Sat June 22

Had a nice sleep in this AM!! The best part was that coffee had been made when I got up and the DW unloaded.  That has been my job pretty much whole trip since I’m the first one up and need something to do while waiting for the coffee to finish.

Walked into town to get goodies for a BBQ tonight.  We were a little later getting to the market so not enough fish, other than mackerel left. We grabbed the last of the big prawns (24 so only 2 each), huge big beautiful ones with the heads still on.  Cost 20E but would have probably cost $50 at home.  Produce in the market was good, so fresh and colourful looking….the red peppers are massive and gorgeous.  Bought a big bag of huge beans to French, peppers, a couple large heads of lettuce and cucumbers and some apples…..came to 8E and the lady threw in a few extra goodies to boot!  On to the little grocery store that has an incredible meat counter with 2 guys that were crazy busy…..as they have been every time we’ve popped in. Bought 4 skewers of marinated chicken wings (4 whole wings on each skewer), 3 skewers each of pork and beef kebabs and 3 of the bacon wrapped chicken ones.  Also bought, because they looked so good, 3 chicken thigh medallion things (?) with the skin on.   The total came to E18!!!!

Back home by 11.  Everyone went off and did their own things.  Brenda and I went down to our beach and had lunch at the “Yacht Club”…just a beach bar really but great food.  Had a “hotdog” with cheese and bacon and a sangria (all v. good) 9E.  Can’t beat that especially when you’ve got such a great beach and view.  And an exceptionally clean bathroom!

Rented an unbrella with chairs and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, taking a walk and a dip in the water every now and again and people watching…..managed to somehow get a bit of a burn on my legs, which will hopefully just turn into a nice tan by tomorrow.   Great afternoon…..just sitting and relaxing and no driving!

Back to the house just before 5.  Cleaned up and started getting dinner ready.  Potatoes, beans, salad and all the meat ready to BBQ.  Lots of fun.  Everyone busy doing something, even the big and little boys were in charge of getting the coals on the BBQ going…..some excitement with the started fluid but they all still have hair and eyelashes so all was good!

Tonight is Chris and Marie’s last night with us.  They’re on their way to Lisbon tomorrow at the crack of dawn, so a bit of a celebration tonight…….12 of us survived a week together!  Dinner was excellent and again the wind cooperated so we feasted outside.  Tons of food…..all very good.  Picked up an orange cake at the bakery in town…..this is a specialty of the area.  Was very good too….an eggy cake rolled jelly roll style and soaked….really, really soaked…in an orange liqueur.  One piece was enough though.

Everyone, except Chris and Marie was up very late tonight….after midnight before I went to bed.  Such a great evening…..good food, good friends/family, good wine, lots of laughs and a beautiful evening…really could not ask for more.

Sun June 23

Busy morning!  C & M were off just after 6AM.  Rae, Glen, Jill and Larry are heading to Lisbon for 3 nights so they were out the door just before 10.  Brenda, me, and M & N and the boys are here on our own for a couple days…..certainly a lot quieter!

Brenda and I took a walk into town via the beach.  We really have the best beach…..not the most scenic but beautiful, fine sand, crystal clear water, a few interesting rock formations, a couple of restaurants and the castle.  Into town to pick up a few things and take some pics of “downtown” Ferragudo.  This place is really a prize…..not very big but a really nice place….such a good find.  I think it’s the best place we could have stayed.  The town is small, still a working fishing village but has pretty well everything that you could possibly need…..all within a 10-15 minute was from the house, the beach a 5 minute walk too.  A very good bakery and grocer with an excellent meat counter, the daily fish and veggie market, some lovely artisan shops, a pretty square with cafes and restaurants….really quite the perfect spot. Ferragudo has managed to somewhat “contain” the touristy growth of the town.  There are condos etc. but not right on the beaches and all the new seems to blend in quite well with the old.  Some lovely old buildings and a church with pretty tiles and a few small windy, hilly streets.  Right along the water the fisherman clean their catch and untangle their nets in the morning and then the same process happens in the evening around 7:30 when they come back in .  Love the seagull feeding frenzy!

