Portugal – Part two – Cascais to Spain

We should have spent more time in the area around Cascais, and I will regret for a long time that we didn`t manage to go to Sintra. If you don`t know what Sintra is like, just google it. But because of the wind and weather we had to go north. Cascais is also the best place to stay to visit Lisbon, if you don`t stay in Lisbon.

Peniche

We sailed further north and we found a bouy in inside the breakwater in Peniche. A lot of fishermans boats passed by and made a lot of waves, but we should stay only for a night so we survived.

We found a sunsetspot and went ashore to have a walk. A nice little town, but we didn`t had time to see much of it. We went to Ilheu Da Papoa, together with many other people. It is a very popular spot for a sunset.

It is right outside town, and it took us 30 minutes to walk there.

It was a beautiful place to walk around.

On February 2nd 1786 San Pedro the Alcantara ship sank here. It was one of the most significant events in the maritime history of Peniche.

It was carrying more than 150 tons of golden and silver coins and more than 600 tons of brass. It also transported 64 canons, 100 tons of Quinine Bark tree (south American plant) and 6,5 tons of cocoa.

Excessive veight and navigation error caused a shipwreck and led to a death of 128 passengers.

A huge rescue operation was mounted, almost everything as well as the hull of the ship was rescue from the sea.

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It was a beautiful evening. I guess when the weather is rougher it is many people out here looking at the weather.

Our originally plan was to walk to the other peninsula you can see over there. I guess our second choice was better.

We brought wine, biscuites, cheese and grapes and enjoyed this evening.

A beautiful sunset

Many people enjoyed this amazing evening.

The next morning we woke up and didn`t see anything other than the bouy next to us…

But after a while it was better and we started to sail further north. The weather is often like this here on the westcoast of Portugal due to the cold air from the ocean meeting the warm air from inland.

Nazaré

We had fog most of the way north, but finally going into the marina of Nazare it was sun!

It was many cats around the marina and they were taking good care of!

Nazare is a really nice town. On the top of the hill to the left you can see the old town. We had a plan to go up there… nothing sticks to the plan…

We needed some grocery so we had a walk to the market.

It was so much people around, but I think that was because it was cloudy and people didn`t want to go to the beach..

The beach hhas a lot of tents, I guess it is shelter from the wind.

On the beach to the other side of the old town a guy did the worlds highest wave of 100 ft! The waves are biggest in wintertime, so even if we stopped here because of much wind it was not enough to get waves like this.

Here is a video about this huge wave:

OMG… they had so much nice icecreams….

This is the mother of a cat family next to the marina. She had two kittens and they were so amazing. If it was easier to bring cats back home I would have taken all three of them. (I guess the kittens were too young to leave their mother)

We didn`t manage to go to Lisbon from Cascais, but we found a bus from Nazare, and buses are more liable than the train in Portugal (says people in Portugal). And it was still a lot of fog in Nazare so it was okay to take a trip more inland.

Lisbon

But, be sure, the bus is not going all the way to Lisbon. It stops in a bus terminal quite far from the city center, so you have to take a train or tram to reach the city center. We took the train and had to change the train one more place. It was so stressful!

We have never been in Lisbon so we didn`t had any exact plan where to go. Just walking around to see the best attractions!

This is the place you start your day in Lisbon, the earlier the better, when it is less people around and the light is better.

The tram is very popular and we had a plan to try it out, but it was better to see it from outside.

Lisbon is very popular for tuk tuk travelling and we met a sweet girl who wanted to take us around. It was not cheap, but we decided it was a better way to see many things instead of walking around.

There are different viewpoints in Lisbon and this is one of them. Lisbon lies on many hills so there are many ups and downs if you are walking around.

Catarina was driving us around, in the total traffic chaos…

Another viewpoint.

Catarina and me. You will find her on Instagram as Vibe on Tour and also on Tripadvisor, so if you are in Lisbon, check her out!

Catarina in her tuktuk.

Portugal is very known for their tiles.

After the trip with Catarina we walked around in the city center.

But we had to take the train back to the bus station so we didn`t had much time. When we arrived at the bus station we had 20 minutes before the bus departed.

Here is a video from todays exploring in Lisbon:

After a sunny day in Lisbon, we came back to the fog in Nazare.

And the next morning it was the same…. We decided to sail further north.

I really wanted to go up to the old town, but as you can see, it was nothing to see there (on the left side of town, in the hill)

Casais Maduros/Figueira da Foz

We sailed to Figueira da Foz and stopped in the marina there. From home we know a couple, Anne Grethe and Kjetil, and we knew they have a house in Portugal. So I contacted Anne Grethe, who was in Norway at the moment, but Kjetil was in Portugal and really wanted us to come by. Since this place is like in the middle of nowhere (it felt like that), he came to Figueira da Foz to pick us up.

Casais Maduros is a small village with olives and oaks and lies between Lisbon and Porto, one hour from the ocean.

