It’s always enjoyable to go from a big-city airport directly to a small town and settle into a new country that way. After landing at the Lisbon airport, I talked to a few taxi drivers and settled on a €100 fare (about $100) for the 90-minute drive north to Nazaré. A bit pricey, but for a group with limited time, a good investment. In about two hours, I went from touchdown at the Lisbon airport to on the beach for a sunset in little Nazaré.
Nazaré has a romantic appeal, even to birds — here out on a date and clearly enjoying themselves.
From our beachside bar, we marveled at how cleverly our friends rigged up their motor scooter and hand truck to give their beers a scenic perch.
Did I tell you I love barnacles? You eat them like boiled clams and wash them down with beer. They are expensive because they are difficult and dangerous to harvest — from rocks in turbulent places. But rip off the tough outer skin of one of these guys and pop it in your mouth…it’s worth the expense and all that trouble.
We filmed here 18 years ago, and Nazaré was the first show Simon Griffith (my longtime producer) and I made together. We also worked with the same cameraman we have on this shoot: Karel Bauer. Just for fun, we arranged to have the same folk group dance for us on the beach. While last time they literally danced in the sand, this time they didn’t — saying they can’t dance well in sand. (I tried it, and understand their concern.) They had planned to perform on the dance stage set up on the beach. But dancing on the sidewalk — inlaid with the fine Portuguese stonework — looked much better. Sadly, for the barefoot dancers, it came with painful pebbles. We were the same crew…and even some of the dancers today danced for our camera back in 1999.
When we film a folk group in action we like to have them perform the same song three times: once to get the wide establishing shots and the entire music track; a second time for tight shots on the dancers; and a final time so Karel can focus on the instrumentalists. This combo came with a percussionist who played a mean set of pinecones.
When these dancers were younger, the vast beach at Nazaré was littered with colorfully painted fishing boats that would be hauled in by oxen or teams of fishermen and, later, by tractors. Today, the new harbor is dug, and the boats are out of sight — except for a few historic examples still ornamenting the beach. Now, this is the domain of sun-seeking holidaygoers who pack the beach through the summer. Being here in May, however, the beach was nearly empty.
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This is Day 37 of my “100 Days in Europe” series. As I travel with Rick Steves’ Europe Tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Italy, Portugal, France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and more. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.
