Unencumbered Portugal

Routes are plotted.

Plans are made.

Packages are bought.

Signs are followed.

Destinations are achieved.

Sound familiar? Probably a lot like your last vacation. Disneyland. Bahamas.

AAA-assisted adventures.

As we get busier and busier, as the tourism industry becomes more commercialized, and as the sheer number of tourists in the U.S. reaches perceived capacity in many places, rigidity, assistance, and limits are necessary evils of travel. We set them ourselves and the places that we travel to impose them upon us. And while there is no doubt that Portugalis facing some similar pressures, it doesn't appear to be setting any rules and neither are it's travelers. In Eric's words, this is "unecumbered" travel.

View from inside St. Vincent De Fore's.

Thus far, our explorations have seemed amazingly untethered by nosey security guards, pesky ropes, security screenings, or many of the things we have become accustomed to in the U.S. For example, we spent several hours on Saturday exploring the St. Vincent De Fore’s, one of Portugal’s oldest churches and for centuries the state home of Catholicism. We were able to walk freely among the remains of Portugal’s kings and queens, unwatched and unnoticed among winding halls, few tourists, golden artifacts, and tiled murals. Unencumbered.

The royal crypt. The two main sarcophagi shown are of King Carlos I and his son who were killed in 1908 in an end to Portugal's monarchy. The statue between is their wife and mother.

A reverse, unencumbered, view.

In the afternoon, we headed out to Expo 98, former site of the European Exhibition and now huge commercial development. Passing through the gates to Europe’s second largest aquarium, again we were freed into an oceanic world where we would see amazing things – dancing, out-of-water stingrays and a baby sea otter, for example – and be put literally face to face with animals. In the most graphic example, we turned a corner to find a penguin-like bird standing on the human side of the railing. Cowering and scared, it stood almost petrified as people walked by and in some cases reached to touch the bird. After seeing no staff for about 15 minutes of our journey in the area, we finally encountered an Oceanarium representative and helped to rectify the situation. Unencumbered.

I could go on and on about the access we’ve been given within castles and other sites. The freedom to explore openly is wonderful but frightening in many ways because it’s as if you are a teenager who is for the first time being sent off to college. You come to expect a certain amount of security which in return provides you with structure for your experiences. As it was, I found myself constantly questioning our right to be where we were, but to my knowledge we’ve broken no laws, begun no international disputes, and in no way have dampened the reception anyone reading this should expect on their own adventure in Portugal.