Brenda and I did a bit of exploring, had our cappuccinos before heading back.  M & N and boys went off to Lagos, Brenda and I went to Praia Marinha….. https://www.algarvetips.com/beaches/lagoa/praia-da-marinha/  No problem getting there, took about 20 minutes.  Parking was at a premium though with cars parked a mile up the road.  We lucked out and found someone just leaving in the big parking lot at the top of the cliff.  Before heading down the steps to the beach there are a couple of stalls selling clothes and purses and a few food trucks selling ice cream and hotdogs.  We grabbed a couple of hotdogs and a drink.  The young guy in the truck put on gloves to get our food ready.  He said they do that because they have to take money too and don’t want to contaminate the food!  I swear this is the cleanest place I have ever travelled too!

The view of the beach from the top is lovely but as you work your way down the very well kept, but windy stairs, the peek-a-boo views get even better and better.  At the bottom there is one restaurant (with a bathroom) but no chair/umbrella rental places.  The cliffs and rock formations are truly breathtaking.  It’s not a huge beach but definitely pretty nice nestled in the surrounding cliffs and large rock formations just off the beach.  The beach itself is not the greatest…..sand is quite coarse and it’s the first beach we’ve been to that had a ton of seaweed.   Was extremely hot with no shade at all unless you were lucky enough to have gotten a spot smack up against the cliff face.   Had our lunch and spent an hour or two there……much of the time was spent trying to give an injured seagull, who decided to join us, some water….poor thing didn’t have a hope but at least we tried.  It started to cloud over a bit, which was kind of a blessing because of the heat.

Packed up and thought we’d check out Praia Benigal with the caves.  It’s listed as the #1 beach!!   https://www.algarvetips.com/beaches/lagoa/praia-de-benagil/  We drove but could have taken the trail at the top of the cliff at Marinha, supposed to be approx. 1/2 hour walk.   Driving was a mistake.  It’s a very small place and it’s crazy busy.  The only road down takes you thru the small town where there is a very narrow hairpin curve at the bottom and basically only one way traffic because of all the cars parked on the side of road going up and down hill.  At the bottom while waiting for the cars to come down the hill before we could go up, all you could see was a blanket of heads down on the beach….very crowded.  We didn’t stop because there was just no place to park within miles, even at the top of the hill the roadside was lined with cars. I think probably the best way to see and get to this beach is from the water….or taking the trail.  Hopefully we’ll see it on the boat trip on Thursdsay.  Supposed to be pretty spectacular.

On the way home we found an “Apollonia” supermarket.  Looked a bit upscale compared to the LIDL or Supermarche.  The biggest and best wine selection, including wines from Italy and France, some at 99E a bottle! Picked up a white vinho verde and a rose…..at 10E a bottle.

Back home and just sat around reading, chatting and drinking our wine.  We sent Mark and Natasha off to town for dinner and date night.  Made the boys a frittata with all the leftovers…..they loved it!  Played cards for a bit and then we all went off to bed.

Brenda moved into Chris and Marie’s room, so was kind of nice having my own room again.  I’m sure she will also enjoy not listening to my snoring!

Mon June 24

Very socked in this morning with a thick marine fog.  Cleared a bit by 10 or 11 but still couldn’t see too much of Poritmao across the river.  Was warm but very muggy.

Brenda and I decided to go to Faro for lunch.  Checked the directions on google maps before we left as our GPS seems to have become quite useless around here.  Not sure if it just hasn’t been updated or what but more often than it not it takes us on a bit of a goose chase as opposed to the quickest and easiest way to get anywhere.

Took the slower, scenic route on N125 and made it to exactly where we wanted to be in Faro…..main parking lot (free!!) without putting the GPS on or using our phones.  What a pretty, quaint place!!  We found a nice restaurant in a square for lunch, Vila Adentro.  We ordered the monkfish and prawn rice for 2.  Came in a terrine and was served into bowls.  It was absolutely delicious….tons of monkfish done perfectly and there had to have been at least 5 or 6 huge prawns for each of us, also done perfectly.  Rice had onions, green peppers and tomato and maybe just a touch of olive oil.  Very simple but tons of flavor.  I had a glass of dry rose to go with it.

