Page 79 - WDT MAGAZINE PORTUGAL

After we carried our bags into what turned out
to be a very nice accommodation, I was back at the
car when a stranger told me I needed a pass to park
there. “Pass my ass,” I thought and put the keys in
my pocket. The car stayed there for three days, no
tickets, no problem. That is until our next fiasco
when we had to leave the walled city. But that’s a
story for another edition.
Despite our hair-raising journey, Obidos was a
wonderful example of a medieval village built inside
castle walls. It probably looked much the same as
when the Queen of Portugal received it as a
wedding gift 1214 -- a gesture rare these days.
Probably the biggest difference between then and
now is that practically every shop is selling the
Portuguese chocolate liqueur Ginja de Obidos we
had sampled in Sintra just a few days earlier. And I
doubt that the villagers waved around sticks with
cell phones at the end.
Like Sintra, Obidos (pronounced OhBeeDoshe)
is a popular day trip from Lisbon. And like Sintra
when the sun gets low on the horizon, the buses
and rented cars, wisely parked outside the walls,
make their way back to the big city. Streets that just
a few minutes ago was packed with visitors now
offered those overnighting a pleasant place to
stroll, visiting souvenir shops and sharing a bottle
or two of delicious inexpensive Portuguese wine.
Restaurants begin to fill up around 8:30 p.m. so
reservations are still suggested if you’re trying to
eat on Portuguese time instead of the senior special
time at Denny’s as many Americans prefer.
One benefit of driving in circles is that I spotted
a great place to launch Evo, my trusty drone. So on
our last evening when the Lisbon crowd had
departed Evo soared high above the castle and took
some stunning video which you can see if you click
the blue button on this page of the interactive
version.
I didn’t look forward to our last morning in
Obidos, not because I was sad to leave, but because I
feared a nightmare exit. Just as I began the drive out
the tiny main gate, about 50 busloads of tourists
began to pour through. I waited about 15 minutes
for the human tsunami to subside, but it didn’t. So I
slowly moved forward through the gates, hardly
hurting anyone in the process. I swore I would never
drive into a walled city again -- and I didn’t -- until we
arrived at our next destination, Coimbra.

78 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2019