Nazaré, Fátima, Batalha, and Coimbra

Nazaré we had fun walking around the marina seeing old fishing boats. There were some with very bright colors. I saw a dog lying under a boat and I thought it was dead. I made a clicking sound with my mouth and all of a sudden 15 dogs woke up from their naps and headed towards me. It was kind of scary but they were really friendly dogs. Once they discovered I didn't have any food they walked away.

Nazaré had a beautiful big beach with a very steep cliff. There was a cool tram thing that went up the cliff which you could ride called a funicular. I like the word.

In Fátima there was a huge complex with two big churches. We were there Sunday and there was a mass going on. It was outside, there were thousands of people listening to the message. There were people walking on their knees up to the alter, it was something to see. People were buying candles to throw the candles in a big fire pit. This place Fàtima is recognized by the Vatican it is called the "Virgin of Fátima" there is a story where Mary appeared to three children and only the children could see her. She told them...Peace is coming (World War 1 is ending), Russia will reject God and communism will rise, bring a second war and Someone will try and kill the pope. Pope John Paul 11 was shot.

Went to Batalha to see Monastery of Santa Marìa. Beautiful Gothic (Pointed-Arch). The city was nothing special but the Monastery was beautiful.

Coimbra is a university town, many young people walking around. This week it's been interesting because the freshman have to listen to the upper classmen and do things that they are told to do. Today we saw a group of freshmen on their knees in the street. The older classmen wear all black. They do a lot of the hazing in the streets like singing and yelling back and forth at each other. It's hard to take a nap with all this yelling and singing going on.

Coimbra use to be the capital of Portugal so it has a lot of history there. Lisbon is now the Capitol. There was lots to see in the city, very narrow streets, churches and gardens.