Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The Food



Regis and I like cooking, so when we travel we like to rent apartments that have decent kitchen facilities so we can find local markets, buy local food and experiment with the local cuisine. Here in Cascais, we were only staying for a week, so were not that concerned with the cooking. Good thing, because the kitchen is the size of a closet. It does have a bar fridge, a washer, a microwave, a toaster, a kettle and a little two burner stove sitting on the counter, but not really a good kitchen to do much cooking. We cooked breakfast, made soup and sandwiches, but mostly we ate in the many local restaurants.

Waiting for our first meal in Portugal
The food we have experienced has been amazing. We have yet to have a bad meal. During our travels we have learned some things about eating in restaurants. For example we have learned that if the cafe has to hire some fellow to go out on the sidewalk to entice people into the door, it is probably not that good. In contrast if you look inside and the place is full and you cannot understand a word of the chatter going on, it is probably 'local-approved' and the food will be good authentic local cuisine. Also, don't always take the recommendation of your host; the spot suggested by him was probably the least exciting place we ate.
Broad Beans & Chorizo, Octopus and Prawns

On the first day we arrived the fellow who rented us the apartment suggested a place downtown and although it was good, it was not especially exciting. The next day we found ourselves exploring the fort converted to hotel and art sector. There was a little cafe on one side of the central courtyard, and their menu sounded very interesting. We ordered three appetizers, broad beans & chorizo, Octopus salad and prawns. An excellent meal! The next day we actually did our research and decided on two restaurants that sounded good but both were closed, so we chose a random little spot on a side street downtown and I had an amazing grilled bream (One of my favourite fish), and Regis had a wonderful lasagna.

A little spot on a side street
We ate at a little spot in Estoril while waiting for the casino to open and had a delicious Italian style pizza. On the way home that day we stopped at a spot down in the local marina and had more Italian; also delicious. You have already read about our adventure with “Fine” dining and bike riding the next day, and yesterday we went back to one of the restaurants that was closed previously. This spot was highly recommended by a good friend who had visited Cascais earlier, but unfortunately it remained closed and we were unable to translate the hand written note on the door explaining why and when it would reopen. Instead we went to a spot that was highly rated on Tripadvisor, a tiny little wine
Porsche Parking . . where's the bike rack?
bar and restaurant that only sat about twenty people. As we entered the front door we were greeted by a full room and a cacophony of Portuguese; a good sign, remember. Fortunately it was a lovely day and there were two little tables outside under a tree, and one was free. We joined a couple from Belgium under the tree and left the locals inside. The menu was amazing and I was told that they had two specials today featuring wild boar or octopus; OMG what to choose. I finally decided to try the wild boar steak and Regis ordered a seafood stew, but the appetizer menu had so many interesting items I decided to splurge and ordered a local wild game sausage. I was expecting a sausage but what arrived was a perfectly cooked fried egg surrounded by sausage slices, broccoli and home-made potato crisps. The appetizer was delicious and our mains were equally good. Then to top it all off, the owner/chef came out and apologized for the meal taking so long. We hadn't even noticed . . .

And we still have one more day here in Cascais . . . where to eat today?
Wild Game Sausage

A Table under a Tree

Broccoli & Anchovy Spaghetti

Monday, July 29, 2019

A Michelin Bike Ride

Beautiful Scenery

After walking the coastal road on our first day in Cascais, and seeing the lovely bike lanes all along the way, we decided to rent bikes and pedal up the coast today. The fellow who looks after the apartment also rents bikes for a very reasonable price, so we picked up two good bikes and took off for the day.

Riding bikes along the coastal road is great, the bike lanes are clearly marked and although you sometimes have share with walkers (They do have their own sidewalk . . .), it makes for an easy worry free ride. Not so much in town . . . . narrow streets, one way streets, pedestrians, etc, make riding in the town a bit more challenging, but we only had to get from the rental place to the coast and we made it without incident.
Great Views on the ride


Riding the coast really was lovely. The bike lanes are convenient and the terrain was level. Once you get out of town, there are actually not a lot of places to stop. The scenery is spectacular and we covered over 16 km in total. I did stop once to look at an oddly shaped wall in the middle of a field on top of a cliff. The wall was protecting people from falling down a hole into a cave which was washed with waves from the ocean. Very deep, so the wall was a good idea.

