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?

Food !

Good but Expensive

It would have cost $15.00 a day to have a refrigerator in our room for the two weeks. We could have ordered one from Sears for what we would have spent. We spoke to someone staying in another hotel that included a fridge. It was full of those little drinks and snacks, but he wanted to put his own food in it, so he took things out to make room – didn't use them, just took them out to make room. He was charged for every item he removed. So, if you come to Las Vegas, you are probably going to be sampling some of the many eateries in the city.

A delicious Hot Dog

There are an amazing number of restaurants in Las Vegas. In general, there are two bits of useful information I can give you about them. The food is excellent. The prices are high.

We really have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. We really have not had a meal that we could complain about. From hot dogs at a fast food place (Nathan's), to authentic Brazilian beef barbecue, at Pampas, the food has always been among the best we have had. We were taken to a Barbecue restaurant while in Santos Brazil, where the beef is seasoned with nothing but course salt and brought to your table on a spit and chunks carved right at your table so we knew what to expect, and the beef at Pampas, was almost as good as the original.

I have been trying, during all my travels to sample calamari from every place I go, looking for a sample that can match the calamari I can get at our local tavern The Mic Mac. I tried two samples here in Las Vegas, and although the Mic Mac still has the best calamari, the Las Vegas varieties were almost as good; cooked properly, and spiced just right.

Even the Buffets were good

Even the little places are good. We went out for lunch one day to a little bar and grill in the Luxor resort called the T & T . This was just a small bar in the main lobby area of the Luxor Casino, but the chicken wing appetizer I ordered was, I believe among the best wings I have ever had; big, meaty, and spicy enough to make them interesting without hurting.

Even the chain restaurants seem to put a bit of extra effort to stay ahead of the competition. I have always wanted to try one of B. B. King's Barbecue restaurants, and we found one in the Mirage Hotel & Casino. We went to listen to a Blues group that was going to be playing, but the NCAA basketball tournament seemed to be more important to most patrons, so we had to wait for the game to finish, but the wait was worth it, and the ribs I had were almost as good as my own, and the music was very entertaining. Regis reports that her chicken burger was also excellent.

There are so many restaurants it is hard to choose. We often based our choices on discounts and coupons we had, but sometimes we found places just by wandering around. One day while looking for tickets to a show, we found that the restaurant we were aiming for was VERY busy, but next door was a very interesting Italian place where we found that I actually had a choice of two pizzas I could eat (Not an easy thing when you are lactose intolerant). This restaurant, Lombardi"s Romagna Mia had friendly staff, and the pizza was excellent.

Great Place downtown at Freemont St. 

Although there are plenty of places to eat right on the strip, there are also some excellent places requiring a bit of a walk away from the neon world of the casinos and resorts. One example is the Alexis Gardens Restaurant in the Alexis Park Hotel. This is a small resort hotel a couple of blocks off the strip that we had an Entertainment Book coupon for. It was definitely worth the walk, the food was excellent, and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was nice to be away from the crowds and lights of the big casinos and enjoy a nice quiet meal. I had a Blackened Texas Redfish that was amazing.

Now you do have to check the reviews of the restaurants, and my famous “Trip Planner” is great for this. She really wanted to try one of Emeril Lagasee's restaurants. We dropped into his Stadium Sports Bar for lunch one day and enjoyed it, so we made reservations at his Seafood Restaurant next door in the MGM Grand. When we read the reviews however we had second thoughts, There was not one good review. Everyone agreed that the service was good, but the food just was not up to standards. Then when we met a gentleman who actually worked at MGM and agreed that we should go elsewhere, we decide to cancel that meal.

$9.00 Beer at a Bar?

So the good news is that you will probably enjoy any meal you have in Las Vegas. We found that everything was delicious, and the service was always friendly and helpful. The bad news is that if you eat on the strip it is going to be expensive. Main courses can be as high as $60 to $70 at most “good” restaurants in the casinos on the strip. Oh, BTW, you may have to pay extra for sides. Even when you find a place with decent prices on the food, don't be surprised by the price of the things you don't think about. Often the juice or coffee to go with your bargain breakfast will cost a couple of dollars more than you are used to. Don't expect to get a beer for under $7.00 at most casino bars or eateries unless you have a “Big Spender” card. I paid as much as $9.00 for a beer at one place. Don't expect to always see the prices either. If the beer prices are not on the menu, ask, or you may be surprised when the bill comes. Many restaurants and bars have “Happy Hours”, where prices on food and drinks are much better, but a beer will still usually cost you $5.00.

So when in Las Vegas, expect to eat very well. You can get anything you want, and it will probably be very good, but if you eat on the strip, expect to take a hit on the credit card.

Las Vegas - The Slow Tour

 

Tourists in Las Vegas

The last time we were in Las Vegas we did the entire “strip” in a couple of hours, seeing as much as we could in a very short time. This time we have 10 days to explore, so we can go slower. There are approximately 30 casinos and resorts within walking distance of our hotel, and today we managed to see exactly three. Oh, for those who do not know us; this was without putting $1.00 into any gambling. The slow tour of Las Vegas!

