Beaches On The Way To Lisbon

We set the alarm for 7:30, but I didn’t actually start moving until 8:00. This was the first bed Tom didn’t sleep very well on. Our hotel stay included breakfast and it was quite the spread! I do really enjoy a European style breakfast . . . ham, cheese, boiled egg, sweet treat, yogurt, etc. We certainly had our fill. I went and got the car and pulled it right to the door so we were able to load all our stuff without humping it the few blocks to where the car was parked.

We left town at about 10:30 and got on the road. Tom had set a beach as the destination in the GPS that was along the route. We ended up at Praia Grande do Rodizio in Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. This was a nice beach that we decided to walk end-to-end. There was not much in the way of treasure, but it was a nice walk. At the end we saw a huge staircase going up the side of the cliff. Unlike yesterday’s adventure, these stairs seemed quite legitimate. Tom suggested we make the climb. We originally thought we would find the main road at the top of the staircase and was going to walk it back to the car, but there wasn’t a road (at least not that we could see). There were a few trails that went off in either direction. I asked Tom for his phone to check for any geocaches and low and behold there was one 78 feet away and he was already walking towards it. Score! I found it super easy and it was a cute cache. There was another trail that went off in the other direction I suggested that we explore. Tom agreed to the short hike to the view point. After taking some pictures, I again asked for his phone to check geocaching and saw there was another one within 200 feet. I walked towards it but as I got close to ground zero I could tell it was located in the middle of a bunch of brush with no clear path in. I quickly abandoned the attempt. I didn’t need another cache that bad. We hiked back to the stairs and made our way back down. At the bottom we walked the sidewalk back and stopped for a popsicle treat. On the way back to the car I saw a sign that described the area we were in and learned there were actually over 60 dinosaur foot prints on the cliff walls next to the staircase! Wish I would have known that before we walked the stairs so I could have looked for them. We did not go back to look. No way I was going to climb the stairs again, but this would explain why the geocache I found was a dinosaur and why the name of the road had dinosaurs in it as well.

Next up was Guincho Beach North. Here we found a great parking lot (although we did have to pay 2.50 Euro to park) and a couple of beachside restaurants. Tom was burnt out on beach walking so he ordered a chicken wrap and a Somersby and sat in the shade. I had a few bites of the wrap before I set out on my beach treasure hunt. I only had about 30 minutes to look before the time we designated to leave to get back on the road to Lisbon. I did find about 10 pieces of sea glass with a couple being a little bigger than I have found previously in Portugal. I enjoyed the walk and Tom enjoyed the shade and his beer.

From here it was just an hour drive to Lisbon. When we were about 45 minutes out we could already tell we were coming into a bigger city. The traffic increased, the buildings were newer, there were many stop and go lights, etc. Once inside Lisbon it was back to narrow, cobblestone, hilly roads. We knew coming into it that parking might be a challenge here. We found a spot on the street not too far from our apartment, but not quite a spot we felt comfortable leaving the car as I believe it was hourly parking. I decided to stay in the car as Tom went to find our apartment. He was back 20 minutes later and had directions to an underground parking garage. I have no idea how much this parking is going to cost, but I don’t care. I definitely feel better having the car in a garage over the next several days than on the street. We don’t plan on seeing the car again until we are leaving for our next destination. From the parking garage to the apartment it was about a 10 minute walk.

We got settled into our tiny one bedroom apartment before we set off to start exploring Lisbon and to find something for dinner. We wandered down to Pink Street (appropriately named) and to the Arco da Rua Augusta, before walking down the main street, Rua Augusta. When we got to a square we found a bench to sit and used the Google machine to find a place to eat. The thing about Europe is that there are a million restaurants all next door to each other and it can be overwhelming to choose where to go. Tom found a place based on the best reviews and we headed there. We found that there was a lengthy wait, but they had another location with the same menu and prices that was a 3 minute walk away so we went for it.

We got seated right away and ordered bread, a caprese salad, and a chicken paella (although the menu labeled it under risotto). The food was just ok and by far the most lackluster meal we’ve had since we’ve been in Portugal. We made the hike back (yes hike . . . Lisbon is SUPER hilly and is called the San Francisco of Europe. Our path back took us up what felt like a million stairs. My quads are really starting to feel all these steps). We did stop at a bakery to pick up a couple of pasta de natas to take back to our apartment to enjoy.

Tomorrow we plan to take either a hop-on hop-off bus tour or tuk tuk tour of the city to really become familiar with it. My first impression is that it is quite a bit larger than Porto and quite a bit hillier (and Porto was pretty hilly).

Stats of the Day

Steps: 18,314
Geocaches: 1 Find/1 Abandoned Attempt
Steps Up Cliff: 338
Cost for 3/4 Tank of Gas: $49.67