Igreja de Sta Clara

As I was wondering around checking out churches in Porto (Portugal) I noticed one marked on my map slightly off the beaten path. With little left to do that day I decided I'd cross the main street and see if I could find it. A small brown sign pointed into a courtyard, towards what looked like the side of a church tucked away behind a solid stone arch. This little unassuming facade was what I was looking for? But when you turn the door handle (literally a hand!) the interior will blow you away. It is a testament to the wood carving ability of the Portuguese. As I sat down to soak it in I just kept noticing more and more details. It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping as I let my eyes roam. This, the church of St. Clair, was a truly impressive if unassuming little church.

Pena palace

I'm trying to get caught up on my whirlwind summer where I think the longest I spent staying in one spot was four days. You'll get little snippets of what made the biggest impressions over the summer.

Cheshire cats on chairs, a gargoyle over here and crocodiles on the corner of turrets. Here pink, there yellow, in the center blue tile covering. No piece of it fits together yet piece by piece it is an eclectic feast for the eyes. Perched high above the town of Sintra, the palace of Pena is quite a sight. Instantly recognizable it is difficult to describe. Tile work and turrets. Views and intricately carved details. It is definitely the most unique palace I have ever been to!

Feast of St Anthony

June 12th was the start of the feast of St. Anthony and a city wide festival of sardines! I'm still not sure what the connection between the two is, although perhaps there are stories of St. Anthony preaching to the fishes. Pat and Gerald had never gone into the city for this so we decided we should make our way into Lisbon. However, we would do so early so as to miss some of the crowds. Once we found an appealing temporary restaurant set up in a courtyard facing the streets we sat down to have our typical festival dinner: grilled sardines (5 each) bread, salad, boiled potatoes and some sort of chorizo starter. There was definitely a party atmosphere going on. I was quite amused to watch the three men manning the grills with sardines on their heads...little did I realize I'd acquire my own sardine hat soon enough and wear it the rest of the evening. We walked around after that; admiring the sardine decorations, colorful hangings, constant people out grilling sardines in the street (my favorite was a man who had a grill shaped like a boat) until we reached an area that was to have a parade...a very stretched out parade that had elaborate costumes, even crazier props to carry and where it was very difficult to find a spot where you could see them pass by much less perform. Quite the experience. We got back just after midnight when the party was probably just starting to hit full swing.

Monasteries and military

If I had to sum up Ladakh in two words it would be monasteries and military. If you gave me a few more words I'd add rugged, majestic landscape. A few more? Altitude, high mountains, friendly people, prayer wheels, and contrasts. Now, you don't come to Ladakh to see the military, but you can't really avoid their presence. On the roads in convoys, bases set up all over, clever squad names like the clue finders or the mountain tamers, there is a clear military presence here. But then that shouldn't really be a surprise when you consider that the border with Pakistan and China are both quite close to this area of India. (I think we got within about fourth kilometers of the Pakistan border during our trip.) no, you come to Ladakh for the scenery. To explore an area of India that is so different from other parts. You come to visit monasteries that sit perched in mountain sides. Monasteries in remote places. Monasteries that are remarkably well kept when you wonder how they ever constructed them in the first place. Of the twelve monasteries we saw only one wasn't clinging to a hillside, that at Alchi, which was memorable for its two story clay sculptures of several different Buddhas. Sumur wasn't exactly built into a hillside like the others but its multiple layers provided its own unique view. I think my favorites where the monasteries in Hunder (you'll get more about that separately) and Diskit. Diskit (1420) is that iconic buddhist monastery, that clings to a mountainside in multilayer white stucco. Across the way is a large (ok, huge) statue of the future Buddha which in contrast to the stark landscape seems a miracle of construction. That's not the only enormous Buddha around, we saw a second golden monstrosity at Likkir (another cliff clinging monastery). He is seems to be nestled into a valley along rock walls, and was impressive in its wooden construction. Thiksay is another picturesque one, although as you wander through it it does not seem quite as old, perhaps because it is one of the wealthiest monasteries in Ladakh and so has upgraded and is very well maintained (although every monastery we visited seemed to be in great shape, even the ones that seemed more remote like Rizong). I'm not really sure what to say about all of the monasteries. They each had several temples, all different inside, with the commonality of some sort of large Buddha statue inside. I found myself enamored with the prayer wheels, which varied in material and number from site to site. Lamayuru can claim 143, Alchi 63 and Hunder just one. They are made out of tin, wood, leather, and old cans. Spinning them sends a prayer out, as the most traditional are filled with a solid paper roll of prayers. My memories of Ladakh will be filled with snapshots of monasteries, prayer wheels and smiling people.