Went in search of the TI office for some information.  Instead of doing the boat trip to the islands we decided just to wander and explore Faro.  It’s really quite lovely.  Very nice buildings, many painted yellow, or white with bright coloured trim, which makes everything look nice and open.  A couple of great squares with cafes and restaurants.  Lots of lovely shops.  The walled city has a couple of big wide open plazas lined with orange trees and restaurants.  A big clock tower at one of the entrance arches has 4 or 5 huge storks nests.    In the new town there’s a large pedestrian only area also full of shops and cafes that have what look like large sails tied up between the buildings to provide lots of shade when you’re wandering.  Back in the old town we went to the cathedral (3.50E), which also gets you up to the bell tower with incredible views of the city in every directions.  You see the outer islands, some with little sandy beaches.  The marina is huge with every kind of boat, big and small.

Lots of boat tour places and lots of boats just anchored out and about among the islands.  Good views of the old walled port of the city and the rooftops.  There are tourists but not a ton so no big crowds.  Just a really pleasant place.  The usual vacation condos and apartment buildings surrounding it but all seems to blend in very nicely. Faro also has an incredibly busy airport……at least 10 or more planes came in during the couple hours we were there.  A really enjoyable lunch and afternoon!

It was about an hour drive each way but so worth the trip.  Our plan had been to go into town tonight for dinner but we just spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around with M & N and the kids.  Cheese, bread, olives and whatever else we could find in the fridge for dinner.  A gorgeous warm evening with little or no wind and another beautiful pink sunset.  Super day!

Tues June 25

Oh what a beautiful morning……had that song going thru my head for hours!!  But it was…. so nice, bright, sunny and no wind.

Beach day!  Brenda and I went down around 10:30.  Got a front row umbrella and chairs.  A bit of the usual marine cloud rolled in but otherwise quite pleasant.  When the sun was out full blast it was really hot so didn’t mind the mix of cloud and sun at all.  Went for a nice long walk down the beach and into the water just to cool off.  Lots of groups of kids today……pre-schoolers I would say all with their bright yellow hats.  Fun to watch.  So impressed here with people on the beach…..kudos to all the women that wear anything, or nothing, and every type of bathing suit regardless of their bodies…..we really are so up tight and judgmental at home on appearances!

Reading, people watching, dozing, lunch again at the “Yacht Club”, more reading and a dip or two until around 4.  A great relaxing day.

Brenda and I headed into town for dinner tonight.  Decided on the Italian place.  Not too busy at 7:30 but within a 1/2 hour it was full.  Shared a pizza and a 1/2 pitcher of sangria.  Both were very good.  Great people watching in the main square.  Will have to come back and try their “hot stone plates”.  The ladies at the next table had them and it looked like lots of fun……you get a smoking hot stone that you put your meat on to cook, big to do made with the waiter putting a plastic bib/apron on you so nothing splatters on your clothes.  Ladies were having a great time, lots of fun with a cute waiter doing the bib thing.  We had another 1/2 pitcher of sangria and sat back and enjoyed the whole scene…..some entertainment too….a singer tonight.  When they brought our bill they also brought out a bottle of some local almond liqueur and 2 shot glasses.  Fun.

I think this would be a great place to come to on Thursday night , which is Mark and Natasha’s last night here.  They are taking off to Rome and the Amalfi coast for a week.  Rae and Glen are taking the boys to London and back home for them.

Stumbled our way to the bakery (which was still open at 10PM!) and picked up some pastries and a couple more bottles of wine and then home.  M & N and the kids were all in bed!

Great day.

Wed June 26

Nice and sunny this AM.  No fog…..yet!  Pretty little cruise ship in this AM.  The Sea Dream 1 Luxury Yacht….1 to 1 crew/passenger ratio $$$$’s !!

Off to pick up a couple of spatchcock chickens again for dinner and the rest of the goodies for MORE pasta and salad.  Really love going into our little town in the morning….the fisherman sorting out their nets, the seagulls hanging around waiting for any bits of whatever, the restaurant guys getting the coals started on the grills.  Best though is the little market with the fresh catch of the day, often mackerel along with sardines.

The small grocer (Amanhecer) that has the incredible meat counter, the bakery (Casa do Panito) with the fresh bread, pastel de nata, almond tarts, croissants and a small stock of some really great wines.  The main square with the coffee shops…..lots of tourists long with locals having morning coffee.  The view of the boats, big and small on the river, even with Portimao across the way.  Life goes on here regardless of the condos, big houses and tourists.  Throw in the great beaches and the castle….well, it’s just a perfect mix of everything you could want!

