Eleven years ago we took Child #1 from
Luxembourg to Portugal for the first time. He was barely two months old, which
in retrospect was probably a bit optimistic for a 5,000km road trip… Suffering
terribly from colic and then a virus, our first travel experience with a child
was marked by a disastrous restaurant experience in the Dordogne and four
unplanned “rest days” in a rented caravan near Biarritz.
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| Us, on a beach near Biarritz, a long time ago... |
Eventually – late,
tired and travel-weary – we limped into
Portugal, where we simply relaxed and caught up with Joëlle's family. One morning I took a break from the traumas
of first-time fatherhood to explore the local region… and I had one of the most surreal -
and unforgettable - tourist experiences ever. In my diary notes at the time, I
wrote the following:
Monday October 3rd, 2005
I had
my first
real tourist
excursion this
morning – a trip
to the Castelo
de Almourol. Despite the
fact that
signposts
for the castle
stopped once
the motorway
became a dirt
track, I managed
to find
it relatively
quickly. Obviously
nobody else
ever does
because I was
the only tourist there,
giving me every
opportunity to peacefully
admire the handsome
ancient castle
perched on top
of a rocky
island in the
Rio Tejo.
Using
my very
best Portuguese
(which Joëlle
has since
informed me was,
in fact,
Spanish), I ascertained from
a nearby
construction worker
that the castle
was open to visitors. I was shepherded
towards a huge
old man in
a tight
t-shirt
with hooped stripes; he looked to me like a
retired pirate
(if pirates ever do retire). He gestured towards a small boat
and asked
me for 75 cents.
Since he didn’t
have change
for a 1EUR
coin, I got
my boat
trip for the
cut-price
– and pocket-lightening
– amount of 67 cents.
Bargain! For that,
I got half
an hour
all on my
own to find
my way through
the island’s
jungle of cacti
and heroically
shoulder-charge
open the main
door to the
castle before
exploring every
nook and cranny
of it. It
was a magnificent, surreal
experience. When
my curiosity was satisfied,
my pirate
and his boat were patiently
waiting to return
me to the
mainland and the
dust track
/ motorway which
took me back
home to my
wife and son. Tourism
at its very
best!!!
Eleven years and three more children later,
it was time to return; a time for eight little feet to tread where two clumsy
oversized sandals had gone before. Predictably, a lot has changed in eleven
years, but it still was a great family morning excursion.
 |
| The Castelo de Almourol in 2005... |
 |
| ... and in 2016 |
As I mentioned back in 2005, the Castelo de Almourol
is a 900-year old castle perched atop an island of granite in the river Tejo.
More Game of Thrones brutality than fairy-tale beauty, it makes up for its
relatively small size by striking a particularly imposing, dominant pose, in
sharp contrast to the peaceful meandering river flowing timelessly around it.
Some changes were apparent immediately upon
arrival. The dirt track is now a real road (though hardly a super-highway yet)
and the pirate was sadly no longer there. In fact, as we arrived we initially
thought - to our horror!! - that a bridge
had been built. This would NOT have been good news because the promise of a
boat trip was the one thing that motivated the kids into coming (“but we have
LOADS of castles in Luxembourg, Daddy…”). Thankfully, we were wrong (it was
some sort of pontoon) and very soon a small motor boat came chugging into view
from behind the castle in a scene directly from a Tintin story.
 |
| Tintin at the Castelo de Almourol? |
Despite being early in the tourist day, a small
queue of people had already tentatively formed at the quay, and we were lucky
to be able to board without waiting longer (the boatman later told us that
there is often serious congestion on August afternoons). Inflation and demand
meant that the price had more than tripled to €2.50 per person (frankly, this
is still not bad when compared to other tourist attractions), but our three
youngest kids went free.
 |
| On the boat |
Arriving on the island, the cacti were (of
course) still there and making valiant efforts to reclaim the island as their
own. The temperature was rising rapidly, and the kids loved the novelty of
playing in the cool shade of cacti and bamboo, two plants which are not
exactly abundant in the forests of Luxembourg… We almost forgot that we had
a castle to visit, but eventually we made our way up to the main gate (open; no
shoulder charge necessary) inside which a small souvenir stall
stood as a tentative response to changing times and the castle's new status as
an upcoming tourist attraction.
The children’s instinct to play amongst the
cacti was probably correct; to be honest there isn't much for kids to see or do
in the castle itself, other than the magnificent views and a nerve-wracking
walk along the battlements, which the eldest kids enjoyed greatly.
Nevertheless, Almourol still stands as a very enjoyable tourist excursion for
kids, principally due to its storybook location and the thrill of the boat-only
access. But when, inevitably, the big coach tours arrive and the economics for
building a bridge finally make sense, Portugal may gain another major tourist
attraction, but it will have lost one of its finest tourist experiences,
particularly for children.
My advice: bring back the pirate; the kids
would love him.
Daisy the bus visited the Castelo de Almourol in early August 2016
(c) 2016 Jonathan Orr
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