Come on, come on come, come on , where are you??? I deplaned , got on the transport bus that seemed to drive around the terminal much longer than it should and was lucky to be by the door that opened first. I rushed up the stairs, did not use the escalator and still made it to immigration first. After hours on the plane all I want to do is walk. After the shortest immigration line ever in recorded history I reached my luggage carousel 1 minute after and now I am waiting… I hate waiting. Have I ever mentioned that?
Luggage after luggage…. … … … for forty minutes!!!
At long last, and soon I am walking again, ordered my uber and after a few minutes of miscommunication, Carlos picked me up and we were on our way.
The outskirts of Lisbon from the air are lovely. Lush green hills with lots of agriculture surrounding little towns with red tiled roofs. But as Lisbon grew nearer, I got the feel of some of the cities outside Jerusalem. The same happened on the ground, while distinctly different, I do recognize some similarities with Israel. Portugal is by far greener.
Carlos my uberist asked if I want to take the faster highway or the prettier coastal road and soon on the coast, we were. We past the major soccer stadiums, he is a Benefica fan and he shared the names and interesting aspects of some of the towns we past.
Soon, we reached the hotel. To a non- ready room, I changed and began to finally walk.
The sky is blue and sunny today, though windy and not hot. As I was walking on the boardwalk by the Atlantic Ocean. The boardwalk is made of small square rocks, decent to walk on but still some ankle warning every now and then. The coast itself is impossibly rugged. The rock is chiseled and broken by the winds and tides that walking there requires extreme care. Few minutes later I reached Boca de inferno (hell mouth). I purchased some water, as I was super parched.
I descended near the abyss of hell mouth for nice views of coastal Portugal with its many cliffs and waves crashing on them. The waves created a tunnel and behind it is a deep chasm, hence the mouth part. The sounds of the waves crashing is one reason for the hellish name, the other you need to get closer. There are crevices in the rocks and when the waves are just right, they hiss, I say the name is fitting.
I walked back down and started exploring the city of Cascais itself, but I was get hungry by now as all I ate was some lame air plane cake and it was almost 2 pm.
Finally, my dad arrived at the hotel, I returned to pick him up then we headed for the city after a little tour in the art district and at long last we stopped at a little café in the square for a Feta sandwich. We toured the small and pretty city center and walked back up to hell mouth. Meanwhile other travelers had troubles of their own. Late luggage as well, car not being there in the rental place and later in the day we all met and walked back to town for dinner.
I ordered fish and shrimp, which were good, and lemon cake for desert was especially yummy. Later we walked the now mostly empty shopping street but I did sample Santini's, which is rumored (by Carlos, the uberist) to be one of the best ice creams in Portugal. I did not try the competition, but the lemon was sour and the nata which is cream was divine. I concur with the assessment.
For those who know my ice cream flavors may be surprised by today's choice. The lack of chocolate.
Two and a half months ago, I decided to give up chocolate for good. I was somewhat of an addict to some kinds of chocolates including: Hershey, Nutella, shachar spread, krembo, chocolate ice cream, kinder eggs, kinder Bueno, milka, chocolate cake , argaliot(with chocolate) , cariot cereal. Elit choclate, pesek zman, egozi, tim tams, mekupelet. Chocolate kisses , random cookies, brownies and custard (chocolate) . These are sadly some of the things I am saying good by to.. very sad.
All other sweets combined are perhaps 20% of my sweets consumption but now I need to find replacements, hence trying lemon ice cream perhaps for the first time.
After walking 12 miles today, I crashed … thus ends 1st night in Cascais.
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