Lisbon - Part II

Somehow we managed to spend over a week in Cascais.  We did return to the castle and took the little tram (once we’d found the stop!) that featured in the last instalment.  The morning photos were certainly an improvement and better still we found another little back street café, away from the tourists and this time we had lunch; grilled dorados and salad - spending some more of Ginette's (my eldest sister) money!

We ventured to the Monastery in the afternoon, which was breathtaking.  It was built in 1502 for King Manuel I and was the home to the monks whose job it was to comfort sailors before their long journeys!  Interestingly the site was also close to the inn where they stayed before embarking!   The massive convent complex was paid for by the profits of trade in pepper and spices from Africa and the East.  Perhaps the cinnamon we sprinkled liberally onto our pasteis on our return to the Belem pastry shop was part of this trade.  We also went into the Maritime museum which contained, among other things, various charts from centuries gone by.  We were intrigued by the lack of knowledge of the shape of Scotland around the time of the first voyages across the Atlantic.  Perhaps the explorers thought it too cold up there to bother charting it!

Back in Cascais Chris made the most of being in a marina to construct an infill to the head of our bed which previously had a curved area “missing” in order to provide some foot space.  We went to the Jumbo superstore to purchase new pillows and apart from varnishing the wood (a winter job I think) the resulting improvement to our sleeping quarters was well worth the effort.  Another day was spent catching up with English news from a Sunday Times and we also wandered along the coast a short way to see the Boca de Inferno or “The Mouth of Hell”.  The cave was quite magnificent but it was flat calm so we didn’t experience the bubbling cauldron it apparently becomes in rough weather.  All in all, with the lovely sunny weather, the week flowed by on a tide of reading, relaxing, visiting, and eating.  What a life!

Zephyrus and Lycka caught us up but chose to go to Alcantara dock rather than Cascais.  We all had a meal together but we failed to catch up with them again before we planned to leave on the Monday.  Our discussions with Walter and Rita had led us to decide to skip past Sines and sail overnight all the way to Lagos from Cascais.  Our main concern was Cabo Sao Vincente which the pilot recommended rounding early morning, so by our calculations we needed to leave Cascais around 11am, to arrive the following day in Lagos at noon.  In the end we left the marina at 3pm on the Monday and so we anchored off the beach in Cascais ready to leave on the Tuesday morning.