Cascais, Portugal

April 25th, 2004

Sunday morning we planned to spend the day on the beach at Cascais!
After breakfast at the hotel, we grabbed the backpack full of sunscreen, swimsuits, and snacks and headed for the train station. Deciding to be adventurous, we set off through a section of the city that was more neighborhood instead of shops. Being an intercity area, the people dwell in buildings made up of apartments (or flats). Of course the streets of Lisbon are a bit twisty, so the walk took a little longer to get to the station.

The train ride to Cascais takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Since it was such a beautiful day, most of the people seemed to be escaping to the beach. Following the coastline, the train stops at numerous beaches along the way. It was interesting to see who got off on each stop... beach bum types with surf boards, nicely dressed with pretty swimsuit coverups, families with bags of stuff, tourists. There's a stop for everybody.
End of the line....CASCAIS.

Cascais was a very touristy town with plenty of shops and restaurants to entertain. Almost at the same time, we said to each other that we should have stayed in a place like this and taken a day trip or two into Lisbon.
Still a little early for lunch, we decided to follow the throngs of people and continue walking west along the seafront. Most of the seafront is actually rocky and overgrown with steep drops to the water.

After walking for about 20 minutes we came to the Boca Do Inferno. Figuring it must be good since everybody was stopping to see it, we walked down the steps and came out on a beautiful overlook. The water was crashing through a huge hole in the rock, churning and frothing before the next wave crashed again. I think I took about 10 pictures with Dave going "now" when the big wave was coming in, but I never got a good picture of the big crash. So laughing, we headed off in search of lunch.

Back in Cascais, we followed our noses to a churascerria. It's basically a little cafe that barbecues/grills assorted meats (chicken, pork, sardines, beef). We ordered the half chicken, Portugese style ham, tomato salad, and one big pitcher of sangria. Feasting like kings, we sat on the patio under an umbrella and watched the people go by.

As the hottest part of the day subsided, we took our fat tummies to the beach. The beach was already packed with people, but we found a spot to throw my little wrap down for a nap. I did try to go into the water, but it was freezing! I guess I'm just a wimp, cause plenty of other people were playing in the water.

Rested from an afternoon laying on the sand, we decided to take a 20 minute stroll along the beach to Estoril. Estoril is also home to one of Europe's largest casinos. However, we stayed on the waterfront and returned to Cascais for dinner.