It was lunchtime about 7 km out, so we decided to have lunch and turn around. There were a few
Michelin Signs
Regis' Crab
restaurants in a cluster at this spot. One was closed (Portuguese Mondays), another only served to hotel guests, but another had a nice “Open” sign on the door along with MANY Michelin stickers. There were no Michelin Stars, just
“Recommendations”, but this should have given me pause. We walked in in our shorts and T-shirts, and while being looked up and down were asked if we had “Reservations”. This was in a large restaurant with perhaps six people seated in one section. We replied to the negative and asked if we could have lunch. We were led way across the restaurant to a table well away from the “Real” guests. The menu was a shock with one item, “Lagostins” (That's crawfish in English) at 220 euro a Kg. When the waiter came over and we pointed out a couple of items on the menu, he suggested that clients usually chose their meal from a basket of fresh catch that would be brought to your table for you to choose. No thanks, I did not want to accidentally choose one of those 220 euro per kg of crayfish. We insisted that the items we chose from the menu were adequate.
Biking Home!


Now once they realized that we actually did want lunch and we were not going to be intimated by attitude, we got along famously. I ordered a squid appetizer, cooked in butter with garlic, and a tenderloin sandwich, and Regis ordered a crab appetizer. The Squid was cooked perfectly, and I am an expert on squid, and Regis' crab was delicious (And she commented that it was the first time she actually got enough bread to spread the carb on). All in all it was a great lunch! It was obviously an up-scale place and we ended up with two servers waiting on us, and they were very attentive but by the time we were finished we were joking and laughing together. His phone buzzed in his apron and he was very embarrassed, but I just brushed it off. He asked me if I wanted another beer and I told him I was biking and did not want to drink and drive. Then when he took my VISA for the bill, he noticed my name. “Oh!” he exclaimed, “Arthur . .this is my son's name too!”.

Leaving the restaurant feeling satisfied, and perhaps a bit more upper-class, we remounted our trusty bikes and heads held high biked home.

Walking To Estoril

Walking the malecon

One of the things I like to do when I travel is look for a good book that was written about the place I am visiting. I do not mean a tourist guide book; I look for a novel that is set in the location. Here is Cascais, we walked into the Tourist information centre and discovered a book in a display on one wall. It was called “Estoril”, which is the name of the town two stops down the train line we took coming here. I bought the book and started reading it. Actually written by a Croatian who lives in Lisbon it is well written and very interesting.

After a couple of days exploring Cascais, we looked at the map and realized that Estoril was easily within walking distance from Cascais. Like Cascais, Estoril is a coastal town, so walking there would be a nice walk along the coast. Friends who had visited here earlier also suggested this walk, so we knew it was a good one.

Actually getting out of Cascais was the only problem, as the waterfront areas are busy and crowded, but a few twists and turns put us on a beautiful waterfront Malecon (A Spanish word for waterfront stone sidewalk) that ran all the way from Cascais to Estoril.

This section of the coast features the lovely beaches that our previous walk lacked, and so this area
Lots of beaches
was busy and packed with sunbathers and swimmers enjoying the sunshine and beautiful warm weather here. There would be a beach packed with umbrellas and people then a short section of rocky coastline followed by another lovely beach. Of course each beach area was also well serviced by little cafes and tourist shops. The other advantage of this walk was that the train line ran alongside the beach so if the route was too long or Regis felt she was stretching her walking limit she could hop on the train. Unfortunately this did not work so well. Half way to Estoril she decided to let me go on walking and she would hop on the train and we would meet up in Estoril. Turns out you need exact change at the little in-between stops and although a kind local offered to give her the extra pennies she required, she also pointed down the line to the Estoril train stop, already in sight and said “You do not need the train, it is a short walk.” Meanwhile I had arrived in Estoril and was waiting by the exit from the train stop when Regis came walking around the corner.

