Last year for my birthday, we went to Nazaré for the weekend and had a wonderful time. For those who haven’t been, it’s worth a visit, even if the waves aren’t up.
For this year’s birthday, I decided to do the same thing - go for a weekend trip. Inspired by Scott’s birthday celebration of a week of one-on-one brunches, lunches, and dinners with friends, I invited two other couples to join us.
I kept waffling as to where to go. Some place in the country, where we can just relax and enjoy nature?1 Or a town with a lot to do? Ultimately, I decided on another beach town. After all, Nazaré was a wild success!2
I knew there was another beach town about a half an hour closer to Lisbon than Nazaré. Like Nazaré, Peniche is also famous among surfers and a popular destination. A rocky peninsula, it is only attached to land by a narrow stretch. Jutting out into the ocean like that, they have a beach or three.
Which might be why the (shortish) list of things to do in Peniche is dominated by beach options. That, and Berlengas Islands. Since the point of the trip was to spend time with friends - talking, cooking, playing games - visiting Berlengas and checking out a beach seemed perfect for the weekend we were staying.
Getting to Berlengas takes a bit of work - you don’t simply walk up to the ferry and plunk down some dinheiro. Only 550 people are allowed each day so first up is securing your pass. Then you find a tour operator.3 I chose Feeling Berlengas and their cave tour. If you are going in the summer, reserving ahead of time is a must.
The night before we left for Peniche, a friend, upon finding out where we were headed, mentioned that she didn’t like it that much when she visited. She said it was a lot of boring, square buildings. Turns out it was a good thing to hear - it reset my expectations a little.
We pulled in to the bus station and hit the Pingo Doce grocery store for our food for the weekend. Since we were starved, we grabbed a cheap and good lunch in their surprisingly large, cafeteria-style dining area. A 3.85€ bolt ride brought us to our truly outstanding Airbnb. We had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a great kitchen, a super table for eating and playing board games, an outdoor patio with a picnic table, another outdoor patio up the spiral staircase to the upper level, and a closed-in sunroom off of two of the bedrooms. It was filled with tons of neat things - a giant shark’s head, a cuckoo clock, a rope lamp. And that’s not to mention the awesome hosts! If you are ever thinking about visiting Peniche, look this place up.
After dinner, we headed out to explore and get some gelato. Gelataria Mór has some really funky desserts - we were all in awe as a waffle/gelato creation was served up at a neighboring table. According to the Italian in our group, the gelato was only fair. She shared with us the trick to getting good gelato: look for a a place that does NOT have the containers of gelato open. Gelato degrades when exposed to air. Who knew?
The next day was our Berlengas tour. Berlengas Archipelego is a nature reserve, and only Berlengas Grand is available for visiting. The history is fascinating - around 1000 BC the Phoenicians considered the Berlengas a sacred place to celebrate one of their more important dieties, Melqar, who was a tutelary god of the city-state Tyre4. Next up were the Romans, who left some anchors at the bottom of the sea in the area. Stories tell us that the Vikings took to attacking merchant ships in the area. Then the English pirates moved in, followed by the Moors, and then the English again.
In 1513, with the blessing of Queen Eleanor of Viseu, the Order of São Jerónimo established the Monastery of Misericórdia da Berlenga. Their goal was to help people who were shipwrecked. I know, I know, you’re thinking, oh that’s nice. After all that back and forthing from Phoenicians, to Romans, to English, to Moors, and back again…. it must have been novel to be settled by people from Portugal, and with such a noble goal. Sadly, corsairs were not similarly impressed and sacked the monastery multiple times. Eventually, the residents of Berlengas cried uncle and fled back to the mainland.
The monastery did not go to waste. In the mid 1600s King João IV, known as the Restorer for his role in the Restoration War, ordered that the monastery be dismantled and its stones used for building a fort: São João Batista Fort. It saw action from the get go, and through the Peninsular War and the Portuguese Civil War. Now the fort is a Must Photograph destination.
Our trip to Berlengas was both great and not so. Feeling Berlengas sets up the cave tour this way: Once you get to the island, you have about 40 minutes to wander around. Then you regroup at the boat to visit the caves. And then you have another 40 minutes. It would have been so nice if they could have put the cave tour at the beginning or end so that we had a longer chunk of time and could feel like we were able to really explore the top. Also, the island is a pink granite plateau, so you do a fair bit of climbing anytime you leave the boat. If you do the cave tour, that means you’re climbing up twice. It’s not a deal breaker. It just made it harder to enjoy the island.
The surprise hit on the Berlengas was the sandwiches we’d made and brought with us. Before the trip I’d asked everyone if they wanted turkey or ham on their sandwich. I got a collective shrug. When we were hiking on the top, we found a place and broke out the sandwiches I’d made that morning. Immediately, the raves started pouring in. The sandwiches were Amazing! Great! Turns out the Italian, Brit, and Filipinos had not had a sandwich like this before. It was such a hit that some of them bought the ingredients (sandwich bread, mayo, tomato, ham and/or turkey) to make them again the next day, and have made them since they got back. The world is funny. What you assume to be collective knowledge falls apart when you are out of your home country.5
By no means did we see all of Peniche. That said, I saw enough to say that had I to do it over again, I’d go to Nazaré instead of Peniche, with a side trip to Berlengas.
That’s all for now.
Love from … Peniche,
Amy
A place in the country raised another issue for those of us living without a car. Most towns you can find a bus, if not a train, to. In the country… how would we get the six of us there? I assumed we’d have to rent a van.
Why not just go back to Nazaré? Excellent question. I wanted to try somewhere new.
If you are only interested in Berlengas, some of the tour operators have ferries leaving from Lisbon.
Located in modern day Lebanon.
That’s not the only thing we learned. Did you know that paper towels are called kitchen roll?
Love the Utah sandwich! Thanks!
I grew up with the tomato sandwich. White bread, mayo, THICK slice of tasty tomato. Best eaten over the sink - very messy!
Beautiful! I recently went to Peniche in June and stayed in a place with a bunch of baby seagulls on the roof, too! They were sooo cute to watch 😍