Obidos, Aviero and Fatima

We spent half days each in these cities and it was a great experience to see the rich culture, history and of course food. You can spend more time if you like but I am so glad that we spent some time in these cities.

Obidos

We loved Obidos. We stopped by here while going to Porto and it was a perfect detour before reaching there. Obidos was about an hour drive from Porto. We first stopped by at Obidos castle, a must visit. There are olive tress everywhere. We took tons of pictures at the at the castle. Important to note - there is a dedicated parking spot just by the castle or the street right below so don't park way too far or you are getting a great leg workout :).

We visited quite a few places here - Acueducto de Obidos, Porto da Villa, Igreja de Sao Pedro and we walked up and down at Rua Direita (walking distance from the Obidos castle). The street is so cute to walk around, buy souvenirs and get a drink.

Ok, so a must try for us here, was the local Ginjinha. Ginjinha is a Portuguese liquor made by infusing special cherries in alcohol, sugar, Cloves and/or Cinnamon and a few other spices and things. They serve it in small Chocolate cups. I had to buy a tiny bottle for home and to try. Do give it a try, it was delicious.

We were so full from our breakfast that we didn't stop by for lunch. We got coffees and pastries and headed to Porto directly.

Aviero

We stopped by at Aviero and Fatima from Porto. Both the locations were on our way and easy access to do so much.

Known as the little Venice of Portugal. You can take boat rides and walk endlessly around town and enjoy great cafes. There are a few churches, museums and beautiful gardens to walk around and rest. There are a couple of beaches as well however we did not get time to explore those.

I was told that "Ovo Mole" here is a must try. The story goes, that Nuns used Egg whites to clean their habits and used Yolks to make dessert so not to waste them. This is a traditional pastry of Aviero and a must try. We enjoyed it at a local cafe with some Cappuccino.

Fatima

We heard from a friend about the Lady Fatima Church and added this to our plan last minute. We did not have this in our itinerary earlier. We drove from Aviero and reached Fatima. It was about 1hr. 15mins from Aviero.

We stopped by for Lunch in Fatima at a place called "A Tasquinha". When I was entering the address, I missed a word and it took us to a totally different place so please type the name mindfully if you do want to eat here :). The place is really high rated and I would say their food was really good. I ordered a grilled Seabass, boiled Potatoes with side of bread and husband got the Chicken with Rice and Bean soup.

After our lunch, we visited Sanctuary of our lady Fatima. This was just 2mins walk from the restaurant so was easy to reach. The place is dedicated to 3 children who had the last sightings of Virgin Mary. The place was so tranquil that we just sat there quietly for a few minutes and walked around.

Fatima has a lot of history and churches. If you want to get away from the hustle bustle and get lost in the past, I would add a few hours of this to your itinerary.