Delgada. We had plenty of time and might as well see more of the island.

First, though, we had to retrace our steps on the dirt road with the amazing view. We wanted to see the caldeira one more time!!!

Driving along the coastal road on the north side of São Miguel.


It was similar to Terceira, but the fields weren't as cleanly defined with rock walls. We still saw plenty of cows and it was all beautiful.

You really don't need to search to find photogenic places on São Miguel!!

It was a great trip to share with Sam and Kat. They were very accommodating to our desires. And we did learn how to have a take-your-time-and-enjoy-the-moment vacation!

The inevitable always happens. Time goes and suddenly it is time to go. Here we are at the Ponta Delgada airport, eating our brown bag dinner while waiting for our flight to Terceira.

And the next day -- it was time for Sam and Kat to return to the States.

Thank you, Sam and Kat, for coming.

We love you!!