Booked our boat trip for 10 tomorrow!  Can’t go if it’s too windy so fingers are crossed that the weather cooperates.

Home in time to make lunch…..that’s all we seem to think about here!  Great bread, salami, brie and delicious tomatoes….and a nice glass of wine (or two!) to wash it all down.  M & N and the boys headed off to the beach, Brenda went for a walk and I got my bathing suit on, grabbed my book and yet another glass of wine and settled in by the pool.  Great to have the last 2 days just hanging around, relaxing.  Just a great afternoon……lots of sun, nice and warm with a bit of a breeze every now and again just at the right time to cool you down.

Rae, Glen, Jill and Larry arrived back from their couple of days exploring Lisbon.  They had a great time, rain and all!!  Not a drop here!  Gave us some good tips on what to see when Brenda and I head there for a couple of days on our way home.   Got cleaned up and started getting our appies ready….bruschetta with tomatoes and sardines.  Got the sauce for the pasta going and the chicken ready to go in the oven.

Dinner was outside again….another beautiful evening.  The guys cleaned up!  Sat around chatting and about our boat trip tomorrow.  That really has to be the best way to see and appreciate the beauty of this coastline.

Thurs June 27

Beautiful this morning.  No marine cloud or fog, just brilliant sunshine!  Jill, Brenda and I headed down to the beach for coffee at the Yacht Club and a bit of a walk.  Into town around noon for lunch before our boat trip at 2 to the caves.  Started to get pretty windy around 1…..too windy to go out 😦  Our boat trip was cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 10.  Fingers are crossed that the wind behaves!  Nothing like leaving this til the last minute!  M & N are going to miss it since they’re off early tomorrow morning.

Ferragudo from across the inlet……just the greatest place!

Came back home and everybody spent the rest of the afternoon doing a variety of things……beach, pool, reading, napping and shopping.  Jill, Larry and I drove into town to pick up a few last minute souvenirs/gifts and take pictures of the stork nests.  Stopped by a little art gallery/shop that we’d passed just about every day….Studio Bongard….what an incredible place.  Full of “fantasmagorical” pottery and ceramics, all displayed among plants, ponds etc. inside, outside and up on the roof!!  Very cool place. https://www.studiobongardonlineshop.com/  J & L bought a ceramic sardine!  Everything else was too delicate or too big to attempt to bring home.

Dinner at the Italian restaurant in the square.  Had great dinner.  Really good service with out waiter being very efficient at getting all ten orders right.  Some of us had the “hotstone plates”.  Lots of fun with the waiters putting on the platics bigs.  I had the lamb chops, which were excellent.  Used the sauces to baste them while they sizzled away.  Took only about 5 minutes to cook them.  Dropped one on the ground but found a doggy close by that got to enjoy it.  I had a 1/2 litre of sangria to go with it.  Such a fun dinner and evening.

Walked back home and sat around and chatted about the last two weeks. To bed around 11.

Friday June 28

Another gorgeous morning…..but a bit windy.  M & N were out of the house by 7.  Down to 8 now.

Into town for our boat trip…..walking in we all had our fingers crossed that it would be a go and it was.  A bit of a struggle for Glen and Larry getting on the boat but the 2 ladies and the captain were very good holding the boat and helping them on.  It was a little choppy right where we were getting on so good thing there were helpers.

Very nice leaving Ferragudo and getting a closer look at Portimao.  Out passed our castle, the marina/harbor and our beaches.

I can’t even describe the coastline!!  It is magnificient, there are no other words.  The cliffs, the different colours of the sandstone and rocks, the beaches tucked into coves that would only be accessible by sea unless you rapel down and back up the cliffside.  Many rock arches, some that we went thru with very little headroom to spare.  We were able to get into quite a few of the caves some with skylights with the sun shining down through them that made the water a beautiful turquoise, some with small, pristine beaches, some the captain had to wait for the right swell and then we “jet boated” in.

