Portugal

“See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut” – Revelation 3:8. 

We not only have to be able to recognize the open doors of opportunity, but also to have the courage to step through.  An open door appeared unexpectedly one day as I was browsing through my Facebook page.  I spotted a post shared to the “Old Girls’” page of my alma mater advertising “The Discerning Tourist’s Relaxed Portuguese Ramble”.  It was being organised by one of our “Old Girls” and her partner who run Designer Tours from Cape Town.  (Check out their website: http://www.designertours.co.za/)  Calvin and Wendy both love Portugal and have had regular holidays there.  They decided to arrange a tour for a small group so that they could share some of their favourite places with others.  The tour lasted 15 days with only four stopovers (Porto, Vila Vicosa, Alvito and Lisboa).  Wendy and Calvin put together a wonderful tour with just the right balance of sight-seeing and free time. The small group got on well and enjoyed all the special dinners and entertainments that were laid on.

Going to Portugal was the fulfillment of a long-held dream.  When I was young, I spent a lot of time listening to my maternal grandmother’s stories. One of them was about how her father had spent time in Portugal as a prisoner-of-war during the Boer War. According to Ouma, her mother helped him to escape. Since my grandmother would only have been 5 years old at the start of the Boer War, I assumed that the stories were embellished by being passed down through the generations.  However, my son took an interest in the Boer War and posted a question about his great-great-grandfather on a Boer War forum.  Some years later a research student in Lisbon replied to say that she had found his ancestor.  I managed to contact her and found out that the Boers had been kept in a now unused building in a small town called Caldas da Rainha.   My interest was now thoroughly piqued and an internet search eventually led me to a book by O.J.O.Ferreira, who tells a lesser known story of the 1019 Boers who were interned in Portugal.  Imagine my excitement when I discovered that the author of the book had used my great-grandfather’s diary as a source for his research. The diary is now housed in the Pretoria Archives along with letters and photographs.    Meanwhile my brother had been scanning old family photos and letters, which he sent to me.  Among them were pictures of my great-grandfather in Portugal.   The more I discovered, the more I longed to go there.

I had to wait until the end of the tour before I could go off on my own in search of family history.  Caldas da Rainha is a small town that is easy to explore.  My visit far exceeded my expectations.  There is a ceramics factory in the town where my great-grandmother bought various items. We still have two of these in our home.  The one is a plate of creepy crawlies that has been handed down to my son and the other is a small mug with a frog inside which used to delight my mother when she was little. I went to the factory as well as to a ceramics museum which had an almost identical plate on display, together with the artists name.

Have you ever watched the TV programme “Who do you think you are?”?  I’ve always been sceptical about the reactions of the person when they discover something about a long-forgotten ancestor.  I now have to believe that the emotion shown is genuine.  When I walked around the corner and came face to face with the building that is featured in the book (which I had carried with me on the tour), I felt the tears welling up. Although I am sure that it cannot be the same, next to the building was a small cart, which looked similar to the one in a photograph of my great-grandfather.  More tears! The surrounding park, where my great-grandfather used to exercise, was tranquil and a lovely place to meditate.  I wished that I could spend longer there, but I had to get back to Lisbon and it was a three hour train journey away.  Maybe, one day, I will go back with my son and show him one of the places where the Boers were housed.

My small journey of discovery has ignited an interest in family history and I hope to be able to write up my research for future generations.  A  chance spotting of a Facebook post has opened a door that not only gave me a lovely holiday but also sparked a new passion that is giving me hours of pleasure. Thank you, Wendy and Calvin.  May your tours thrive again after this pandemic!