Beach holiday in Nazaré or mom decides not to go swimming after all

On June 21, 2023, we said goodbye to our super great host family with tears in our eyes and reluctantly moved towards the west coast to Nazaré. Somehow it felt wrong, but after the long rainy season, we wanted to experience the sun, beach, and gigantic waves again or simply look out to the sea.

We stayed in a very comfortable holiday apartment above the town of Nazaré in the Sitio district, with its small but fine chapel from where you can observe or surf the 30-meter high waves from November - if you can. 😉

Even now, the waves were very impressive and only for the brave among us. And just because we are at the seaside doesn't mean that everyone has to go into the water! If the Atlantic is too wild for you, you can just dip your feet in or watch how others disappear in the foam and hopefully reappear soon!

In between, we also enjoyed art and culture and admired the mighty monasteries, churches, and pilgrimage sites.

For example, we visited Fatima, an important pilgrimage site of the Catholic Church, which is visited by several million pilgrims every year; it includes the fourth largest church in the world and the world's largest church square. According to legend, on May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in a field. She ordered them to return to this place on the 13th of each month in the future. The children agreed to keep silent about this appearance among themselves, but one of the children broke this promise, and so on June 13, some curious people gathered who wanted to see with their own eyes whether the children's stories were true.

Fridtjof: And apparently the stories were true, because now there is a huge church with a square in that place!

In Alcobaca, the most famous couple in Portugal is buried, and in Batalha, the architectural art of the monks can be admired.

Fridtjof: Yes, love. You're a king for once and then you fall in love with the maid instead of the princess. As is well known, kings don't have much say in choosing a partner, so he still had to marry the princess. However, she soon died, and so new hope sprouted in the king and the maid. Maybe they could still become a different royal couple.

But the old man of the king didn't like that and simply unleashed a group of notorious murderers whose task it was to stab the maid and her family to death in their sleep. And so it happened.

Apparently, God didn't find this deed particularly nice, so he sent Death, who coldly and surely with great satisfaction snatched the father of the king.

The king was furious, and since the father was already dead, he had no choice but to take out his anger on the murderers of his beloved. So he tore out their already black hearts while they were still alive. And as if that weren't enough. It was meant to be a lesson for the people. That's why they dressed the dead maid royally and placed her on the throne. Now the whole people had to kiss the hand of the dead person in acknowledgment.

Admittedly, this is quite a dramatic story. But that's life. Well, or death. Depending on how you look at it.

The maid was laid to rest in a magnificent sarcophagus. This is the testimony of the sculptors' greatest skill. When the king died one day, the sarcophagi were arranged so that the couple could look at each other in the event of a resurrection.

On the day of departure (June 29) from Nazaré, we went into the waves one last time. It's crazy that the good surfers here go out into the sea with 30-meter waves, while we already have great respect for the 2-meter ones.

We will definitely come back again in a cooler season!