The water along the coast, close to the shore and the cliffs, is crystal clear…..could see the bottom down at least 30 maybe even 40ft down.  Very beautiful.  Passed a couple of the towns that we’d visited over the last couple weeks.  We were pretty impressed by some of the beaches on the land and even more so from the sea.  Besides the towns, there are a few resorts built on the cliffs that have put in stairs/walkways to access the beach below.  Some pretty spectacular homes.  We saw people fishing from the top of the cliffs up at least a 100ft or more….extremely long, long fishing lines down into the water…..no rails either so hopefully whatever they were catching wasn’t too big or heavy and going to pull them off!  In one of the small bays kids were jumping off the rocks into the water…..someone had carved a rough staircase out of the rocks for them to climb out and back up to do it all over again.

Finally the “piece de resistance” the Benagil cave.  Initially from the water it looked just like all the other cave openings, not even that much bigger, until you get right up to it.  Once thru it opens up into a huge cave the size of a football stadium.  A big beautiful beach which the sun shines down on thru a big skylight……unbelievable.  But unfortunately is was very crowded with tons of people on the beach, kayakers, paddle boarders, othere boats, including one small 30-40ft yacht!  Would be incredible to see it with no one there.

The boat ride back was a bit choppy, very windy and chilly.  We were a bit further out so could really see and appreciate the coastline…..very beautiful.  Great trip and well worth the 30E for 2 hours……you just cannot appreciate the beauty of it from the land.  One of the best parts was seeing our little Ferragudo from the water.  Such a pretty place…..they’ve done an excellent job of maintaining the small fishing village ambiance with the new conds and houses build around the outside of the old town.

Home for a quick change and to put a comb thru our very wind tussled hair and off to Lagos for lunch.  Easy 1/2 hour drive.  Just followed the signs to “centro” where there is street parking as well as a  large multi-level parking garage.

Their annual beer festival was just winding down…..the main square was lined with local breweries, stands, tables set up and a stage with entertainment.  The old town is lovely, very colonial…..reminded me of a Mexican/Spanish town rather than Portuguese.  Nice cathedral and brightly painted buildings and stone patterned streets.  A great main pedestrian street with lots of restaurants and shops.

Had an OK lunch and then wandered around, in an out of shops.  Had planned on heading down to the water but was very, very hot this afternoon….almost unbearable really, that combined with our boat ride this morning I think everyone had pretty much had it after a couple of hours.  Too bad, would have been nice to see the waterfront…..supposedly a “surfer type” place and some of the beaches.

Home to relax for a couple of hours before dinner at the tapas bar again and to do a bit of packing up.

Did our last walk into town…..I’m really going to miss this place!  Sat outside in the street again at Tapas Sao Joao….such a beautiful evening….warm but with enough of a breeze to make is nice and comfortable.  Only 8 of us now.  Did the same thing as last time, everyone picked a few tapas.  Had the peri peri prawns this time, which were delicious.  Our waiter was great…..fun guy.  Told us about the city selling “their” castle to a private party instead of keeping it for the people…..they weren’t too happy.

Everything was still open after dinner so wandered a bit, picked up some goodies at the bakery for the morning so we didn’t have to worry about breakfast.

Walked back home and finished packing up.  Sat around and chatted for a while then to bed.

Sat June 29

Goodbye Ferragudo!  We really could not have picked a better place.  Great village with all the amenities and ambiance one could need, beautiful beaches, minimal hills….etc. etc.

The driver for R & G and boys arrived right on time at 7AM.  They’re off to Faro for their flights back to London, where they’ll spend a few days before heading home. Jill and Larry followed them to the airport, they’re also off to London to visit family for a couple of days.

Just Brenda and I left….finished last minute packing and a quick clean up and walk thru, looking for anything that may have been left behind, and we were out the door by 9 enroute to Lisbon.

