Knights Templar and Lisbon, Portugal

 

Knights Castle at Almourol, Portugal

Knights Castle at Almourol, Portugal on the Tagus River

So many restaurants to choose from in Lisbon, Portugal

Fatima, Portugal

Maria standing where Fatima's three children were photographed in 1917

Kirsten Neuschäfer's sailboat.  She became the first outright and overall winner of a major solo sailing around the world race in 2023.  WOW!!!  Les Sables d’Olonne, France

Les Sables d’Olonne, France, home of the Vendee Globe

Les Sables d’Olonne, France and the finish line for the Vendee Globe around the world solo sailboat race

 

S/Y Savannah Sky – June 13, 2023 – Log #3

Savannah Sky Position: 51 degrees 45’ N, 003 degrees 51’ E

Port Zélande, Ouddorp, Netherlands (Holland)

 

Knights Templar and Lisbon, Portugal

 

Driving south and into normal traffic at Paris.  Wow, that is not for the faint hearted!

 

After nearly 2 hours, we fought our way out of the City of Light, thanks to our trusty GPS.  Paris is at the top of our cities to avoid driving through.  No wonder Steve’s hair has changed a much lighter shade of blond, ha ha.

 

Navigator Maria gets to point out what turns Steve has missed along the way.  “Take the fifth exit in the round about, and immediately leave the roundabout and turn left then right.”  Now what kind of directions does that voice/graphic display give us? 

 

There isn’t even a chance to look at our navigation screen with busses, trucks, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, pedestrians, baby strollers and dogs mere inches away and as we creep by.

 

Once out of Paris, thankfully, we saw the Golden Globe solo around the world winning sailboat at the dock in Les Sables d’Olonne, France. 

 

Of course the boat belongs to Kirsten Neuschäfer who became the first outright and overall winner of a major solo sailing around the world race in 2023.  WOW!!!

 

Then it was on through Spain and into Portugal where we visited Fatima and the Knights Templar castles.

 

Maria was thrilled to see one of the most important religious pilgrimage sites in the world: Fatima.

 

Steve was a tag-along on the Fatima experience but absolutely enthralled to see the legendary home of the Templar Knights.  The Templars have been popularized lately and taken on a different meaning than their actual history as the wealthiest and most popular religious military orders in Western Christianity.

 

Tales of the Holy Grail and Arc of the Covenant, popularized by Indiana Jones movies, are just that – Tales, and very far from the truth, as we found by visiting the home of the Templars outside Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Whatever the truth may be, it was really fun laying hands on history at both places.

 

Steve and Maria