Their house is beautiful and the garden is so cozy, we had a lovely evening together with Kjetil. He made a delicious dinner and we were talking until early morning.

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The next morning it was some kind of celebration in the village, and a lot of tractors were passing by the house.

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They were decorated, a lot of people onboard and they made a lot of noise!

Check out this video:

It was time to explore Anne Grethe and Kjetils huge project, the property they bought in 2018, 6 years after they bought the other house, to make a way to earn living. It is in a short distance from the house and lies in a quiet part of the village.

And Kjetil really impress me! This table is a huge stone where he has putted small tiles on.

Since 2021 Kjetil has lived here, while Anne Grethe is still travelling between. Kjetil has worked full time with renovating and making inventory.

The main house has 6 bedrooms with total beds for 10 people and there is an annex with 1 double room. In both places you will find kitchen and bathrooms. Their plan is to make this to a place for retreat, like yoga, biodanza, Chigong.

I am using some of Anne Grete and Kjetil`s photos here, because when we were visiting it was not as tidy as this 🙂

Anne Grethe will offer massage and laser treatments, and she is also working together with a local woman, who also do massage, that lives only some minuts away.

You can also use it for different courses, self-development, arts and crafts, and you can use the kitchen to make food together.

For tourists you can rent the house for the family, friends, reunions, and small groups. Anne Grethe and Kjetil will help you with guiding and practic information.

You can have a swim in the swimmingpool with salt water.

Everything is handmade by Kjetil. What a patience he has!

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For the bathroom:

So beautiful and colorful tiles!

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Close to the property you will find the pilgrimpath going from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela.

They are not ready to open this place yet, but next year they will welcome you!

If you have any questions about this amazing place, just let me know, and I will give you contactinformation for Anne Grethe and Kjetil.

A last photo of their beautiful privat house.

After this amazing visit at Anne Grethe and Kjetils two properties, Kjetil took us to the supermarket (even if it was Sunday it was open) before he took us back to the boat.

Thank you so much for having us Kjetil! Looking forward to see you again!

Here is the waiting dock while you are checking in. It was perfect wind for sailing so we hoisted the sail and went further north.

Porto

We had a overnight in Sao Jacinto before we sailed further north to Porto. In Port we anchored in the river, west of the marina. It was a beautiful morning when we woke up the next day.

It was a challenge to take the dinghy ashore here, because of the difference between high tide and low tide, but we manage to get ashore (it was my problem, not Astors 🙂 )

We didn`t tried the tram in Lisbon, but here in Porto it was a nice way to get to city center.

Not many people onboard that early in the morning.

The tram stopped right outside the city center.

We found a “free walking tour with guide” in Porto and thought that would be perfect to see much of the city in 2 hours.

So many beautiful buildings in Porto!

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We went to the meetingpoint to be ready, but as we were a little bit early we check the area around, like here is the view to the bridge.

And a lot of shopping.

Our first stop was at the railwaystation. It is known for all the tiles. People are not coming here to take the train, but mostly to see the tiles.

The tiles has different stories from the history of Porto/Portugal.

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We were walking around to see the most popular attractions.

Barbara was the perfect guide!

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And as always we visited the market.

We were a small group, me together with a girl from Germany.

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Barbara wanted to show us this library, but luckily we shouldn`t visited it. All the people outside are waiting to come inside (you need a ticket) and the line was looooong! The library is Livraria Lello, most known as the Harry Potter library.

And we ended in this park.

After this guided trip we needed some lunch, but at that time it was hard to find a table. We walked around for a while and found a small restaurant a little bit far from the main streets.

The catholic church Igreja do Carmo was amazing from the outside. It was a line to get inside.

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We walked to the bridge we saw earlier and got an amazing view!

The river of Douro. I really wanted to take the train up the river, but Astor didn`t want to spend money on that.

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Here is a video from todays walk in Porto:

When we came back to the boat we found another Norwegian boat close to us and stopped for a chat. They were sailing south. We started sailing north. It is a quite distance up to the border of Spain, so we took a short sail up the river to Vila do Conde. In the inlet we touched the sand and I didn`t want to sail further in, but Astor said it was okay. We actually didn`t had any alternative.

Vila do Conde

When we came in to the dock it looked full and I was just tired. But then a man showed up and asked if we needed help with mooring and showed us a space between two boats. The boat fit exactly! Another guy also helped us with the ropes. It is so nice to get help when the stream is hard and you don`t manage to moor alone.

When we finished mooring and looked back where we came from we saw the fog was coming in after us and in a moment it was grey all around us. Unfortunaly we forgot to take a photo of that. Luckily the next morning the fog was gone.

This was a cozy little town and had a short distance to Lidl, so the next morning we had to walk there before sailing further north.

That was the end of Portugal. I was looking forward to see Portugal, unfortunately we had too much fog along the Atlantic coast. But we still had some nice days here. In our next post we are back in Spain, on the northern side of the country.