No problems at all getting on the the highway.  Drove thru Alentejo area which was very nice.  Quite different landscape as we went further inland.  Very dry, lots of wheatfields and cork oak trees.  Some areas made me think of what the African savanna would like (which I guess I’ll find out soon enough in Sept!)  Stopped for coffee about 1/2 way to Lisbon.  We’d hoped to arrive by noon, which we did, sort of.  No problems driving thru the city. We put the GPS on just before getting to the city……entered the AVIS car rental drop off at the airport information….which you would think would take you directly there seen it’s their car/their GPS.  Not so….took us down an industrial road on the wrong side of the airport to a place where the refueling truck enter the airport.  Thought maybe we’d missed a turn off/roundabout somewhere so turned around and tried it again…..same thing.  Back on the highway and thought we’d take a different exit which took us over the huge Vasco de Gama bridge, 15km long.  Beautiful bridge, which was nice to see, but…..  Stopped on the other side and used good old google maps, which took us straight there.  Very congested rental return place.  It’s right at the airport just past the departures with not the greatest signage.  I was one of many cars in the wrong lane when you first see the sign, so lots of us having to cut over two or three lanes to get to the car rental one.  No problem dropping the car off.

Grabbed a taxi to our hotel (metered taxi….approx. 18E).  The airport is in the middle of the city so was a great drive (didn’t see much while I was driving to the airport).  Some lovely buildings and streets….especially the treelined Avenida da Liberdade! Our hotel is the Augusta Boutique House right on Rua Augusta.  http://augusta-boutique-house.lisbon-hotel.org/en/  It’s a main pedestrian only street that is many blocks long and takes you right to Praca de Comericio (sp??) and the waterfront.  Hotel is great.  Typical small room but facing out on the street with great views in either direction.  Nice little rooftop terrace, with a view, for breakfast.  The hotel is in the perfect location for exploring.  Lots of shops and outdoor cafes, street entertainers….very lively.

Off to explore and grab a quick sangria and a snack at one of the restaurants.  Great people watching but not the best place to eat.  Expensive and mediocre food.  We each had a sangria and shared a sandwich 20+E!   Gal at the hotel said to have dinner at one of the places a block or two on either side of Rua Augusta….better food and better prices.  Fun street though to wander down, in and out of shops.

The Praca do Comercio is a beautiful big plaza on the waterfront surrounded by yellow poritcoed buildings.  You end up in the praca from Augusta thru a big white arch, crossing a busy street with the cable cars and buses.  Cafes and restaurants on one side….very pretty.  More street entertainment.  You can see the redeemer statue across the river.

Started walking our way towards Alfama but decided to take a tuk tuk instead.  15E.  Very bumpy ride over the cobbled streets.  Up and up we went, not quite to the top but up high enough to get great views across the Tagus river.  A few nice plazas with restaurants and cafes.  The cathedral is lovely but wasn’t open.  A few shops and a bit of a market with some nice stuff but also a lot of stuff made in China….the first we’ve seen since arriving a month ago.  Had a drink (Sagres Lemon Radler…..very good!) at a café and came across our first really yukky bathroom!   Wandered down the hill into the older part, small narrow cobbled streets, and a couple stairways, with chock-a-block old buildings.

Thought about going to Castelo de Sao Jorge since we were pretty close but was too late to catch sunset, so maybe tomorrow.

About a 15 minute walk took us back down towards Augusta to find a place for dinner.  Went one block over and found a place called Bread 4 You Bistro that was just packed so figured it must be good…..and it was!  Found a table outside.  Had gotten a bit chilly when the wind picked up around 7.  Brenda had the bacalhau (v. good) and I have the prawn rice, which came in a very hot cast iron pot……was delicious, second only to the prawn and monkfish dish in Faro.

10:30 at night and Rua Augusta was rocking!!  Lots of people, lots of music.  Hung out our window for a while watching all the activity.  Great day, except for the car rental drop off.  Thought we’d be “holiday-ed out” after a month but with only our little smattering of Lisbon, I now wish we’d decided on one extra day.  Went to bed with the window open listening to all the fun.

Sun June 30

Great breakfast on the terrace.  Very good.  Nice tray with fresh squeezed orange juice, bread and croissants, meat and cheese, jam etc.  Also a table set up with hard boiled eggs, coffee, toast etc.  Great view of the castle up on the hill and the buildings surrounding the hotel.

To the train station, only a 5 minute walk, and to Sintra today. 5E return.  Took 40 minutes to get there.  Train was packed, we had to stand, so we were a little worried it would be crazy busy but it wasn’t too bad.  Lots of people but also lots room to spread them out.  Cute train station!  Picked up some info from the TI office and armed with the pages from Rick’s book that Brenda had torn out, off we went to catch the 434 bus (6E) local but you can hop on/off at the various stops.

