Leiria in Portugal

15 January 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Fulviusbsas

© Fulviusbsas

Leiria is a city and a municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and in the historical province of Beira Litoral. It is the capital of Leiria District. The population in 2011 was 126,879, in an area of 565.09 square kilometres (218.18 sq mi). It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leiria-Fátima.   read more…

Nazaré on the Atlantic coast

2 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Joaomartinho63/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Joaomartinho63/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nazaré is a town in Nazaré Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 82.4 km² and a total population of 15,158 inhabitants. It is in the Oeste subregion. The town consists of three sections: Praia (along the beach), Sítio (an old village, on top of a cliff) and Pederneira (another old village, on a hilltop). The Praia and the Sítio areas are linked by the Nazaré Funicular, a funicular railway. The first church in O Sítio, was built over the grotto to commemorate a miraculous intervention (1182) by the Virgin Mary in saving the life of the 12th century Portuguese knight Dom Fuas Roupinho, possibly a templar, while he was hunting deer one foggy early morning. This episode is usually referred to as the Legend of Nazaré. In memory of the miracle he had a chapel (Capela da Memória) built over the small grotto, where the miraculous statue had been left by King Roderic after the monk’s death. Beside the chapel, on a protuberant rock 110 meters above the Atlantic, one can still see the mark made in the rock by one of the hooves of Dom Fuas’ horse.   read more…

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