Perniche, Portugal

The city of Perniche is on a peninsular jutting out into the Atlantic, about an hour's drive south of Nazare and one hour north of Lisbon. It is a typical Portuguese coastal town with fish drying on racks in narrow streets. It has a small market that sells local produce to local people. 

The town is renowned for its fort, city wall, surf, handmade lace production and fishing industry. Our friend Laurel was particularly interested in the lace production so we visited the museum / school and saw first-hand the craft that has been done for 400 years in Perniche. I couldn't have imagined that anyone could manage more than 75 bobbins at once: spinning and choreographing them quicker than my eye could follow. Such skill!

We visited Fortaleza, a 16th century fort in Perniche which was later used as a jail between 1934 and 1974 for 2500 dissidents and opponents of the fascist dictator Salazar. It is now a National Museum of Resistance and Freedom. 

The museum is intended to teach people about the country’s past. The government's head of cultural heritage was quoted in the museum: “For us, this is a way to show younger generations what the country was like under fascism,” “We want it to be a lesson for children. We want schools to come here and to see what was here so that it doesn’t happen again.” "With the far right once again rising in Europe, the museum’s role is crucial."

We walked the peninsular near sundown. It was 8km but the scenery was worth every step.  We were fortunate to have been gifted a golden-orange sky and crashing waves over beautiful rock formations as we saw the passing of another day.