This morning was our first sleep-in = 8am. A nice brekkie followed by a morning walk through most of Baucau visiting the following sites: Heroes Monument, Military Police Headquarters, St Anthony Catholic Cathedral, Bacau Diocesan Catholic Offices, Bacau Bishops House, Holy Cross Lookout, Local Markets, Town Centre. The highlight was definitely the Holy Cross Lookout at 376m overlooking not only all of Baucau nestled into the hillside but the coast and ocean below but in the distance. Terrific.
By noon we were off to Venilale traveling high on a ridge overlooking the distant Gunung Matebeanfeto Mountain Ranges. This area is totally subsistence farming. Venilale (Pop 15,542) is a rural town but steeped in history. It has many forgotten colonial Portuguese architecture and once the holiday destination for Royalty given its cooling altitude of 850m. We visited the 1933 Escola do Reino de Venilale High School where Portuguese Royalty attended school and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church across the road. Just before Venilale are 12 dugout entrances into the side of a large hillside. These are entrances to system of 7 tunnels dug by the Timorese under the Japanese in 1943 when they occupied the entire island of Timor until their surrender in 1945. The Japanese stored food and ammunition in these caves.
From Venilale we returned to Baucau on the same road stopping at the village of Gariuai to see the very unusual architecture of the Dom Bosco Church. From Baucau we headed back to Dili along the same road that we travelled on Day 2. Along the way, we stopped in the village of Laliea to see the Church of St Mary of The Rosary.
2.5hrs of very scenic coastal driving saw us arrive in Dili in the late arvo with a quick stop at the supermarket for more wine, cheese and olives before reacquainting ourselves with the same hotel as Day 1.
These first 4 days saw us visit the entire north coast all the way to the easternmost tip of Timor-Leste. The next few days were dedicated to the interior and west.
Enjoy the last of the east of East Timor...
No comments:
Post a Comment