If you've been here you know this, but the BIG casinos are not big, they are HUGE, sometimes taking up entire city blocks. We decided to visit four of them today and take our time and really explore them to see what they had to offer. We started after breakfast (10:00) and continued until 5:00 when we came back to watch the NASCAR Parade of Haulers (Y'all know what that is . . right?), and we only managed to get through three casinos. Each Casino or resort is based on a theme, but ultimately they are all the same. There is a large central casino area, which in every case is on the main floor and in the centre of the complex. Around the casino are various restaurants and bars. Every casino has a huge attached hotel complex, sometimes two, and normally have a very complex and exotic swimming pool area. The bigger resorts also include a slightly separate shopping area. Some are massive malls, some just host a couple of outlets. The shopping is usually as far away from the casino as possible.

Mandalay Bay Resort

A note on the shopping areas. Don't look for any bargains; all extreme high end clothing, jewelry shops, shoes and purses and other high end shops; no sales, no “Outlet” shops. I think this is carefully thought out. The spouse who is gambling and loosing lots of money starts to annoy the “Non-gambling” spouse who goes shopping feeling entitled to spend an equal amount of “guilt free” money – no need of discount shops here! As well, the casinos and shops are well separated so that neither spouse can easily check on how much money is exiting the wallets and purses until it is TOO late.

We started at the massive Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort. The theme here is a Caribbean Island Resort. It has over 3300 hotel rooms and 135,000 sq ft of gaming space. It also has an 11 acre pool area and a 100,000 sq ft ballroom. This resort is at the extreme end of the actual “Strip” and is actually pretty quiet, because it does not get the huge walk-by crowds constantly streaming by the rest of the strip. To compensate for its remote location, there is a fast efficient elevated tram connecting it to two other resorts closer to the main strip. Although opened in 1999, this resort was updated and renovated in 2003, and looks and feels crisp and new. There is a very large shopping centre attached, as well as a huge convention centre. From outside the entire resort glistens in gold from actual gold leaf on every window. This resort hosts a huge shark aquarium where you can actually “Swim with the sharks”. I suspect the sharks call this “feeding time”.

The Luxor Casino & Resort

Next we took the tram to the Luxor, and big resort shaped like a pyramid and named after a city in Egypt. It is the second largest resort in Las Vegas with over 4000 hotel rooms and 120,000 sq ft gaming area. It also has the Luxor Sky Beam, the strongest beam of light in the world with 42.3 billion candlepower. Another interesting feature of this resort is 440 suite rooms on the inside slope of the pyramid walls. Although bigger, this resort does not seem a spectacular as the Mandalay Bay, but it has one of the best buffet restaurants in the city, and is actually a good deal in a city where few bargains exist especially in eating.

Excalibur Casino

Our last stop of the day was the Excalibur, with almost 4,000 rooms and 100,000 sq ft gaming area. As the name suggests this resort is based on a Medieval theme, and is designed to look like a massive castle. Although not actually as big, the casino area of the Excalibur seemed the largest to us. This is the last resort on the Mandalay Bay Tram system. This resort also has a huge buffet similar to the excellent one at the Luxor. This was the only resort that I actually got lost in, and we exited the wrong side and had to turn around and find the other end – not an easy task in these massive complexes.

Well, three down, only 27 to go.

Las Vegas in 90 Minutes

Las Vegas

We are visiting lots of places on this trip, but ultimately our goal, and purpose is to visit my sister in British Columbia and attend her son’s wedding. As a result we are driving through many places that could be vacation destination on their own. Las Vegas, Nevada is an example, we arrived at about 2:00 pm, but planned to leave for Death Valley in the morning. We had to see Las Vegas in one evening.

The campground staff recommended, we get a 24 hour ticket for the “Deuce”, a double decker bus that we could use all evening and could hop off and on whenever we wanted. While waiting for the bus, we struck up a conversation with another visitor who had already been using the bus, and she suggested some good places to visit. She said that most of the big casinos allowed anyone to just wander the premises. Most of them have some big attraction to lure prospective gamblers in, and they are usually free.

Tourists

We discovered that the campground really was, as advertised, “within walking distance” of the famous “Las Vegas Strip”, and in fact it was close to some of the biggest casinos. We were just a couple of blocks from Caesar’s Palace, the Ballagio Casino, as well as two or three other well known casinos The campground itself is attached to the Circus Circus Casino, which is itself a huge one.

We hopped off the bus at Caesar’s Palace, and were presented with Las Vegas in all her excessive, opulent, glory. You really just had to pause a moment at take it all in. These casinos are absolutely huge. You can wander around them for hours. They have entire shopping malls under their roofs, and you have at least ten choices of eatery, everything from VERY high end restaurants, to fast food chains. You can get your hair cut, your nails done, your entire body massaged, and pretty much anything else you might want. Yes, I really think you could get “anything” without leaving the casino complex. The reminded me of a cruise ship only on a much bigger scale with much more emphasis on the casino aspect.

Las Vegas Lake?

We wandered through Caesar’s Palace, the Bellagio, and Circus Circus, and I think this gave us a pretty good idea of Las Vegas. Circus Circus had a carnival, circus theme, complete with a huge indoor amusement park with roller coaster, flume ride and kiddie merry-go-round, a circus big top, and all the expected “carny” games and booths. Regis, Sharon, and I went here after dark, and they said they were glad I was there to lead them back to the RV, because if they were alone they would have still been wearily wandering around this morning trying to find their way home.

I know that given time to really explore Las Vegas, you would discover that it is more than just huge opulent casinos (or maybe not), and I’d like to come back, stay at one of the hotel/casino complexes and see more of “The City that never sleeps” but I think our little one evening visit gave us a pretty good slice of this city.