Apr 2009

After a bit of Rodoviario 2-stepping, or bus-changing, I arrived at the fantastic walled-town of Obidos. A totally cool place, with a lot to see, and a scary little-wall to walk around. Not to mention some pretty good tourist-shopping ;-).

Felt like I was off to Catholic-school today :-). It's also chilly&damp, but I still had a good day. Traveled to Alcobaca to visit Mosteiro de Santa Maria, a place where the Romeo&Juliet of Portugal are buried.

Then the town of Batalha, and Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitoria, a massive Gothic-complex, strangely it's partially unfinished????

Today is Terca, > Tuesday, and it was a fantastic day. Although it started of cloudy/rainy, and I have a bad sunburn on my head!!

I switched bases to the small-seaside-town of Nazare. I nicer place I could not have found, very friendly and down-to-earth, at least when the hoards of tourist are not here. Everyone and every-business seems to have rooms to rent LOL.

Nazare is paired with another town Sitio, that sits on-top a cliff, and you reach it by a little Funicular.

Spent the whole day just walking and getting-lost, a most perfect relaxing time, oh and plenty of sitting viewing the ocean, from the beach&from the cliff top :-).

My last day in Lisboa, spent most of the morning between a travel-agency and a train-station, trying to nail down my trip out of Portugal on Mayo 8th. Turns out now I will have to back-track to Lisboa from Porto on that day, then catch the Sud-Expresso at the start of it's journey, as it does not make many stops between Lisboa and France!! Anyways I joined up with a Carris-tour, to visit Sintra – Cabo da Roca – Cascais, as these are not easy to get to by public transport :-(.

Sintra was a center of Royalty for many centuries, so naturally has many wealthy-homes, and Palacio. Not to mention it hugs the base of a large mountain, and has an amazing natural beauty.

Cabo da Roca is basically lands-end in Europe, the furthest western-point!!!!

And Cascais is a very upscale-resort within easy reach of Lisboa.

After the almost 5-hour tour, I was worn out, so instead of a late Fado-show, I went out for supper to Casa do Alentejo, awesome meal reflecting the Alentejo-regional cuisine :-).

Today is Domingo, > Sunday, and I am heading to Evora. This city has a distinct outlook/rural charm, so much that Lisboners look down on it's people, kinda like us and Newfie's.

I visited a couple Igreja, > Churches, and the Catedral. But mostly it was one long broken-up siesta ;-).

The Portuguese are very unique, they are well....kinda homely, and there language sounds Spanish/French and oddly Russian.

But for the most part they are a pleasant/relaxed people deeply tied to the "Familia".