The fiftieth anniversary of the Carnation Revolution is quickly approaching (we are reminded of our visit to the Ajube last summer). Here in Peniche (pop 26,431 in 2021), we had hoped to visit the Museu Nacional Resistência e Liberdade in the Forteleza de Peniche (sixteenth century) – but the new museum does not open until April 27th.
Regardless, we take advantage of a break in the weather to explore the waterfront. Peniche is a bulbous peninsula, and the narrow neck is cut by a channel and the fortified walls that extend from the Fortelza – so it is effectively an island. We park on the 'mainland' and cross a small bridge into the old town.
Nearby is Peniche fortress, which used to be a prison but now has open doors. The traveller looks at its thick walls … wonders about other things, such as trying to guess where the escaping prisoners ran to. La Ribeira is a forest of masts, a confusion of brightly-coloured hulls, the sun gleams everywhere as if it were inside things and were struggling to get out. It’s like a man who has another man inside him, his own sun. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
We first pass the Igreja Parochial de São Pedro (late sixteenth century), but it is not open. The architecture is simple, will an elegant Serliana portal. The Forteleza is just three blocks to the south, on a rocky bank, near the inlet for the channel.
The walls are beautifully weathered, steeply raked, and dotted with blossoming weeds. An under-scaled, hexagonal bartizan hangs onto each far corner for dear life. Visible along the shore, at the southern tip is a wide, circular gun mount. Between this structure and the stone walls we see the gleaming white museum awaiting its opening.
Peniche is a city under construction.
The long breakwater, made of concrete tetrapods, extends a distance to the southeast. All along the harbor are signs for the tourist ferries to Berlengas, which run a very limited schedule. But by now the wind and the rain are starting to pick up, so we seek cover in a nearby cafe – no ferries today.
Soon feeling drier and warmer, we head out to seek any other sites that may be of interest. The Igreja da Misericordia (seventeenth century) is closed. Though tiny in scale, has fine carved detailed, and stand proudly at the top of a miniature largo.
Finally, the one other church is tagged on our map, the Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Conceição (late seventeenth century) is also closed. It also is the subject of some restoration work.
The historical center of town near the fortress is easily covered, even on a stormy day. Being on-foot, we did not venture out to the farol at Cabo Carvoeiro. Crossing the pedestrian bridge to the 'mainland', we can see all the hotels, surf shops, and grocery stores – all of that seems to be open.
The traveller ended his afternoon in the shade by the lake at Óbidos, falling asleep and dreaming that he was surrounded by an escort of swimming angels, riding on the back of a grouper towards the Berlenga islands, while vast flocks of white doves rose from the battlements of the fort at Peniche. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
Our hope is that some of the money pouring into the golf courses and luxury developments (which we enjoyed, by the way) does help restore and maintain the historical sites. Otherwise, the only ones enjoying the old town are the doves (and gulls); like Saramago's traveller, we can only imagine.
Our rooms tonight are in Tomar, so we stop in Alcobaça as it's on the way. Today, the Mosteiro de Santa Maria (thirteenth and eighteenth centuries) offers an English-language tour of the Sacristia (sixteenth century) and the Capela das Relíquias (seventeenth century; both were closed last time).
The tour does not start for a few minutes, we so wander into the claustro, where we find the lavabo. The lavabo stands in a six-sided bay across from the well-kept Refeitório. It does feel as if we've taken these same pictures before, but now with the new cameras, they should be extra crisp.
The traveller would have liked to go through the sacristy to the chapel containing the Baroque reliquary of Brother Constantino of San Paio. He had to make do with looking at the doorway to the sacristy, with its exotic Manueline foliage by the sculptor John of Castile. This makes the traveller wonder about his own taste: admirable the doorway may be, he thinks, but isn’t it perhaps too admirable? It’s as though the doorway had a mouth and was saying: “Here I am, admire me.” The traveller has never liked being given orders. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
We gather around our guide with a small group and go to the back of the Ambulatórios. There, the guide uses a large key to open the door of the stunningly intricate Manueline portal. Inside, we find a surprisingly large room, with low, long storage chests and an elaborate ceiling of octagonal coffers and rosettes. In the center, a trio of angels lifts a saint to heaven, with his mitre and scepter.
At the eastern end of the Sacristia, through a dim archway, is the Capela das Relíquias. This is a tall, domed, octagonal room encrusted with sculptural reliquaries in the shape of busts. Excepting the doorway, the other seven sides hold one full figure each. Santa Maria is in the central niche (now headless), to Her right is São Bento and to Her left is São Bernardo – the saints of the Benedictine and Cistercian orders (this monastery was Cistercian). Just below Her are a pair of Egyptian-looking women – perhaps some unusual, braided headdresses that go with their style of habits.
Above, the ribbed dome is trimmed with angels and more reliquary busts; many of the carved stone panels are in serious need of cleaning. The guide tells us that the relics have all been removed.
After the tour, we return to the claustro and revisit the Sala dos Monges and the Cozinha. This Mostiero does indeed contain some of Portugal's most unique spaces and deepest layers of history – where the kitchen is as fascinating as the chapels.
The legend of Dona Inês and Dom Pedro is described in a previous blog post. On this visit, we are pleased to find small models that make it easier to comprehend the 'whole' of the stonework by offering a view from above (and for the visually impaired). With the new phones, we try the new Spatial Video recording feature (here on YouTube, they are just 'two-dimensional').
The experience of seeing the Sacristia and the Capela das Relíquias is a lesson that re-visits are often fruitful. The churches and museums that were closed and that we missed in Peniche are always going to be there, and we will be back.
We exit the Mosteiro from the loja (shop), which, if memory serves, was the bilheteria (ticket office). On our last visit perhaps, we did not stop to look at the ceiling – we do not miss it on this visit. In the swirl of golden tracery, it reads:
CLARA EST
QUÆ NUNQU
AM MARCES
CIT SAPIENTIA. QUI DE LU
CE VIGILAVERIT ADIL
LAM, ASSIDENTEM IL
LAM, FORIBUS SUIS
INVENIET
SAPIENT
CAP. VI
["Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by them that love her, and is found by them that seek her. He that awaketh early to seek her, shall not labour: for he shall find her sitting at his door.
Wisdom, Chapter 6"] (Verses 13 and 15, Latin Vulgate Bible)
