Fatima and Porto

We rose to our alarm--wait this is vacation!  Did I mention that daylight savings time has started?  Boy--first you have jetlag to contend with and then daylight savings!  Not fair!  Oh well we are on to Porto today!

Jose' met us at 9:00 and we did our sardine trick with luggage in his trunk--we could be in trouble later this month when we try to get into our rental car!  Nor, Lynn and I played kneesy in the back seat but were really pretty comfortable.

First stop Fatima!  Such an interesting place.  I have never been to a site of a miracle before.  It was really very moving, even for an old sinner like me.  Here, three children were visited by the Virgin in 1916.  The story can be found on the internet and I think is better told on those sites than here.  There is a chapel at the place where the children saw their visions, it is open to the plaza which likely rivals St. Peter's in size.  At both ends of the plaza are churches, one where there were outdoor altars erected, likely for Easter, is very traditional, at the other end is a very modern church, the main church is very simple and looks like to seats at least 2000.  Below ground level there are six smaller chapels and an exhibition area.
There is an area to buy candles and then a forno--oven where you light your candles, there is fire below the candles which quickly melts the candles and I suspect sends the wax to be recycled for later use.
Although there were many people, it wasn't crowded on this Monday of holy week, and although many were taking photos there was an attitude of respect by all and certainly deeply felt emotions by some.

Next stop Porto, Lynn and Ron are in a very elegant Intercontinental hotel tonight and we are in a much more boutique style hotel close to the river.  After we said good bye to Jose' we checked in to our hotel.  Nor and I then went for a walk in the neighborhood.  It is very old, older than Lisbon Jose' told us.  This is the birthplace of Henry the Navigator and we walked by his home.  As we walked along the river we saw our ship the Amavida pull into dock.  We were quite excited as I got to thinking that was  pretty silly since we are going to live on it for the next seven days.

We ran into Lynn and Ron as we were walking up to the cathedral.  They have dinner at their hotel included so we will be dining separately.  The cathedral is on a high hill and we arrived after walking up some very narrow and steep streets.  The plaza gave great views of the city and the river.  The cathedral itself is quite narrow inside but very lovely.

Back down the hill and into a tapas restaurant for dinner.  We had one dish called Sausage of hell, it was served on a pottery dish that raised it from the bottom and in the bottom was a liquid accelerant that the waiter lit so we could cook the sausage.  It was excellent as was the rest of the meal and the wine.

Back to the room and tomorrow we board!