Author: timdar

And some random photos.  “Wine with a View” is a novel idea for a business, but clearly works.  (It’s white port, by the way; we are in Portugal after all).

Great city with all sorts of artists, musicians, buskers and so on.  This guy makes freestanding stone statues on which he paints doll’s faces.

And if you’re going to commute by train, how about having some decent scenery!

Decided this was to be a serious day out, exploring Lisbon.  Got the train in, and first stopping off place was a suburb called Belem.  It’s meant to be famous for its monastery and museums, but the real draw is:

Which really does do the best custard tarts in Portugal, and the coffee was pretty good as well.

And here’s the monastery, although note the length of the queue to get in ( so we didn’t).

As the heading says, no adventures, crises, getting lost etc.  Just the sort of day we had hoped for, but not expected in March.  Lunch on our terrace, followed by reading and enjoying the warmth (when the wind blows a bit less – it is the Atlantic coast after all).

A walk along the prom at the next little town – view from dinner.

Dessert on the beach …

Followed by a brilliant sunset- and looking at the forecast maybe even the last one this week.

Wonderful gardens, high above sea level so cooler in summer.

Couldn’t get a vantage point for the whole house but this gives an idea.

Yesterday we went to the main palace in Sintra.  Today was one of the grand houses nearby – Monserrate.

Most of the decor done when it was owned by an Englishman in 19th and 20th Century.

Here’s a starter.  We have no idea what was going on.  Anyone come up with a witty caption.

Almost a halo …

If you’re going to watch a sunset from a cliff top, might as well do it from the comfort of your armchair!

This is what you might call a pretty decent morning.

Sunrise ..

A walk to the beach and along the cliffs …

Followed by lunch at the house.  It’s a tough life!

View from the palace.

There then followed a couple of hours which we will be happy to share one day.  What could make more sense at 5.30 than to drive 20 minutes to a coastal resort and choose a nice restaurant?

1.  Getting out of Sintra.  A nightmare!  Incredibly narrow streets, ridiculous parking, and numerous wrong turns.  As we went round for the third time trapped in an endless loop and the streets seemingly getting even narrower, we gave up trying to get to the coast and just kept going out, regardless of the direction.

2.  Eventually get to the coast.  No restaurants.  No idea why.  Found one that was closed, but eventually struck gold.  Beautiful fish with added sunset.

Phew!

Made a move in the afternoon.  Sintra was where the Royals made their palace (see below), and so loads of other nobles built palaces round about.  So narrow streets and an amazing number of palaces, houses, gardens to visit.  There is a whole industry of transport (including tuk tuks) to ferry visitors around but we stuck to the car.

Inside the palace.