Nazaré produces some of the biggest waves in the world due to a 16,000 foot deep underwater canyon that focuses swells into massive waves. The current world record wave surfed is from Nazaré at 86 feet. The big swells come during the winter months. (Pic from the web)
A cold front came through so we thought we would drive to Nazaré and check-out the “small” summer waves (33 feet). When we got there, the town was covered in tourists we couldn’t find a place to park within 7 miles. We were only able to do a driving tour and will look forward to returning to the west coast of Portugal later this year to get a closer look because it was remarkable!
Leaving Nazare, we headed toward Batalha and the Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory. Simply beautiful. I stood in awe at all the precision rock work. Building began in 1386 to fulfill a promise made by the king and took over a century to complete. It was built to thank the Virgin Mary for the Portuguese military victory over the Castilians in 1385.
There were two back-to-back weddings while we were there, so we didn’t get to walk around as much as we’d like, but it’s always good to witness sacraments!
