Wrap-up May - Portugal & Signs

We had arrived in Lisbon on the 10th of May, so that we could be present for my parents 66th wedding anniversary.

Wednesday 13th - The whole family went out to lunch at a small restaurant in Cascais - Cantinho do Chaplin, to celebrate the wedding anniversary.

My parents know the owner, and as we were the last to leave, she asked my Dad to sing and my sister and brother-in-law then danced a tango (they've been going to classes for years). The restaurant had a lovely atmosphere and the food was great.

Me, dad, brother in law, niece, sister, mother and Jose

        

Later that afternoon we all sat around the table having cake and a few delicious chocolate treats I had bought in Istanbul.

Thursday 14th - My parents, Jose and I took a downhill 2km walk to the centre of Cascais, with a few stops for my 93 year old Dad who isn't used to walk a lot.

We had lunch at "Somos um Regalo" - they specialize in grilled chicken. Luckily we got there when they had just opened and the restaurant was quite empty, so we were served super quick. By the time we left it was getting crazy with people already waiting to be seated, and the noise level quite elevated. (We have been here many times, but mostly we get take-away as it's easier than waiting for a table and less noisy to eat at home).

After lunch, we carried on our walk to the Citadel of Cascais, a set of fortifications built between the 15th and 17th centuries to defend the Cascais coastline and protect against attacks to Lisbon. It incorporates the medieval tower of St Anthony and the fortress of Our Lady of the Light, now functioning as a hotel and cultural area. In the 19th century King Luis I had a royal palace (now a museum) built within the walls in the citadel to serve as a summer holiday retreat, which was used until 1908.

This led to the growth of Cascais as a location for affluent people coming from Lisbon (just 30km away) to spend the summer. The complex was the first to get electric lights in Portugal in 1878!

The Cascais Citadel

In the patio there's a collection of art.

From the fort we walked around the coast past the beach area and then into the centre where we stopped for ice-cream at the popular Santinis. 

My dad had enough of walking by then, and they caught a bus home, while we stayed for a while longer.

Friday 15th - Our Perth friends, Wendy & Lido were also on holidays in Costa da Caparica, across the River Tagus -  we took a train from Cascais to Cais do Sodré station and took the ferry to Cacilhas, from across the street at the ferry station.

In Cacilhas we ordered an uber that took us to Costa da Caparica. It was a bit grey and windy, and before our friends and us had lunch we walked along the beach promenade admiring the brave surfers in the cold water!

Signs on T-shirts in a shop at Costa da Caparica

Footpath had funny signs portraying fishermen, runners, walkers, and dog walkers

Lunch was my favourite - Alheira - a smoked sausage created in 1497 by the Jewish communities in Portugal during the Inquisition, using poultry and bread, designed to look like the traditional pork sausages to avoid suspicion. Nowadays I think they include pork.

It's usually the first meal I order when eating out when I visit Portugal. Jose and our friends shared a pot of rice with prawns.

Late that afternoon our friends drove us to Lisbon to a Medieval fair.  After leaving they took us to the train station where we got a train back to Cascais.

Saturday 16th - my sister had invited us to go and watch a performance from students of the Dance School they attend. The group of 4 did 2 or 3 danced 2 or 3 tangos, others performed modern dance and Belly dancing. After the show a band started playing and before leaving close to midnight we still danced a little.

Monday 18th - usually after dinner, Jose and I would walk to my sister's house, about 15 min from my parents' house to have coffee with them. On this day we all went to have a drink at Palaphita, an outdoor eco-restaurant and lounge next to the sea, on the grounds of Casa da Guia. 

The sun was setting when we reached Casa da Guia, on the left

Tuesday 19th -  We had been invited to a birthday dinner of my brother in law's younger brother Jorge, at a restaurant that had opened on the 8th - "Cabra Cega", at 42B Dom Vasco da Gama Avenue in Restelo. One of the chef's was actually the second cousin of the birthday boy's wife. 

                   

The name "Cabra Cega"  (blind man's buff) refers to the childhood game, which the chefs use to describe a concept of playing with the senses and letting guests trust their instincts. It's a small restaurant with an open kitchen behind the bar counter.

Owned by 2 young men who studied together, then travelled the world working in various restaurants (one of them had worked in Australia) - the restaurant has two Degustation menus, with 4 dishes (40 euros) and with 7 dishes (60 eur0s).

It certainly was a sensory experience and we all loved the food, the superb service and all the unexpected ingredients. 

My brother in law will not eat mushrooms which he told the chef when he came to ask if there were any food allergies. When each dish was served the chef would explain the ingredients, but when it came to one of the desserts he just said "try it and let me know what you think are the ingredients". We ate it and liked it and then the chef said it had mushrooms :). The only thing I wasn't keen on was the wagyu steak that was medium rare and my meat has to be well done. So I tasted it, it was good actually, but then gave the remainder to Jose.

Friday 20th -  Together with my Mom and sister, we visited an immersive exhibition about the art of Monet, Klimt, Michelangelo and Da Vinci and Mysterious Egypt at the Water Museum in Lisbon.

The images repeated themselves every 1 1/2 hours, the only problem was having to stand the whole time as there were no chairs around the perimeter of the reservoir.

