Well, we did it! We made it to Portugal (mainland that is -
as the Azores are Portuguese owned). Our 700-mile sail from Sao Miguel
which we thought would take us 7 days was covered in only 5 1/2. This last leg of our over 3000-mile Atlantic crossing journey was our
smoothest yet. We had great weather and wind the entire trip and
made it in without any hitches. 
Our first stop in Portugal was the adorable town of Cascais. This town was once the summer vacation spot for the Portuguese royalty so we thought it apropos for us to visit. Everything about the town was wonderful! We spent a week there exploring the town and renting bikes so we could ride the designated path along the coastline. It was great to have a path to ride on and the scenery was perfect. We took so many pictures that we thought adding links to show more would work. Click the links if you want to see the rest of the pictures.
The next day we took a train back to Lisbon and then caught another onto Sintra. Sintra was the official home of the Portuguese royalty. While there is no longer Portuguese royalty, the town seems to still have that feel. The descriptions we’d read about Sintra described it as fairytale like and we agree. We again walked several miles -it was almost 5K each way just up to the Moorish castle – so we rewarded ourselves with a great meal at the only Indian restaurant in town. As with most places, it’s practically impossible to accurately capture with pictures but we did get some fun pictures. Again, a link for more pictures.
We then decided that it was
time to continue south. We left Cascais and had a perfect day sail
down to the town of Sines –birthplace of Vasco de Gama. Sines used
to be the largest fishing village in Portugal and continues to have a great
fishing community but also a large industrial shipping area just outside of
town. We liked both because it was fun to watch the boats and the
huge ships come and go. The town itself is small but sweet and had
really good restaurants, a fabulous brewery and several grocery stores within
an easy(ish) walk. Since we were able to get a slip in the marina at
a really reasonable rate, we decided to stay a little longer, rent a car and
see more of Portugal. While we were in Sao Miguel, we met a young
man named Nelson at the pineapple plantation who took the time to make us a
list of some of his favorite Portuguese cities. So, we took out the
list and started planning
First, we drove down to the little town of Porto Covo. This is the beach town closest to Sines and while Sines has a small beach, Porto Covo has what seems to be miles of beaches all full of people. The little town itself was also very quaint and we enjoyed a picnic in the town’s center.
From Porto Covo, we chose the closest town on Nelson’s list which was Beja – the Portuguese word for kiss. Beja was another adorable town with beautiful old buildings and a wonderful castle that we were allowed to tour. The drive was interesting with the cork and olive farms all along the way. More pictures in this link.
Beja
Sapateiro
Winery https://photos.app.goo.gl/SNcebdm7P3toP6t86
We left the winery and headed to Coimbra - the next city on the list. Coimbra is the home to Nelson’s Alma matter University de Coimbra the oldest university in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world dating back to 1290. Another absolutely adorable city full of gorgeous building, rivers, and great food. We even found a chocolate factory next door to a place selling Port by the glass! Again, here’s the link with more pictures.
Next and not far from Coimbra lies the town of Coinbriga. This is home to one the most intact Roman ruins in
Portugal. The mosaic tile floors, the aqueduct system and pillars were all
fascinating. It’s known that there is much more of this old city yet to be
unearthed but they are waiting to make sure that they can preserve it correctly
before they excavate. Again, a link with more pictures.
We then drove to the nearby
city of Carrasqueira. This is a
picturesque little fishing village full of traditional little boats. Unfortunately, we got there at low tide but
it was still cute to see.
We caught the ferry over to
the city Setubal. Setubal is
again – I know I sound like a broken record but the cities are all so – adorable. We
walked around town, found a great pizza parlor. After seeing this adorable
statue we decided next time to find some fried cuttlefish which we discovered
is the local dish. We also toured the local castle with a great view of
the ocean. More pictures:
Evora
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SERMCq4n44ZpsbGF9
Finally, back on the boat, we decided that we needed to continue
on southward so we left our little town of Sines. As I type this, we are anchored out just off
the beach in the town of Sagres. We plan
to just hang out for a couple of days – yes, relaxing and getting caught up on
a few work things – then continue onto Lagos.
In Lagos, we plan to get the boat hauled for some much-needed work and then
leave her on the hard for a few months while we head back to the US for a while
and then back to tour inland Europe.
Until next post!
