Joaquim da Praia

(1908-1999)

On 5 June he was born and on June 5 he passed away. Between the two dates, 91 years have passed.

Our grandfather Joaquim Barqueiro Quico was born and raised in Sítio da Nazaré, the upper part of Nazaré. However, since he was a small kid, the beach was his great passion. Someone may have said to him that "so many times you go to the beach that you will be named Joaquim da Praia (Joaquim of the Beach).! And so it was: Joaquim who was from Sítio ended up being called Joaquim da Praia – until his death.

The sea of ​​Nazaré shaped his character: sometimes stormy and unpredictable, sometimes serene and sweet. Our grandfather Joaquim da Praia was fisherman, almost always at the coast of Nazaré, but he also made fishing trips further north, to Matosinhos.

Joaquim da Praia never went to school. In the troop, he learned to read something and to write your own name. However, he had a prodigious memory for the stories of Portugal history. He liked to go back hundreds of years to tell the tales of the great events of national history.

With the death of grandmother Irene, Joaquim became a different person: calmer, more patient. Three months after the departure of Irene, the granddaughter Vanessa has born. The sadness of Irene's absence gives way to the joy of having another child in the family.

Joaquim da Praia had a long life and also a hard life, like many other seamen of Nazaré. Despite the fear of death at sea, the grandfather Joaquim persisted in his job as fisherman to support the family.
We miss you very much, grandfather Joaquim!