The building was constructed in 1746 as a reservoir to receive and distribute the water brought to the city by the Aguas Livres Aqueduct. The water tank inside the building is 7,5mt deep with a capacity to hold 5500m3 of water.

Aguas Livres Aqueduct seen from one of Lisbon's streets

Part of the aqueduct bottom left. It had a beautiful garden in front

My sister, me and my Mother

Saturday 23rd - One of my brother in law's nieces had a baby recently, she lives near Porto (north of Portugal), and wanted to come to Lisbon and show the baby to all the family. So my sister arranged a brunch at Honest Greens (across the Cascais train station) with our side and her in law side of the family - 19 of us!

It was a lively table and a wonderful way for us to meet some of the members of the extended family we don't often see.

As for the food - alternative healthy type - the portions of the protein were tiny compared to the huge accompanying salads. My niece had ordered an omelette for her 2 small kids and when it arrived much later, it was only made with 1 egg, so hardly enough for 2. When she went to order another she was told the breakfast menu was no longer being served... and of course the lunch menu didn't have the omelette the other kid also wanted.

I had wanted to visit the island of Malta for a while and this trip, since we had more time, the flight prices not too bad... so I asked my parents and sister if they wanted to go as well. 

Flights booked, an Airbnb booked for a week in Sliema, close to a ferry port... all arranged! I just had to research what I wanted to see and type up a daily route.

Sunday 24th - Lunch in Lisbon with my sister and brother in law and two other couples that dance tango with them. The restaurant - Malandro do Marques, serves typical food from the various Portuguese speaking countries, like Brazil and African countries. The venue has live music on weekends. The menu was a set price of 25 euros for an entree, a main dish and a dessert.

The menu was a set price of 25 euros for an entree, a main dish and a dessert.

There was a band from Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), which was really good, the singer had a fantastic voice and most of the patrons were dancing to their music.

Before saying our goodbyes one of the couples invited offered to cook a Feijoada (bean stew), and my sister offered to host it on the large patio of her apartment. The date was set for the 31st.

Monday 25th - my parents have an enclosed balcony accessed from their bedroom, but it was full of old document files, books, junk... I had offered to clear the space, paint it and make it more usable. Jose helped me strip the room, we threw out a lot of the stuff, a few things went to the garage..... then I started painting the yellow room in white (I had already bought all the necessary stuff). It now looks better and usable and it only took 2 days to finish.

I had also replaced the shoe cabinet as the old one wasn't closing 2 of the drawers.

Tuesday 26th - Consultation at the dentist, for a 3D mouth scan for the implants to be inserted a week later.

View to the Sintra mountains from the waiting room at the dentist

Wednesday 27th - my sister wanted to go to their holiday apartment in Vilamoura  (south of Portugal), for a few days, and offered to take us. Because she was also taking the 2 granddaughters in the car, my brother in law rode his motorbike there.

Christ the Redeemer across the river on the way south, lots of stork nests on power lines

Relaxing days by the pool, a day at the beach, walks by the Vilamoura marina in the late afternoon, ice-creams, a Berliner (custard doughnut) on the beach, warmer weather than in Lisbon ... 

The parking lot roof was covered in solar panels, a typical "Berliner" with custard cream at the beach

And look what I found when we went to Vilamoura's Marina Beach! A Bordallo II sculpture. He usually makes them mural like, it's the first time I see his work as a sculpture. It's called Sketchy Crab and was constructed with discarded bicycles parts - wheels, handlebars, saddles.

Delicious choice of ice-creams

Sunset at the Vilamoura Marina

Reading a book published in Portugal by my Perth friend, astronomer Elisabete da Cunha

Flowers in the Algarve

Friday 29th - We drove to Faro to have dinner with Jose's eldest brother and wife who live there.  We dined at "À do Pinto", a restaurant in the pedestrian Rua de Santo Antonio. The food was good and the atmosphere was great.

On the street of Faro - crochet covering narrow lanes

A pirate themed candy and chocolate shop in Faro

Saturday 30th -  After breakfast we went for a last swim in the pool. We had a late lunch at "A Palmeira", a fish restaurant in Quarteira. My sister and brother in law having been going there for a few years and the friendly owner chatted to them about their families when we arrived.

We all ordered fish, the portions were enormous, but everything was high quality and very tasty.

We went back to the apartment, finished packing, closed everything up and got in the car for the almost 3h long trip.

Statues in the garden of one of the service stations on the highway and the 25 April bridge going into Lisbon

Sunday 31st - as previously arranged, my sister's Tango friends came to lunch, tables set on the patio. One couple brought the main meal - Feijoada (bean and meat stew), the other brought wines and my sister provided desserts. My parents had also been invited and Mom made Flan pudding.

After a very animated lunch, we had entertainment. My 6 year old great-niece who loves to dance, had my niece play 3 songs that she danced to - she has great rhythm and always dances differently according to the beat.

My sister danced the tango, one couple danced a Samba (she is Brazilian), and the other couple danced the Merengue. It was a great day!

Left to right, top to bottom - My great-niece, the Samba, the Merengue and the Tango

    A fabulous holiday month!

Also linking to Tom the backroads traveller for his SIGNS meme. Check his blog to see other signs from around the world.