PORTUGAL: NAZARE, PRAIA DO NORTE

  June 26, 2022

The small town of Nazaré (population 10,000) is known for two unrelated things: surfing and a miracle. I'll start with surfing.

The town was very crowded the afternoon we were there, and we had to park a fair distance from our first stop, the famous Praia do Norte, or North Beach. I'll get to why it's famous in a minute.

We noted a definite hipster/surfer vibe as we approached the beach--street signs covered in beach bum stickers and a giant marble and steel statue that has the head of a deer and the body of a surfer.

The deer has a story that actually ties in to the Nazaré miracle, so I guess my opening statement that the surfing and the miracle aren't related isn't entirely true.

There used to be a lot of deer in the area, and the legend is that on a foggy day in the 12th century, the mayor, Dom Fuas, was hunting and chased a deer over a cliff. Just as Dom Fuas was about to follow suit, he cried out for help to Our Lady of Nazaré (whose story I will tell later). At that moment his horse stopped abruptly, saving itself and its rider from a fall of more than 300 feet onto the rocks below. See the depiction of the event below, painted by Portuguese artist André Luís.

Picture from here

We were walking towards those very cliffs, but first we passed through the gate that welcomed us to the the site of the Biggest Waves in the World.

It was a beautiful day, and the view from atop the cliffs was spectacular. Looking in one direction, we could see the beach resort area where our next hotel was located. Looking the other way, we could see the rocky point that Dom Fuas almost rode his horse over. Both views are breathtaking.

Here is a better view of the point and the cliff that almost claimed the life of Dom Fuas. Like everywhere else in Portugal, there was no railing or fence preventing people from walking up to the edge and (perhaps) falling over. I guess the Portuguese are smarter than Americans.

We decided to walk down to the point of The Point where there appeared to be a building that was attracting a lot of people. First, however, we got our first look at the famous Praia do Norte, the site of  the Biggest Waves in the World, according to the sign. They didn't look all that big to us, but then we learned that this was the off season. "Come back in winter," they said.

The building at the point of The Point turned out to be a the latest iteration of the Fort of São Miguel Arcanjo (St. Michael the Archangel), originally built in 1577 to protect the area from marauders. A lighthouse was added in 1903. A museum opened in the fort in 2014, and it was the museum that was drawing visitors when we were there.

The museum has a section that explains the unique geological formation--an underwater canyon almost three miles deep--that creates the massive waves Praia do Norte is known for.

The underwater canyon creates high breaking waves in the late fall and winter, and many world records have been set here, including the biggest wave ever surfed. That record was set by a German (yeah, not a country known for its big waves) named Sebastian Steudtner who surfed an 86 foot wave on October 29, 2020.  If you want to see what his wild ride looked like, check out this YouTube video. The key part starts at about 2:00.

    

Steudtner smashed the previous world record of surfing 80 feet, which was set at this same location in 2017 by a Brazilian surfer. Before that record was 78 feet, also set at Nazaré's Praia do Norte.

I'll point out here that this record will likely be broken. It's not that there aren't bigger waves; there have been waves as high as 100 feet at Navaré. It is having the guts (or stupidity) to get on a wave that size. 

Most of the museum is dedicated to those who have taken on the challenge of these monstrous, wild waves. I don't know what qualifies as a ride worthy of being highlighted on these walls, but it looks like there have been some epic achievements!

Each surfboard is THE board ridden on the wave, and underneath each board is a photo of the surfer with some information about when the ride occurred, how big the wave was, etc.

Many of the information plaques have quotes on them. I loved this one: "Climbers have Everest and surfers have Nazaré."

Some of the surfboards even include the clothing the surfer wore.

The best add-on, however, is this violin. Seriously?

Yes, seriously! This surfer belongs to a group called #aviolininthemostunlikelyplaces that focuses on playing the violin on the biggest waves and on the highest mountains. (IMHO, playing on a mountain seems hard, but not as hard as playing while surfing a giant wave.)

Let's see what's on the observation deck.

This is the lighthouse. The light from this little gazebo can be seen for 16 miles (14 nautical miles).

A flock of wooden seagulls perches on the ledge, each one painted by a local artist.

There are also photographs of The Waves.

I love this sculpture. Do you see the face of the wind on the left and the surfer going down the swell on the right? The piece is entitled Adamastor, referring to a mythical creature envisioned by Portugal's great poet Luís Camões that symbolizes the dangers of the sea.

We took one more look over the edge before we left. Yikes.