Sintra was where all the royalty and rich would head in the heat of the summer, much cooler for sure.  Beautiful drive up and up.  Very lush here, almost rainforest.  Very pretty treelined and very narrow roads with lots of peek-a-boo views down towards Lisbon.  Got off at Pena Palace and thought we’d walk up to the Moorish palace.  Found the trail and up went went….nada or nothing we could see to know if we were close.  Ran into some others on their way down because they’d found nothing either.  So not sure if the trail was marked wrong or what….decided we didn’t have enough time to venture further.

Started walking down the road…..15 minutes back to town the bus driver said….NOT.  You pretty much have to walk in the cobbled gutter because of all the traffic on the very narrow road, including buses.  A rickshaw driver offered us a ride to the next bus stop for free!  It took us to the Palacio National de Sintra and the main square where all the action was.  Lots of shops and restaurants and lots of stairs!  Some very nice shops with different and unique stuff…..beautiful handcrafted jewelry, scarves and local pottery artisans.  Bought a bracelet and an olive dish…..but no scarf 😦  Really very pretty here, loved how restaurants would set tables outside on the narrowest little streets or alleys leaving just enough room to walk by single file, or the ones that set their tables out skinny little landings where one wrong move backwards in your chair and you be ass over tea kettle down a few steps.  Lots of potted plants.

Lunch was at a cheap place with a big sign offering an 8E menu.  Sun had finally come out for good so got quite hot but with just enough breeze to keep it comfortable.  Lunch was excellent!  I had a cheeseburger with friend onions and friends, Brenda had “prok” sandwisch with cheese, which was really a salami of some sort….very good though on a nice peasant bread.  Glasses of wine to go with it.  Great waitress and a terrific view of the Moorish Castle up on the hill.  Total bill for both of us was 24E.

Walked back along the road admiring the views and having a look at all the vendors set up selling jewelry, leather and ceramics.  Very pretty looking into the valley with views of the beautiful buildings across and down the valley.  I can see why people would come up here to spend their summers…..cool, fresh air….or at least it would have been before all the buses and tour buses, cars and motorcycles.  Definitely much cooler than down in Lisbon.

The info in Rick’s book about the trains back to Lisbon isn’t quite clear……says there are 2 trains an hour, which is true but one goes to Rossio station, which is where we wanted to be, and the other goes to Orientale station which is no where near our hotel or Rua Augusta.  So really it’s one every hour to each station.  Whatever….it worked out because we were at the station early enough to be able to get seats on the train on the way back.  About 15 minutes before the Rossio train arrived masses of people converged on the station.

http://www.sintra-portugal.com/index.html

Quite an interesting train ride in both directions……an ancient viaduct (big and small parts), the demographics of the burbs, mostly apartment buildings along the route, not a lot of industrial or commercial buildings.

We left the train station out the side doors thinking we’d head up towards Bairro Alto and or the medieval ruins at the Carmo convent but was already almost 5 so just ended up doing some last minute shopping instead……even on a Sunday most stores were open til almost 10.  I left Brenda in the Benneton store and went for a drink at one of the restaurants near our hotel.  A nice big, at least 9 or 10 oz, glass of rose for 4E.  People watched and looked at pics until Brenda came along and ordered a glass of red….same thing 4E……best deal in Lisbon!

Changed into long pants and long sleeves and grabbed my jean jacket for this evening.  The wind had picked up and it quickly became a quite chilly.  Toured around more of the streets in this area, the Baixa.  It’s really very nice and only wish we had more time to explore some of the other areas……if you include Sintra in your plans you definitely need at least 3 or 4 days in Lisbon.  I would have loved to have one more day to wander and work our way up to the castle for sunset….supposed to be beautiful.

