on Fish, cliffs and the fog

I woke early on the 2^nd day in Cascais and after a breakfast of eggs and feta cheese sandwich (it is not really feta, this is goat cheese I think and softer then feta, more like tzfatit cheese) I took a little stroll in the gardens and witnessed the roosters trying to wake up the neighborhood. Then we headed for Boca de roca which is the most western point in continental Europe. This place has a little passport to say you were there and is supposed to be very windy. The pretty green roads pass by the shore and was foggy at times but soon, we reached the spot and took some photos of the cliffs and the land marker there. There was no passport since the store was closed and the wind was not as strong as I was told. Still, added to the list of irregular points.

We drove to sintra and its magnificent palace but the palace was replaced! Instead was a mountain of fog. We stopped at a super market for supplies and a local pastry called bedlam, it is kind of like crème Brule but not exactly, a lot creamier and very tasty, we would eat few more of those in days to come.

We moved on to ovidos, which is a medieval town.

This used to be a city I am sure on medieval standards. The old town has a well intact aqueducts and impressive city walls that are well maintained. Inside there are only a few streets with shops, souvenirs and restaurants.

 This place annoys me, the country as a whole. They serve hot chocolate in the street! Instead of hot cider, they have hot chocolate!! Which is something I stopped drinking (including milk shakes). I finally get to a place that has hot chocolate as a common thing and I cant have it.

We walked to the cathedral on the far side and climbed on the walls for a view then settled down in some pub for very fresh orange juice. This mediaeval little town was perfect for my kinds of souvenirs.

We drove on and reached Nazare which is a fishing village , or was, and now tourism took over, but still a great place for fish. Nazare has a magnificent beach, both very long and very wide white sandy beach with lots of restaurants and cliffs behind. We stopped at a little place away from the promenade called rosa dos ventos on gil vicente street. Gil vicente happens to be a famous playwright in the 15^th century and I learned that the Portuguese pronounce my name as jill.

 

In rosa dos ventos they show the fish before and you pay by weight, we got a red snapper and some kind of other snapper, weighted 1.9 kg total and I loved it from first bite. I gave a review of "probably the best fish in the world" it was that good.

From the promenade, there is a train/cable car thingy that takes you to the top of the cliff. I walked it up, not that bad, but up hill is tiring, lucky the car waited at the top with some sugared almonds ready. The cliffs offer views of nazare and its magnificent beaches.

We reached Coimbra in the late afternoon. Coimbra is the Cambridge of Portugal. A large ancient university on the hill, by a wide river  , more on that tomorrow.. its night night time