Back to Lisbon, headed home soon

(photo above: the pillory)

This morning we left Coimbra and took a back-road highway to the village of Obidos, two hours south. Obidos sits atop a hill and is corralled by a 14th century wall, 45 feet tall and surrounding narrow cobblestone lanes lined with white-washed houses trimmed in yellow or bright blue with pots of flowers at every window and red tile roofs.  It’s charming, and small.

The town has lots of tiny shops offering Portuguese crafts, bottles of ginjinha (cherry liqueur, which we did not try) and painted tiles. It’s complete with a square, a castle, and a pillory to which local bad boys were tied in the 16th century to endure whatever punishment was deemed appropriate. 

To finish our day we drove back to Lisbon, endured terrible traffic to find a big mall with a bookstore (so we could buy junk novels in English to read on the airplane tomorrow; and for Bob, the next day and the next day), then turned in our rental car and took a taxi to our hotel.  Tomorrow we rise early to catch 7 and 7:30 am flights out of Lisbon, headed home.  Cathryn flies to Frankfurt and Washington D.C., arriving home Tuesday night; Bob flies to Madrid, Paris and Houston, arriving home Thursday night unless he’s able to get a flight in Houston a day early.  We’ll see. 

Portugal has been lovely, and we recommend it for those who find themselves anywhere nearby, though it’s small enough (same size as Indiana) not to serve as a primary destination all it’s own from so far away as Seattle.