Day 5: Alfama

Day 5 started quite late. We tried to find a  breakfast place, I quite fancied a cup of cappuccino and a chocolate croissant, my usual morning routine here as it seems. Near our hotel all the restaurant look the same- few tables outside, a waiter quite aggressively tries to 'invite you' to sit in and shows the menu with photos of the offered food. Most of the menus look pretty much exactly identical, have quite weird combination of ingredients (they seem to love putting an egg on a steak here) and I suspect are not gourmet quality... Since when did I become so picky with my food?😂 The problem arises if you want to add something in or take out of the offered meal option. C doesn't eat cheese, which I think is quite bizarre but Portuguese waiters found quite shocking.😃 Nonetheless, it is possible to find really good food in Portugal, we really enjoyed another visit to Time Out Market and a pizzeria Dama E Vagabond (near Praca do Rossio) but definitely you'll be in heaven if you a seafood amateur (which we, sadly, are not fans of).🐙🍤

We manage to eat something, then we decided to go to Alfama, one of the most recommended Losbon's districts, full of little streets, beautiful tiled buildings (azulejos), local crafts and arts and charming electronic taxi cars, running everywhere where there are tourists. We decided to take the famous tram no.28 to access the castle and other tourist areas, but it was extremely packed! (In fairness the guide book had warned us). So we walked back to the previous stop  hoping it would be less busy...and we went back 3 stops in total! No luck! Eventually we decided to take a taxi to the first stop on the line... About 20 other people had the same idea, in fact a taxi dropping people showed up at least 3 times since we arrived🚖... And we waited and waited for the famous tram🚃... After about 30 minutes we gave up and took a taxi directly to the castle! I have probably taken more taxis during my stay in Portugal then during the rest of my life combined 😅. In retrospect I think what happened is some trams went to the final stop where we waited, but quite a few finished their run in Estrela, a few stations before. I just realised when we passed a few trams with Estrela sign on them, contrary to what the schedule suggested... 

Ride to the castle was something else- Lisbon's streets are very narrow and steep, quite scary to walk around, not mentioning driving! Our driver must have been really experienced, since he managed to overcome traffic, turn in apparently prohibited streets and speed up the hills, all while talking on the phone!

The castle(Castelo de Sao Jorge) was truly impressive- it was built over a thousand years ago and during its history  was conquered multiple times...at this stage only the walls of this monumental building are left but even now it seems unbelievable that someone would be able to conquer it, particularly before the times  of powder guns and cannons! 💣 The view of the city is breathtaking, and it's really worth visiting, especially because they accept student cards😉

After the castle we walked to Sé Cathedral, and wandered down the streets of picturesque Alfama. 

I even managed to get something from my 'cosmetic shopping list'- we found Kiko and Sephora😍

And at night time we went for our last 'Lisbon by night' excursion and we found an amazing ice cream place- Amorino- you could pick as many flavours of the ice cream as you wanted and they made a rose out of it. Ours consisted mainly of chocolate😃 It was delish! 🍦 

Day 4: end of camping and back to Lisbon

I spent the morning catching a last glimpse of the campsite swimming pool and got my first burn (that's what happens if I'm in charge of applying sunscreen on either of us, not C). Had a little dip in the water, read a book, had my usual coffee + pastry and then I went to wake up C to start packing our temporary house.

The campsite Orbitur Guincho (http://m.orbitur.com/campsite-orbitur-guincho) was definitely a nice place. ⛺️Location was a plus- it was close to Lisbon, close to Cabo da Roca which I really wanted to conquer and the nearby Cascais turned to be loveliest little town, very pleased. The bad thing was the location to the beach, about a km away. ⛱For us it wasn't a massive problem but I can imagine it being for some. I'm not an expert regarding campsites, tho the other positives in my opinion included: the field was huge and it was easy to find a decent spot, plenty of toilets and showers (showers were great but toilets could be cleaner sometimes...) and staff was generally very helpful and accommodating. 'The bad' were poor wifi and charging facilities☹️ It was really hard to upload anything, and there were not enough spots to charge my never-fully-fed phone. The little shop and restaurant were very cheap and basic, but apart from coffee, water, pastry and hotdogs we couldn't really find there anything to eat😕🌭 To sum up- it was fun to stay there, definitely would recommend to camping lovers, I, personally, am very happy that after 2 taxis, 1 train and some amazing flights of stairs we got to our little hotel in Lisbon (more about it to come).🏨 

