"September in Portugal" a Portugal Travel Page by haiamisa

Pictures on this trip were taken with HP Photosmart 945.

I was twice in Portugal, in September 1982 and in September 2004. A long time passed between the two trips and lots of things had changed. In 1982 I was travelling alone on a 2 month Interrail pass. I was a backpacker and travelling was the way of life back then. I stayed 2 weeks in Portugal and visited Lisbon, Porto, Sesimbra (stayed on a farm of friends I had back then there) and Estoril only. After 22 years when I returned I was travelling with my man, we stayed in better hotels than I did on my first trip, we ate in restaurants every day, we rented a car and drove all around Portugal for two weeks.
We first stayed in Lisbon for 6 nights, and after that our route was: (We slept in the places with CAPS) Sines, LAGOS, Sagres, Capo de Sao Vincente, Faro, Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Mertola, BEJA, EVORA, Castelo de Vide, CASTELO BRANCO, Monsanto, Belmonte, Parque Natural da Serra da Estrella, TRANCOSO, Vila Nova de Foz Coa, BRAGANCA, Chaves, BRAGA, Guimaraes, AVEIRO, Tomar, LEIRIA, Batalha, Nazare, Obidos, PENICHE, Ilha de Berlenga, Ericeira, COLARES, Sintra, Cabo da Roca, Cascais and back to LISBON for 3 nights before our flight home.We drove 2370km to do all that tour.
The weather was warm and airconditioning was needed while driving. We also had airconditioning in the hotels in Lisboa (It was 32 C when we returned to Lisboa) and in some of the pensions on the way.

We flew Iberia via Madrid where we had to change planes. the return ticket from Tel-Aviv cost 470$ per person which was cheap. El Al used to fly there once a week, but at the moment there are no direct flights from Tel-Aviv to Lisbon.

Because we are Jewish we had a special interest for Portuguese Jewish history as you will see while reading the places.

Portugal had changed alot in 22 years. In 1982 it was only 8 years after the revolution and it was still a remote place far away from the rest of the Europe. There were very many poor people. Now when I went back I found a more modern country with much better road systems, automatic systems, wide modern metro in Lisbon and the whole feeling was one of development and progress. It was definitely feeling of the European Union. There were still beggars on the streets in Lisbon, but don't all big cities have them and I think that in Israel we have even more. And there are still poor neighbourhoods but the general feeling is of modernisation, but without losing the Portuguese style of building and manners. In the rural areas in the villages traditions are still kept and you see many times widows who wear black and I heard that there are women who wear black even when the husband is away from home. The villages are nice places to visit because you see the locals and also less tourists come there. We avoided driving the highways as much as we could and that way we could see more of the villages.

THIS WAS OUR TRIP. THIS WAS OUR PORTUGAL. This was what we saw and experienced and on these pages I share our impressions.

JEWS IN PORTUGAL
When reading my pages you will see that we visited 4 places where there were big jewish communities: Belmonte, Castelo de Vide, Trancoso and Tomar.
Portugal had traditionally been more tolerant than other European nations in its treatment of Jewish citizens (and towards the Moorish minority that had been left after the reconquest). However, popular resentment of their riches and pressure from Spain , forced Manuel - who had initially welcomed jewish refugees from the Spanish persecution - to order their expulsion in 1496. Alghough many chosed the pragmatic course of remaining as "New Christian" converts, others fled to the Netherlands. This exodus, continued as a result of the activities of the Inquisition (from 1531 on ) created a vacuum which left Portugal with an extensive empire based upon commerce,but deprived of much of its financial expertice.
Jews today:
The Jewish community of Portugal numbers about 300 members. Most Jews live in Lisbon while others live in Algarve and Oporto. Jews are first known to have entered Portugal in 1391, after massacres in Spain and even more refugees entered in 1492, fleeing the Inquisition. Portugal began its own Inquisition in 1531, and the Jews left for North Africa and Holland. Many Jews stayed in Portugal as Marranos - a Jew who outwardly practised Christianity in order to escape persecution, yet secretly continued to practice and believe in Judaism.

During World War II over 70 000 refugees passed through Portugal. Descendants of the Marrano community still live in Northern Portugal in the vicinity of Belmonte. While not officially recognised as Jews by World Jewry they marry only among themshelves, do not eat pork and light candles on Friday nights in the cellars of their homes. They are called Judeos by their neighbours.

The Atlantic Ocean is so powerful with strong winds and big tides. Coming from the Mediterranean area we could immediately see the different character of the Atlantic. Mediterranean is calmer and the tide is only a half meter and the water is much warmer than in Atlantic. This is the ocean were Portuguese ruled the world a long time ago..
For over a 100 years, in 15th and 16th centuries Portugal was one of the richest countries in the world that controlled a trading empire from Brazil in the west to Macau in the east. Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route to India in 1498 that started Portugal's spice trade placing Portugal (that was already doing well from gold and slavery from Africa) among the richest countries in the world. Its maritime empire was at its peak during the reign of Manuel I (1495-1521). Portugal "made it again" in the 17th century when enourmous gold reserves were found in Brazil, but changing markets and over-indulgence soon reduced its financial clout and the disasterous earthquake of 1755 led the country to economic unbalance.