#(i bought a keychain from Filipa

[lacomandante]

        Okay so I’m gonna totally post these out of order so bear with me LOL. There are plenty more to follow!!!

         May 5th, we visited the Santuario de Nossa Senhora do Cabo Espichel, along the coastline of Portugal. This was one of the few locations actually located in the Iberian Peninsula that was used in Sharpe (and this one specifically in Rifles), so getting the chance to visit this gorgeous location was incredible. It was a beautiful day, and there were very few people visiting, so we got a wonderful tour of it overall- I only wish the giant ugly signs weren’t there :(. It’s really interesting to compare the buildings from then and now- a lot of damage from the harsh weather of the coastline and time has chipped away at it. All of the windows and doors of the long hostel houses were sealed with concrete, and much was in disrepair that we did see. The song that plays during this shot in Rifles was stuck in my head the whole time.

        We got a chance to visit the church as well, as when we first got there it was closed, so we felt very lucky to go inside! And the interior looks almost the same as it did in Rifles, except there has been extensive work done to preserve the paintings and statues inside. Sadly, there weren’t any photos allowed inside (though Sam snuck two of me in there, I won’t post them here for reasons I’ll explain in a bit). It was just me, Luca, and Sam inside, as well as a volunteer who looked after the building: we whispered very quietly among ourselves and looked at the beautiful artwork and sculptures, and went to the little souvenir table. We asked Luca how to say how much something was in Portuguese, when Filipa, the volunteer, told us in English that we didn’t have to whisper LOL. We all laughed at that.

       I ended up asking her out of curiosity as to why no photographs were allowed, as I had seen some online. Apparently because this location isn’t visited often and in very poor condition, people have stolen and continue to steal a lot from the sanctuary and surrounding area. About two weeks before we came, someone broke into the prophet’s house (not pictured) and shattered the glass and I believe were trying to steal tiles. So it was understandable, but disappointing, as the church hosts the most elaborate and expensive parts of the sanctuary. There are plenty of photos of the interior on the internet, and people sneak photos, but it was the principal of the matter and I don’t want Filipa to be disappointed in me for posting them and I want to respect that rule, (even if we broke it in private...oops) so I won’t.

       We spent a good half hour just chatting with her about the area and its history, and she showed us photos of the reconstruction, and she was incredibly kind and so knowledgeable. It was a long shot, but I had shown her photos of the praying scene that follows their arrival to this spot in the film, and Sam and I had done extensive research to figure out where it was, to no avail- it didn’t match this location, and Filipa confirmed that she had been inside every part of the sanctuary, and it wasn’t there, and we exchanged contact info because she wanted to try and figure it out. Later that night she apparently did research and confirmed where it actually was- in another sanctuary in Sintra, “more abandoned than this one!” she said. She used to actually live by it- I was blown away with her kindness and dedication to finding it after all that. So next time we visit Portugal, that will be on the list! It’s incredible that just on a whim I decided to ask; it couldn’t hurt, could it? And it turned out that she managed to locate exactly where it was. It’s so wild how that all worked out but it was SUCH an awesome experience and Filipa was the coolest person ever!!!

        It’s sad that rooms were all boarded up. Apparently the location is shared by government, the nearby town, and the monastery, and all three have been fighting over what to do with it. Many want the hostel to open again, which would allow money to flood in to be put towards restorations that are very badly needed, and bring more people to see the sanctuary. But on the other hand, people didn’t want this place to become a tourist attraction. Filipa herself said it she would prefer it to reopen and draw more people, than to let it suffer its current fate- it’ll only get worse with time and the harsh weather. I have more photos that I’ll post later surrounding the site- the ocean view was beautiful from here! It really is a gorgeous location, if not quite isolated.