After checking in we went for a wander to find some food. Again, I'll write some more about Portuguese cuisine, which I find quite amusing but not extremely appealing 🙊. Fed and full we went to have a proper shower, shave, makeup (ya know,a girl missed it a bit) and we went for a wander...

First place we encountered was a food court TimeOut Market, all that beautifying things made us hungry again. The place is a collection of gourmet food stands, that for acceptable prices allowed people to try some of their food. And my-oh-my it was hard to choose- anything from pastry, fish, meat, Asian cuisine, even fresh fruit bars... Once you make your order you receive a plastic device (reminds me of a drink coaster) and get yourself seated wherever there is a space along massive wooden tables, very Oktoberfest-esque. When the food is ready, 'the coaster' flashes and vibrates and you just go and collect it. Simple! I opted for a duck leg confit glazed in herbs and honey (yum) and parsnip purée (a bit blunt but all together lovely), C chosen curry and Spring rolls, very Portuguese😅 and also super tasty. Will be back there at some point! 

Then we went for a search of traditional Fado singers, no such luck tho 😥. Some places offered this attraction only when you ate dinner at their place but we just had a dinner! We sat outside a kiosk that served as a pub, and musicians came to us! Maybe not fado, one played oboe and the other guitar, but our wish for a live music experience was definitely fulfilled. I enjoyed my made of real strawberries cocktail and C drank some beers. It was all in a little market square, pretty unique experience! 

On the corner of the same square there was something resembling a ruins of a church, marked as an archeological object. People kept coming in and out. Surprised that it was open so late, we wanted to check it out as well. It was basically a church without a roof, in which, as we later found out, a National Youth Choir from Canada was performing. The classical music under the sky full of starts was something breathtaking!

Then we just walked around, found some more hipster pubs, Elevator of St Justa, beautiful and steep Lisbon by night was definitely worth a stroll 😍

Day 3- Cabo da Roca

Day 3 started with same lazy coffee & croissant, when I could catch up on social media, charge my phone and have a little 'me time' when C was still asleep. We definitely have different body clocks, he's a typical 'owl' (I'm just a sloth), but we learnt to live together and adjust accordingly 😉

After a breakfast consisting of hot dogs with cold sausage (our campsite was really nice and I'm going to write a bit more about it but the restaurant there was not their finest part) we went to Cabo da Roca. With limited internet we thought the route would be quite difficult, but except 2 quite obvious turns it was straight away, along the main road. The walk was about 3 hours with a break for a drink in Malveira da Serra (nicest lemonade EVER! 🍋)

The walk was definitely quite a satisfying achievement however there were few things we didn't quite expected. Firstly, the road- despite the area being a national park, there were not official trails directly to Cabo da Roca. Supposing lt we could have taken slightly more picturesque walk down the coast, but it did not connect as one route so it would take a long time to get to the point. Instead, we walked a (luckily) not-so -busy road with very limited sidewalk and even more limited views. Secondly, despite the coast and our campsite being quite windy (one would could even call it 'cold'), the route we chosen was more mainland, and hence roasting hot ☀️🔥. Who would have thought? 😅 That leads me to the final point- 3 hours is relatively short time, particularly if you slowly strolling around time, shopping, reading a book or doing any other pleasurable activity... Walking in full sun is not one of them😂

Nonetheless, the effort was entirely worth it- we reached the furthest western part of continental Europe! 😃 And the view of the lighthouse, cliffs and the ocean was absolutely breathtaking! 

