Apr 24: Portugal: 26-2 Lisbon to Peniche

Friday 26 April

Tried to have breakfast in the historic quarter but too busy even before 10 am. Had breakfast by the sea in Colares.

Walk round Cascais.

Weather was a lot cooler 

Lisbon

Small - very small studio apartment - home for the next 5 days. Found the local Lidl and did some food shopping - easier to carry the bags rather than trying to move the car again.

Short walk in the evening down to the 25 April bridge - another iron double decker.

Walked through a very dodgy underpass which seemed to be home to rough sleepers lots of police around too. Shame as there was a nice marina on the other side.

Saturday 27 April

Lisbon

We decided to walk to the Belém tower - about an hour away. Didn't look very promising when it started raining en route but it cleared up.

Tsunami warning at the side of the Tagus river.

Stonework commemorating Portuguese explorers. Very impressive.

Belém tower.

Monasteiro dos Jeronimos.

Didn't go into the monastery - huge queues as it was weekend.

I went to the Contemporary Art Museum 

Mike went to the Maritime museum.

Old yellow tram crossing under the 25th of May bridge.

Dock area - fish for lunch.

Sunday 28 April

Lisbon

Took the tram to the old Town area and set off for a walk.

Cathedral was close (well it was Sunday!).

Nice tapas lunch.

Walked further up the hill and saw some of the old trams and some lovely view points. 

Walked past the castle - huge queues. Funny to see an old urinal - still in use 🤣

Castle church.

Took the funicular. Lovely view. 

Another church on the way back down.

Lots of beautiful plazas all round the city.

Tram back to the accommodation. 7 miles walked. 9 yesterday. Both v tired but another great day!

Monday 29 April

Lisbon

Took the Metro back to Belém to visit the Monesteir dos Jeronimos that we hadn't seen inside yesterday due to the long queues 

Closed Mondays 🙄

Went to the cake shop instead. Full of tourists so we didn't stay.

Took the tram back to the old town and just wandered.

Aptly named Pink Street.

Oldest bookshop in the world - 17 something.

Cathedral.

Meal.

More churches. 

Tuesday 30 April

Rain. But it soon stopped and was still warm.

Over the 25 May bridge - big Jesus on the other side. Need to Google him.

Drove to Setubal to have a look round but ended up in the Auchan hypermarket buying Ginja and port. 

When we came out it had rained heavily so we'd missed nothing - decided to drive straight to Évora.

Évora

More rain on and off. Found our accommodation - an old whitewashed house right in the middle of the little cobbled streets inside the city walls. 

Long, dark and thin, one room wide - it reminded me of the village houses of older relatives of Spanish friends from the 1970s. In fact it probably hasn't seen any renovations from then - but it was ok.

Had a meal and went for a short walk when the rain stopped.

City walls.

Aquaduct - just outside the city walls. 

Roman temple of Diana built first century AD. The portico survived the earthquake of 1755 which laid bare most of the Lisbon area.

This also explained all the tsunami signs around Lisbon. After the 1755 earthquake - which killed around one third of the population - a tsunami followed. This killed tens of thousands more people.

There have been two others tsunamis in the area.

Evening sunshine on the cathedral.

Wednesday 1 May 

Évora

Both very tired with so much walking in Lisbon so we decided to stay within the confines of the city walls - a lot to see anyway.

Set off to walk to the Chapel of Bones.

Quick look round the market.

Short, sharp rain showers so retreated to a cake shop for a late breakfast of local cake delicacies - we tried four of them.. 🤣😋

Slow wander to the cathedral. Nice between the short showers but quite chilly out of the sun.

Mike went up to the cathedral roof terrace. I didn't.. 😁

Very excited when I saw 'migas' on a menu - literally breadcrumbs in Spanish. It is a peasant meal in some areas made from stale bread and different areas cook them in different ways. I love them.

So Mike had them with pork. 

Turns out I do not like Portuguese migas. They make them into some sort of bread pudding - a long, beige, mushy, only slightly spiced lump. With a slice of orange on top. Not pleasant - but still peasant food I would assume. And very popular around here.

 

But we had cakes - enjoyed them so much for breakfast that we bought more.. 😋

Thursday 2 May 

Petrol stop then back on the toll roads. 

Went over the Vasco de Gama bridge (12.8km long) near Lisbon - you could see the 25 April bridge in the distance.

It rises in the middle and is high enough for ships to pass underneath.

Peniche

170 miles

Arrived quite early so went to get a bit of shopping - and missed another vicious shower!

Meal at the resort - migas on the menu. Different to those in Evora - not as pudding like and quite tasty but still not Spanish.

Right on the coast in a chalet bungalow. Nice to have a window after no proper or small ones in the last couple of places. 

Had a visitor as we moved in.

Short walk.

Evening entertainment was watching a couple of cyclists arrive late and put their tent up in 15 minutes flat!