30th June to 1st July - "I'm lost!!"

With the wind howling for the next couple of days the plan was to stay in Cascais the first day, clean the boat and explore the town and then visit Lisbon on the second day.  A very easy proposition, as there is a regular train service from Cascais to Lisbon.

The streets of Cascais

Cascais is a very beautiful small town and it is no surprise that is has some of the most expensive real estate in Portugal as it is where many wealthy Lisboetas have property.  The town has narrow streets that are paved in the Portuguese style with black and white cobbles laid out in a marine themed pattern and many of its buildings are adorned with decorative Portuguese tiles.  The streets are lined with restaurants and shops and although there are plenty of tourists, it has a much more up-market, old-fashioned feel than the tourist towns of the Algarve.  Ian Fleming lived in the adjoining town of Estoril in the 1960s and its casino was the inspiration for Casino Royal.

Greg, Emma and I spent the rest of the day exploring Cascais and walking the boardwalk along the waterfront to Estoril.  Richard said he was going birdwatching and disappeared off.  Lunch was at a restaurant on the boardwalk, I ordered grilled swordfish but when it came the dish was nothing like any swordfish I had had before.  It turned out that I had ordered Black Scabbard fish, a delicacy of Madeira where it is also known as swordfish.

Dinner with Declan

In the evening I met up with a friend Declan, who I knew from my time in San Francisco and then China.  Declan had moved Cascais four years ago and was enjoying living there with his wife Anna.  We went to a local restaurant Declan knew which was famous for its wines (the owner having previously owned a wine bar in Lisbon).  He recommended a selection of excellent wines by the glass to accompany our superb meal which included the local speciality of duck rice.  It was great to see Declan again and as Emma and I are determined to come back, we will hopefully be able to also meet up with Anna in the future; she was at a concert that evening.

Duck Rice

When I returned to the boat the weather was the windiest we had seen, with gusts of up to 35 knots. Richard had also returned and it turned out he had not gone to birdwatching but had visited Lisbon instead, not wanting to come with us the following day.

I had been to Lisbon when we stopped there on the way to the Med in 2008 and I remembered that I had been surprised at what a majestic and attractive city it is.  Emma and Greg had not been before.  In the end, Emma and I went in first and Greg followed a bit later after a lie in.   The local train service is excellent and not difficult to use (for some at least) because both Lisbon and Cascais are at the end of the line.  With Lisbon being a small local station near the centre of town.

It was a very hot day with temperatures reaching 35 degrees in the shade and so, rather than walking about, we had decided to do some Hop-on Hop-off bus tours, which would give a good orientation of the city.  In the morning, Emma and I did the “modern city” tour which went up to the newly developed site of Expo 1998 with its interesting modern architecture, famous aquarium and mainline railway station. 

Hop-on Hop-off bus tour

Foolishly, we had failed to take either water or a hat and so were rather frazzled by the end of the tour and relieved to get into some shade for lunch.

Shady street for lunch

In the afternoon, we did the Belem tour of the older part of the city and riverfront with its museums and famous monastery.  This time we were fully equipped with hats and water.

The Statue of the Explorers

Jeronimos Monastery in Belem where the pastel de nata was invented.  The monks used egg whites to clean their vestments and with the many yolks left over they created the famous custard tart.

Greg took a slightly different approach to his sightseeing.  Having arrived in Lisbon he walked around several of the districts taking in such sights as Lisbon’s oldest brothel.  

Lisbon's oldest brothel

He then thought he would go on the modern bus tour and hop off at the furthest point to visit the aquarium. Unfortunately, he forgot to get off and, after two hours, ended up back where he started.  Greg then took a taxi the 12km back to the aquarium and after spending some time looking at fish decided to get the train back to Cascais.

Lisbon tram

Lisbon Street

It was not long after this point that I received a text message from Greg saying “I’m lost!!”  It turned out that he had gone to the mainline station near the aquarium to get a train, and not the station where the trains actually go from.  He then chose to get on a random train heading to Madrid or Paris in the vain hope that it would pass by Cascais, which of course it didn’t.  Eventually Greg realised his mistake and after another series of train and taxi journeys he finally made it back to the boat at about 8pm.

This was not as late as Richard though, who had spent the whole day bird watching in the searing heat without water, hat or suntan lotion…..