After a quick snack in local overpriced restaurant, we caught the bus to Cascais, walked around and had a dinner, and ended up another beautiful day in sunny Portugal☀️

Day 2- beach, dunes and Cascais

So I'm starting today the same way as yesterday, coffee & croissant, trying to catch a bit wifi and energy to charge my phone. C is still asleep... I quite like my morning routine:)

Yesterday we went to the beach. The camping site is directly by the sea (the back of it) but the entrance is in the front, which means that we have to all around in order to get to the beach. It was quite windy which almost made us feel cold!😨Still wearing summer clothes tho;) 

We stopped by the closest restaurant and an eductaional centre, something to do with dunes. Although food did not blow us away, the views and the interior design were quite impressive.

The beach was almost empty, I assume due to heavy wind, blowing sand on us- cold and painful! Nonetheless I'm super happy to smell the sea, dip my legs in it (it was too cold for anything else) and we ended up finding sand grains EVERYWHERE😂

Then a quick dip in a camping swimming pool, nicest shower ever and off we went to Cascais! (By taxi)

Cascais is a town to which we got from Lisbon by train the day before, but we didn't really have a chance to walk around. It's truly lovely- sort of sea resort with interesting stone architecture, squares with loads of restaurants and touristy shops and...tourists:) I really like the vibe of those towns, you can find them in Spain, Italy, as it happens, Portugal too. Not many photos, because the phone kept dying😥, but I managed to charge it in a Buerguessa, place we had dinner at (burgers, surprisingly😉). 

And then we just wondered around inhaling local atmosphere, getting a bit lost and grabbing a pint in Irish pub (can take Irishman out of Ireland but can't take Ireland out of him😉)🍀🍻

Day 1

I started writing yesterday but my battery died twice on me! Now I'm in a camping site's 'community room' where there are plugs and wifi feeding my body and my phone (cappuccino for €0.90!) 

Now about yesterday: the flight was usual- little leg room, crying babies; we also were almost late for it and they called C' name out on the speakers, how embarrassing! 😅 Upon arrival we had to wait almost an hour for a luggage to arrive so everything was 'out of schedule' (not that we had a schedule planned to the minute....). From the airport we took the metro to the station Oriente; I knew you could leave suitcases there in a nearby train station and the plan was to go to Oceanario Lisboa- one of the world's best oceanworld, which was just walk away.

The metro and train station are connected so the trains are on the upper floor. It was fun to get there with 2 suitcases, 2 backpacks and a little hand bag😂 and when we eventually get there, we learned that the locker room is actually downstairs, just behind the entrance to the metro station! We spend a while trying to find our way around as it wasn't well marked and not many locals knew where it is, but with help of a policeman we made it 😄 Suitcases in, 2 lockers taken, cause we had so much stuff, we decided to go and eat in opposite Vasco Da Gama shopping center. We had pizza in a lovely Pasta Cafe.

After quick wonder around shopping centre, off we went to find Oceanarium.

It was amazing! I really like nature and animals, despite fish not being my favourite pick🐠. But everything was nicely laid out, easy to take photos, not overcrowded and definitely educational! There was a big tank in the middle ('a big ocean') that you could see from different angles and sides, it had a wonderful variety of animals in there. There were also 'smaller oceans' representing particular ecosystems, including puffins, penguins and otters; as well as small tanks with selected, interesting species (jellyfish, octopus, crabs). There were also some educational corners for kids, but we skipped those...I try not to overwhelm you with the photos, so I'll post only few... But definitely recommend it! C enjoyed it as well despite being very tired and the fact that he only went there because I really wanted to see this place.  

After that we grabbed some icecream, 2 metros and 1 train (despite multiple changes, everything was quite close to each other and easy to find), we arrived to Cascais, a lovely town 40 minutes away from Lisbon. From there a taxi took us to our campsite, Guincho. We set a tent and went for a stroll to find food. I'll write some more about campsites later... And that's how we ended this extreme tiring but exciting day!