Portugal - Nazare
Nazare Beachfront, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/200 f5.6
Detour to a surf mecca
Read Part III: Portugal - Comporta →
At some point you’ve probably heard of Nazare and its big-wave surfing competition. And if you haven’t, well here you go. Where is Nazare? The town sits on the coast approximately 130 km north of Lisbon, meaning we drove past Lisbon to visit here for the day before heading back. We’d be ditching the rental car as we arrived in Lisbon, so opted to make this last-minute extension of the road trip to one extra destination before we became more bound within the city.
Looking down upon Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO125 1/200 f16
Looking down at Nazare from the promontory, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO125 1/200 f16
Nazare sits on a steeply sloping hillside terminating at a broad crescent beach adjacent the ocean. The beach you see in front of the bulk of the town is not in fact where the world-famous big-wave surfing takes place. That area rather, is on the opposite side of a steep rocky outcrop that extends 500m or so into the sea on the north end of town. But for starters we thought we’d tour the city and see what it has to offer. The town was busy, easily the busiest we’d seen yet with tourists. This made finding parking challenging, but eventually we prevailed tucking into a curbside spot about a third of the way down the hill towards the main beach. Narrow lanes and alleys, and steep roads are the theme here, and we definitely got a bit of a workout with the stroller wandering the town between laundry lines and smoky grilles cooking up fish and meat. It’s a fun bit of a maze the way it’s laid-out and feels characterful. Approaching the bottom of the hill, the beachfront area is of course very pretty, but thick with kiosks and shops selling the standard tourist items.
Wandering Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO100 1/125 f7.1
Lots of twists and turns in Nazare’s tiny lanes. Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/1000 f3.2
Laundry, or a Muppet looking out the window? Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii IS200 1/2500 f3.2
Have a seat and people-watch, Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/250 f5.6
Hung out to dry, Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO100 1/200 f5.6
Almost at Nazare Beach, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO100 1/200 f5
The Nazare beachfront was busy! Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/125 f16
Guided by our stomachs as usual, we searched for a spot a bit back from the beach that was hopefully likely to serve more local fare than pure crowd pleasers. We stepped into a restaurant just before they were closed for their afternoon break and ate a huge fish, which they advertised as the local thing to do. It was tasty, and the ambience nice, if once again a bit more posh than we were aiming for. But hey, when in Nazare…
Fishing boats on display in Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO400 1/200 f13
We stopped at a local playground to give our little buddy a chance to burn off some energy, then made our way back up, up, up to the car (burning off mum and dad’s energy) to then head over to the promontory to see the world famous surfing area that put Nazare on the map. It was early in the season yet for the truly big waves which begin forming around October and peak mid-winter, but they weren’t too shabby this day either. One can drive most of the way up the the hill and it was a bit easier finding parking up on the headland. From there you can walk to various viewpoints, often surrounded by kiosks selling tourist goodies and snacks.
The views of Nazare and the surrounding area are breathtaking. A visit up here isn’t complete without walking or taking a tuk-tuk-like tourist buggy down to the Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo, a fortress standing vigil over the sea and surfers. This is the structure often seen in the foreground of photos of the big-wave surfing competitions held here and there’s an exhibit within it displaying surfboards and famous names and faces of those that have come to conquer these mountains of water. It’s actually a longer and steeper walk than we anticipated, so if it’s a hot day getting a lift may well be worth it. Rumor has it the likes of Rip Curl and other big surfing brands have bases of operation in the area for R&D as their riders compete for glory tackling waves in excess of 24m in height.
Making our way to the Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo, famous viewpoint of the surf competitions, Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/2500 f3.5
Lookin south from the promontory, Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO250 1/200 f16
The waves are still decent this time of year, but nowhere near their peak. Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/200 f16
Probably worth the 2EUR for a ride in this heat! Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/1250 f2.8
Colorful building up on the promontory in Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO250 1/160 f8
After a brief pause for some gelato to beat the midday sun, we made our way back to our car, passing a few brightly colored buildings along the way. The propensity to liven a town up with color (rather uncommon at home) is one of the characterful features of places such as this that always brings a smile to my face and helps cement memories of how it felt to visit. Nazare was a fun detour and I’m sure it’s a pretty wild place to be when the surfing competitions roll into town. I’m sure we could have found plenty more to do here, but with the day growing late we thought it best to make our way back to Lisbon before dark to ease navigating our way to the apartment and getting settled in.
Playing with reflections in Nazare, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO160 1/160 f4.5