Out and about sussing out places for dinner…..our last one here so wanted it to be a good one.  Walked to the Santa Justa elevator and thought about going up but was a bit of a line up so didn’t bother and really as impressive as the view might have been at night, I think daytime would have been better.  It’s really quite an amazing and quirky piece of architecture.  You would think it was a rather recent addition to the city but no, it’s been around for over 100 years. It’s saved a lot of people a lot of steps up the hill.  https://lisbonlisboaportugal.com/Baixa-Lisbon/Elevador-Santa-Justa-Lisbon-elevator-lift-guide.html

Many of the restaurants have guys standing outside trying to entice you in, which kind of bugs me and a lot of them have pretty much the same menu so when someone approached us waving a menu we told him we didn’t want to eat at these restaurants….he said but I’m from down that street.  We had a look at his menu and it did look kind of interesting and different from all the others.  The place was packed, so had to wait a few minutes for a table, people coming out said it was excellent.  Busy and excellent sounded good.  Tasca d’Lyon on Rua dos Sapaterios (no website)

Nice table by the window.  Ordered a 1/2 litre of vinho verde and the prawn appie……hah, we said no to the bread and olives (too much, we thought!).  Chatted with the big group at the table next to us…they were from Yuma, Arizona and here with a big JW convention….said this was the best service and food they’d had all week!  The prawns came…..8 huge ones, in an incredible sauce…definitely some peri peri and lots of garlic and olive oil…..called the waiter over and asked for the bread to sop up every last bit of it.  Absolutely delicious!  Brenda had the peri peri chicken which came in a bowl with rice on the side.  I had a little taste, really good with a hint of curry….very different and tasty.  I ordered the bacalhau, which really was the best I’d had the entire trip….done perfectly, tender (no dry bits) and not too salty.  Came with roasted potato and veg (delicious fat green beans).  We also ordered more wine, a whole bottle this time, to celebrate the end to a great trip.  Or bill was 40E.

Back over to Rua Augusta to see what entertainment there was tonight.  Lots happening right down to the praca.  Some really good puppeteers, a few guys dancing, some singers and a couple, her playing the violin and him the cello…..gave them the last of my euro coins.  What a fun place even at 10:30 on a Sunday night!  Stopped in the pastel de nada place but was just too full to manage even one.  Our last night of a great vacation!

Packed up for the morning.  Really regretting now that we didn’t book one more day here.  Would love to have explored more of the streets and up the treelined de Liberdade (the Champs Elysee of Lisbon) with it’s upscale cafes and shops, so close too but just cannot see and do everything with so little time.

Mon July 1 (Happy Canada Day!!)

Up quite early…..no coffee on our tray!!  Luckily I dug around my bag and found an instant decaf, which kind of held be over until breakfast at 8:30.

Another great breakfast on the terrace…..a mix of sun and cloud this morning so was glad I’d brought my sweater up.

After breakfast we had an hour or two to kill until we left for the airport.  Took a last walk around and down to the praca on the waterfront…….was lovely as there weren’t very many people out and about at 9:30 on a Monday morning.  Was surprised that very few shops, other than a couple of cafes weren’t open….not even the ones with table on the street.  Brenda debated for a bit about getting some pastel de nada to bring home but decided that could end up being pretty messy, so no.

Checked out at 10 and walked a block or so to the taxi stand in the praca across from the train station.  After driving up Avenida da liberdade, I was really sorry to say goodbye to Lisbon….oh well, next time!

Air Canada check in took forever, even with doing the online check in last night! Both security and customs and immigration had quite long lines but ran pretty efficiently.  Terminal 1 is quite new and big so lots of walking, thru many, many duty free stores, to the gate.  Flight was almost an hour late leaving so a little concerned about our connection in Montreal.  Got a quick peek of the huge Vasco de Gama bridge as we took off……right out over the Atlantic.  Very bumpy ride all the way.  Served dinner and a snack.

Was a bit worried we wouldn’t make our connection in Montreal because we’d have to go thru customs and immigration but we somehow, bumps and all, managed to make up the time and arrived just a few minutes late.  No issues going thru immigration and directly to our connecting gate without having to go thru security again.  Another bumpy flight just about all the way to Vanc.  Arrived on schedule just before 8

What a great trip!  I absolutely love Portugal and cannot believe it’s taken until now to get there.  Spain was great too and will definitely need to go back……a lot of territory to explore between Andalucía in the south and Barcelona up north.  Roads in both countries were excellent….even the narrow windy ones, all nicely pave, no big potlholes.  People in both countries are very friendly and welcoming (except maybe Olga!)  The food and wine was excellent just about everywhere.  Small markets are exceptional and groceries everywhere, even in the big stores, were very reasonably priced.  And I don’t think I’ve ever drank as much sangria!