Another week full of fun and explorations.
Monday we took the train out to the tony beach community that is Cascais.
We wandered around the town, taking in the town beach, the marina, and the big fort. We walked through the Parque Marechal Carmona, where we found the pond full of turtles (all the way down?), ducks, and chickens, and the occasional peacock.
We walked out to the Boca do Inferno, a hole in the cliff by the ocean. Back by the park again where a rooster was giving one couple near us a piece of his mind. Then a beer at a kiosk for the Sintra-based craft brewery before taking the train back home. We discovered that not all trains stop in Belém, so we grabbed dinner at the very nice, informal Food Crave restaurant before walking home.
After a quiet Tuesday at home, on Wednesday we walked in the heat across Lisbon toward the Vasco de Gama shopping center to pick up a few essentials, including a real pepper mill.
Thursday was another quiet day at home (except for a massage for Ben). We seem to be settling in to a day on, day off pattern here.
Friday we walked out past the Torre Belém to Algés, where we hoped to find cold cuts without nitrates and nitrites, but the selection was very limited. Apparently that trend has not yet hit Portugal, which some later research confirmed. We bought out all they had, and came back home by tram.
Saturday our landlord had told us that the next two weekends are featuring “open gardens” across Lisbon, where there are no entry fees. We went up to the Palácio Fronteira, which indeed has spectacular gardens, but also amazing tile work, sculptures, and facades made of ceramics and shells. Some of the artwork is quite risqué, with a woman statue/fountain “milking” her own breasts, odd two-tailed mermen and mermaids “playing” with each other. In addition there were tile facings depicting the months, signs of the zodiac, planets, stars, and assorted other themes. All within the wall of this palace garden with many beautiful plantings and rare trees.
After the palace we walked over to the proper end of the aqueduct to walk across and back. It’s pretty impressive, opening in 1746. It survived the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 — amazing. The views from the aqueduct are also very impressive.
Back home again for a short nap, then off to dinner at Café Social, run by a Lebanese fellow who lives up to his café’s name. The food is also excellent.
Sunday was another quiet day, catching up on emails and assorted projects including a run to the supermarket and learning about Portuguese cheeses and meats from webinars.
As usual this week we saw plenty of beautiful flora, deserving of another solo album.
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