Lamayuru festival

I climb out the window of our simple room and go to perch on the ledge overlooking the courtyard of the monastery in Lamayuru. We are in luck, completely by chance the monastery festival is going on while we are in Ladakh. The drums, cymbals and horns (a few so large it takes two young monks to carry them out) play a background of music throughout the day as 30 monks in colorful, shiny, patchwork over robes each wearing a mask of a protective deity dance. It is a simple dance around a circle, including spins, hops, arm raises and touching the ground in an unpredictable pattern. It is mesmerizing in color and the unchanging faces of the painted masks. As the horns lead the way back inside I find my attention captured again by the turns that flare the robes and the occasional mask which seems to be looking directly at me, two stories above the performance area. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Hunder Monastery

After a rest, with a few hours left until dinner we decided to take a walk through Hunder village. We set off on a route we hadn't wandered before. As we were turning a corner I happened to look up on the mountainside and spotted what looked to be a string of old monastic cells. Stone one room huts were actually scattered across the hillside. I wonder if that is Hunder monastery that the guidebook so briefly mentions? And how can we get there? We kept walking hoping that maybe the road would curve around and take us there. We've been continually drawn to some of the small concrete paths that veer off from the road and finally decided to follow one. We were excited when it took us by a small field of shrines, but even more thrilled when it led us over the stream and then up to where we wanted to go. Across the main road stood one of the prettiest prayer wheels we have seen. To the left stood a long stupa covered with intricately carved stones. Beyond that pebble stone paths led up to different areas of the mountainside, all of which held a handful of old monastic cells. We climbed one promising looking path for a ways, but due to impending night fall had to turn back before reaching anything of interest...unless you count more carved stones or the view of the field of over 50 white chorten across the river. We were still unclear as to if this was solely an abandoned monastery or still a working one as we began our walk back down to the little footpath. All of a sudden I noticed a monk coming out of a stone house. I guess it is still a monastery! We greeted him with a friendly "Juley" and then he came out of the gate holding a key. Did we want to visit ... something? Oh, yes. If a monk is willing to unlock a door I will follow him to see where it leads. Down some rocks and through a new door led us to a prayer hall that appeared to still be under construction. On the far side a fabric hanging hid a doubly locked door to a four hundred year old temple. Inside, the darkness barely pierced by a few candles, standing behind a glass wall was the most stunning Buddha I've seen this trip. His serious face and prayerful position dominated the space, keeping your attention. "Wow," was an echo inside my head. Look at what we stumbled upon...and we almost didn't go for a walk!

Road side advice

One of my favorite things about driving, well okay riding in a car, is to read the roadside signs and see what they share. As we drove out to visit some monasteries outside of Leh I had ample opportunity to take in some of these sage sayings.  There are three categories that these signs can fall into. There are the often amusing reminders to drive safe on the mountainous roads. Which proclaim things like the following:

All will wait, better be late

Caress the urges do not test them

Darling I like you, but not so fast

If you sleep your family will weep

Be Mr. Late then late Mr.

It's a highway not a runway

Bro anytime is safety time

I am curvaceous be careful

Overspeed is a knife that cuts a life

Your hurry is may be a cause to worry your family

And my favorite: Hurry burry spoils the curry

Then there are signs that actually tell me something I didn't know. We passed one today that proclaimed We did it! Guinness World Record. Most trees planted simultaneously. Chang-ga Village. Others just make me wonder what the are referring to, and make want to do some research. Like the one that said The Mountain Tamers. How do you tame a mountain?

The last genre are the signs that actually make you stop and think. That offer some surprising insight into life:

Hard work is the best investment a man can make

Self trust is the essence of heroism

Serve ever, hurt never

Only the best of our friends and the worst of our enemies would like to visit us