Seriously . . . . 
In Estoril we walked up to visit the casino. We were told that it was the BIGGEST in Europe and I had read about it in my “Estoril” book so I knew it was built in the 30's. We were expecting an elegant old building, but if this casino was built in the 30's, they have obviously renovated it extensively since, because what greeted us at the top of the road was a huge ugly square chrome building. And it was not very big, but I guess visiting Las Vegas sort of gives you a slanted view of casinos.

Walking up to the Casino however I was surprised to find the large Hotel Palacio Estoril proudly standing beside the park we were walking through. This is the Hotel featured prominently in the book I was reading. I assumed it was a fictional location but here it was. Later back at our apartment while reading a guide book to Cascais, I found a reference to a famous spy with the codename Tricycle, who was also featured in the book. So my disappointment in the casino was overshadowed by finding all these references to the book
The Hotel Palacio
“Estoril”.

And now armed with correct sufficient change in her purse, Regis was able to catch the train back to Cascais . . . . . but still over 10 km wear on her sneakers . . . .









A Tree decorated with electronics - Art?


Sunday, July 28, 2019

A lesson in Portuguese Architecture

Beautiful Building in a Beautiful Setting

We visited two museums here in Cascais which demonstrated some of the beautiful design and artwork used in building ordinary houses for people to live in. One was the Casa De Santa Maria which was included in a visit to the lighthouse museum, and the other was the Museu Condes de Castro Guimaraes. The second one we came upon while out for a walk the first day here. It was such a beautiful building in a spectacular setting, that when we discovered it was a museum, we used our senior discount and explored the house for a total of 4Є. The Casa de Santa Maria was across the road and on the same little inlet from the ocean.
Casa de Santa Maria

Both of these houses date from the early 20th century and feature strongly the typical Portuguese use of painted ceramic tiles both inside and out. We enjoyed this style when we visited Olhao a few years ago where we discovered so many of the houses in the old part of town were covered in coloured tiles rather than shingles or siding. Olhao was a simple fishing town so the style there was simple and functional, where here these houses were obviously designed and built for wealthy folk and display more elaborate design. In Olhao the tiles were use to cover the entire sides of the houses where here they seem to be used to decorate and enhance the facade of the houses. I would say that they were also used for practical purposes as well, as in the Casa de Santa Maria, the entire basement was tiled from floor to ceiling. The basement in this house was used as the kitchen and work area for staff, so although beautiful, the tiled walls would have been easy to clean, and considering that they remain bright and clean 100 years later, no painting to do ever, but hopefully you never get tired of the design.
This was a B & B Downtown

The other feature of these houses are the beautiful arches and curves. Doors are often framed in arched stone and decorated with coloured tiles, as are the windows. Even the ceilings are often works of art with decorated wood or tile.

We really enjoyed visiting these two beautiful houses turned museums so I am sharing some of the many photos I took while exploring.




Beautiful Tiled Fireplace in Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Arched Doorways in Condes de Castro Guimaraes

The Library at Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Doorway Detail at Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Beautiful Doorway and Stairway in Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Tiled walls Wood Ceiling & Arched Windows in Casa de Santa Maria

Stairway at Casa de Santa Maria

Window Details at Casa de Santa Maria

Arches & Window Detail at Casa de Santa Maria

The Courtyard at Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Window at Condes de Castro Guimaraes

Another beautiful house downtown

Saturday, July 27, 2019

The Cliffs on Cascais

Room for everyone

The train from Lisbon to Cascais was crowded, so crowded that at one stop people could not get on our car. Many of the people on the train were carrying coolers, beach chairs and umbrellas, and as we travelled along the coast many got off at stops along the way. I figured they were making day trips to the many beaches along this strip of the Portuguese coast. Cascais also has beaches but they are usually framed by steep rocky cliffs.

