Thanks to Avis taking their sweet time, we got a later start on Monday than we had wanted. My plan was to drive the coastal route to Sintra, including stops in Cacais and at Farol Do Cabo da Roca, and that's exactly what we did.
We stopped at a couple of places in Cacais, including Praia do Tamariz ("Praia" is a Portuguese word for beach). The day started off cloudy, but more and more blue patches appeared in the sky, with the sunlight shining down in spots on the Atlantic.
It's a pretty short drive from Lisbon to Cacais. The hardest part for this East Coast guy is to realize that in driving to the ocean, you are traveling west, not east. The beach is one of several in the middle of town.
Palace on Tamariz Beach
Waves rolling in.
Crashing the pier
Cool public art right where we parked.
I'm glad for the octopus' sake that graffiti
bums haven't trashed this art yet.
From there we drove around Cacais, found parking and walked along the coastline. By this point in time, there was more sun than clouds. It's a beautiful thing!
We had views of the Santa Marta Lighthouse, watched swimmers jump off small cliffs into the water, and then walked around the fort. The lighthouse is closed on Mondays, and I didn't realize you couldn't really even get close to it. No big deal. The fort is now a pousada (a hotel in a historic building like a fort or castle), we stopped for some water/coke zero and olives. It's a good thing we did, because it would be a while before lunch.
Santa Marta Lighthouse
Nice beach bungalow.
Gaudi-esque in it's design and colors.
Part of the fort
Street art in the fort.
We drove the short distance to the Boca do Inferno, the name of geological formations on the coast. At high tide, the waves slamming into the rocks and caves put on quite a show, but we had missed high tide. It was still pretty, and we did get treated to some of the awesome power of nature. The views were great, and we enjoyed watching the men fishing on the lower cliffs.
An Usie at Boca do Inferno
Guia lighthouse taken from the Inferno
Part of the Inferno
Dudes living their best life.
Dude living his best life.
From there we drove up to Cabo do Roca, and the Farol (lighthouse). It was a windy, twisty road, often affording spectacular views of the Atlantic, cliffs, and mountains to the east. There is definitely a Big Sur vibe to this part of the Portuguese coast.
Upon getting to the parking lot, we walked out to the western-most point on continental Europe. There were a fair number of people there, but not so many that the place felt crowded. We walked along the top of the cliffs. I only went around the safety fence once, and, like the others we saw, I did not fall to my death. But, it definitely has "Death by Instagram" potential of someone getting to close to the edge and then plunging to their death.
(So I just googled "deaths at Cabo do Roca" and the last death was reported August 10th of this year. No word on how the picture on social media.) Oh, and yes, there were plenty of 20-somethings preening for the camera, so apparently it is very 'gramable.
The view to the north.
No one died in the making of
the social media moment.
The lighthouse (Editor: Lively caption that one is,
Glen! Writer: Not every caption has to be
clever or detailed!)
A rock to the south view.
The full north view.
View to the South. This is when I
went beyond the safety fence. As
you can see, I stayed safely away
from plunging to my death.
From there we stopped back in the small town of Azoia at a roadside restaurant, the Casa do Mar Sem Fim, which translates as "Endless Sea." It would have been better translated as "Endless Wait for Your Food Even Though It Is 3:30 And Few Other People Are In the Restaurant." Oh well, when the food finally came it was tasty.
After that, we headed to Sintra. On the twisty, winding road to Sintra we had the bad experience with the truck, having to reverse up a hill with a blind curve and cars coming at us, and, well, anyway, when we made it to our hotel and we were greeted with champagne, it helped calm my nerves!
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