We finally arrived in Nazaré, after years of planning to come to this place in hopes of seeing the big waves that Nazare is known for. One of the joys of being here is meeting others who love waves as much as we do! Our new home for the next ten days was in the heart of Nazare just a minute’s walk from the main beach. It was pretty tiny but had everything we needed except for storage space. We didn’t know that “Carnival” was going to be happening during our time here. Carnival is an annual festival similar to Mardi Gras. It was fantastic seeing many people dressing up in playful, fantastical ways which included a lot of traditional dress. The festival lasts for 2 weeks and we really could feel the joy and aliveness that are expressions of Carnival. Here are some photos that we took on the day that many large groups of people gathered and celebrated with wine, dance, music and song!
The young ones delighted in dancing on the steps of the main church
Before leaving the village squar for a procession down to the lower part of Nazaree, these women gathered for a group photo.
You really get the spirit of these women!
Dancing in the Square
One the groups of men was named the Bicycletas and they generally wore white crinolines as well as black top hats, bow ties and coat tails. They were quite a sight! It was the 50th Anniversary of their group this year.
It was a delight to see the youngsters dressed up in their Carnival costumes
Before arriving in Nazare we hadn’t realized that there was a lower and upper part of the city. Normally there is a funicular running but it was not functioning while we were there as it was getting some needed repairs. We found a pathway up the cliff face the first day and it was an exhausting climb! I certainly could not imagine doing that every day! Luckily we discovered that an “Asensor” bus ran every hour up and down. It was a god send for us! Some days we did walk down the path when we wanted more exercise, but we did not climb it again.
View of the cliff face on top of which is the upper part of Nazare with the Lighthouse to the left on the tip of the promontory.
Every time we took the bus up to the top of Nazare, we passed by this huge, strikingly powerful mural (it measured at least 30 feet from top to bottom)!
This was a most amazing sunset thatvwe watched from Nazare beach!
The place where the largest waves are seen is just near the Lighthouse on the end of a promontory. It is very exposed there especially when the winds are strong. We enjoyed many hours watching the waves and jet-skis towing surfers onto the waves and then recovering them in the surf.
This is the Fort and the Lighthouse at Nazare. When the waves are giant, the waves break just in front of the Lighthouse and are actually taller than the Lighthouse!
We ran into several other wave watchers from the UK which was nice. On sunnier days there were lots of people making their way to and from the Lighthouse/Fort that features a small museum of surfing history in Nazare, wave and surfer photographs and a great view (if you are not blown off !)
Jet-ski leaving a surfer on the wave.
Sometimes when the conditions are right a rainbow will form as the wave breaks.
On our third last day the winds were really gusty along with rain squalls and several times we tried to head from the Lighthouse back to upper Nazare but the wind was so intense it made us feel unsteady on our feet. For a long time we watched others navigating their way along the road. Finally the gusts relented and we were on our way. As was often our custom we would stop at our favourite cafe in the town square for a coffee and (often!) one of their custard tarts which were the best!
We were very much hoping that the right conditions would arise for creating really large waves but we were out of luck. The last day we were there the forecast was for XL 20- to 25-ft waves, but we found out that surf reports are not 100% reliable. The waves were larger than what we had previously seen but far short of the forecast and of our hopes. Still, we spent hours watching the waves roll in and crash on the shore. Needless to say there were lots of photos taken.
One of the sweetest meetings we had during our time there was with a man named Arnout from Holland. He was watching the waves not far from us one day and it was clear that there was something a little different about him. We discovered that he has Parkinson’s disease and it very much impacts his body and his speech. It truly was remarkable that he navigated his way often walking up from lower Nazare to the Lighthouse and then down again in the later afternoon. For us watching him, it often seemed like he was just about to trip or fall but somehow he was so agile and balanced that he stayed upright. He is as obsessed with wave-watching as we are and he’ll be in Nazare for a month. He was definitely an inspiration for us as he was not going to let anything get in the way of doing what he loves. We had a really sweet bond with him!
Nazare is known for its many seafood restaurants and so we had lots of lovely dinners out in the town.
Nazare has a long history of fishing and often they dry and preserve Horse Mackerel, Sardines and Octopus (sadly). Ever since watching the movie ‘My Octopus Teacher’, the thought of killing and eating an octopus seems inhumane knowing how sensitive and intelligent they are.
Arnout came to see us off at the bus station when we got the bus back to Lisbon. It was a very sweet parting. I left assuring myself that we can come back to Nazare another time! Our journey continues with our flight to Marrakech and our month-long Moroccan adventure begins!