Today we left the apartment and rather than going down to the historic town centre, we turned right and walked out to the coast. We found a spectacular visitor friendly area. There is a road that meanders up the coast, and running beside it is a nice two way bike lane and a sidewalk. There were actually more bicycles on the route today than cars, and many people out walking. The route is flat and an easy walk or bike. We may rent bikes and explore further up the coast on another day.
The spectacular cliffs at Cascais


The views all along are spectacular. There are no beaches here, just jagged black stone cliffs. In places there are large fissures in the rock bringing the waves crashing in closer, sometimes actually under the roadways through curved bridges. The sidewalk is separated from the cliff edge by a short stone wall, but you can see where many visitors are tempted to climb over the wall to get a view from the cliff edge, ignoring the “Unstable Cliff” signs. I did climb over the wall to take a picture at a spot that looked pretty safe, and while composing the shot, I noticed a pin and carabiner in the rock. I then noticed that a rope attached was moving and suddenly a helmeted head came into view; a rock climber. I guess those cliffs are not actually so unstable. Fortunately
An unexpected arrival
strategically positioned along the route are designated view points where you can get closer to the action. At one point the rocks sloped gently down towards the water and you could get close enough to watch the water thunder into a cavity and blow mist up through a hole in the rock. If you stood close enough you would get misted every time a wave crashed. It was a warm day, but I was not hot enough to be tempted by this natural cooling spray.

On one of these cliffs overlooking the harbour to the town of Cascais there was a large fort built at one time obviously to protect the harbour from attack. Instead of restoring this fort, and making it a park, it has been turned into a hotel. Now you might say “How unfortunate!”, but in fact it seemed to work very well. The hotel has retained all of the old fortress outer walls and
The old and the new
the arched entry. They have converted some of the original inner fort buildings to Hotel use and added many modern hotel buildings to the site, but the modern sections do not reach much above the old walls, so the effect is quite nice. In addition, the fort courtyard has been converted to an art centre with galleries and studios all around. There were many large art installations throughout the complex, so the mixture of the old and new made for an interesting visit.

We also found a great restaurant among the art galleries. Surprisingly it was quite reasonable and unlike the many busy, noisy cafes downtown this one was quiet and peaceful, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of Portuguese food.

All in all, it was a great day, although when Regis checked her fitbit we had walked 12 km and she is supposed to limit her walks to 3 km.
A cooling mist from the blowhole

Beat you to the top!

Rugged Rocky Coastline



Friday, July 26, 2019

Back To Portugal


Cascais Street Scene

Regis turned sixty five this year. Rather than being upset about “growing old”, she is taking a positive approach and is getting a big charge out of being able to get “senior's discount” on stuff. For this major milestone birthday, she wanted to do something special and decided to take the children and “their's” on a European vacation. Originally the plan was to go to Croatia, but the logistics of arranging for flights from people scattered across Canada proved difficult and very expensive to this location. Instead, after consulting with the flight guru Ben (Ryan's partner), it was decided that going back to Portugal was a more reasonable alternative. Our last trip to Portugal was with my sister Linda and her husband Pete, and we spent a month on the Algarve, so on this adventure we decided to explore the western coast around Lisbon and Porto.
Grilled Chicken, Portuguese Style

Now you know that I normally have very little to do with the planning of these trips as I employ a very effective travel planner, my wife Regis. She loves planning trips and spends months planning, checking and replanning vacations. Although she does an amazing job, the months and months of research and work that goes into her planning was driving me crazy – to the point that I was not looking forward to travel at all by the time we were actually ready to depart. When she said she wanted to organize this family travel adventure I said I was fine with it on the condition that I be left out of the loop completely. And I meant COMPLETELY; I did not want to be consulted at all, I had no opinions, no input, no consultations and most importantly no complaints! A bit silly (The no complaints thing), since she does such an amazing job planning that I never have anything to complain about and always enjoy the places we visit. This worked well for me. I knew that discussions, diagrams, spreadsheets, and phone calls were going on behind my back organizing the trip, but I knew nothing about where exactly we were going or what our itinerary was.
Beautiful B & B (We did not stay here)

And now I am in the town of Cascias on the Atlantic coast of Portugal in a lovely little apartment not far from the historic town centre. The flight over was smooth and uneventful, we found the Metro stop at the Lisbon airport without difficulty, got a Portuguese phone SIM, got on the train up to coast to Cascais, and sampled some delicious Portuguese food already. No problems, beautiful warm weather, and no complaints. Look for posts updating you on our adventures over the next couple of weeks. I wonder how long we are here for?


The Beach at Cascais

Cascais Town Square