Tuesday was Michael’s birthday!

That meant the day was all about him, and what he wanted to do. And rightfully so! We started our morning by walking up to the very nice square, just around the corner from the apartment.

There’s a good little cafe overlooking the square, so we stopped for a bit and had some breakfast. The food was good and we had the opportunity to relax in the morning sun. It was a nice start to the day.

From there, we explored a bit, walking through the twisting, narrow streets. There are a lot of really interesting buildings, and they use that vibrant blue and white colour palette to great effect. It really is quite a pretty town. The surf was fairly calm, so there was not a lot to see in terms of surfers - I think we were already too late in the morning.

Looking down on the beach below our apartment. This was early in the morning, so there were not a lot of people about.

From the balcony, we could watch some of the surfers. This beach didn’t normally have surfers, but I think this was a small surf school of beginners.

The square near the apartment.

One of the beautifully decorated buildings in town that we checked out on our wanderings.

Walking a little further afield, this was the beach on the other side of the breakwater. The waves were a bit bigger out this way.

The beach was a little busier this afternoon.

After wandering and exploring the town for a bit, Michael decided that he wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach. It was such a beautiful day, that we were all up for it.

There was a nice little beach right below us, so we packed up the bit of gear we needed, and headed down. Our host had provided a lot of beach gear, but no towels. We ended up buying some at one of the little shops in town. The prices were OK and the quality seemed quite good.

We picked out a spot on the sand - the sand here is very nice - and lounged for a while. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. The sun was warm, there was a bit of a breeze and we all started to unwind. I was determined to get in the water and play in the waves. But the water looked cold! Eventually I got up the nerve to go for a swim. The waves forced a quick entry, and the water was not as bad as I feared. It was cold, but not as bad as even the water around Galiano.

Hanging out at the beach bar. It ended up being our go to for the rest of the time there.

Looking down on the beach bar - such a great spot!

The waves were decent - not huge, but fairly powerful, and it was great fun floating in the cold waters of the Atlantic, trying to body surf the bigger waves as try came in. I even managed to get Justine in for a little bit, but the waves were freaking her out. I stayed a while longer, before heading in to warm up in the afternoon sun.

Eventually, we headed over to the beach bar that sits out on the sand. They had deck chairs and permanent umbrellas and drinks at the ready. We had a couple of drinks, toasting Michael’s birthday and enjoyed the afternoon sun. Eventually we headed back to the apartment to get ready for dinner.

Justine and Maureen headed up to the grocery store to pick up a few munchies for us to have with drinks before going for dinner.

One of Justine’s cousins had asked us to buy a bottle of champagne for us to have for Michael’s birthday, and so we had grabbed proper champagne at the duty free shop at the airport. So we opened that with some meats and cheeses and toasted the birthday boy, while enjoying the sun setting over the ocean. The views from the deck off Maureen and Michael’s bedroom were perfect this time of year. The sun set perfectly in line with the gap between the surrounding buildings, looking out over the ocean. It was a pleasant end to the day. Then we were off to dinner, which ended up being a disaster!

As we wanted to do something special, Justine had reached out to the owner of the apartment for a recommendation on a great spot for dinner. He had suggested a fish restaurant nearby, and yesterday we had stopped in and made a reservation. It looked perfect - it sat up on the edge of the cliff looking out over the water. We planned it so we could enjoy the proper sunset, and it looked great. They had a spectacular fish counter that you could pick your fish from. It all seemed great.

Heading into the restaurant we were excited for dinner. Coming back out was a different story.

But when we showed up, the service was, let’s just say brusque. You are supposed to pick your fish at the start, but we didn’t really understand the process, and were certainly made to feel like we were imposing on them to want to get seated first and figure things out.

A great sunset, with great company.

The food was spectacular, the service, not so much.

And it just went downhill from there. I won’t get into the details, but it was the worst service I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. Our waiter was rude at times, but mostly just completely ignored us. The good news was that the fish was spectacular, but we quickly paid and left and will not ever go back or recommend the place. Such a waste - it should have been an amazing night.

We still wanted desert, so we headed up into the old town. We didn’t have a lot of luck, and the place we decided on was OK at best. We were striking out tonight. So we waived the white flag and headed home, having one last drink on the night before heading to bed. And even that was rough - the noise was ridiculous with people on the street, even keeping me up (which takes a lot!).

Cascais

Wednesday was our last full day with Michael and Maureen. I got up early and went for a walk by myself, heading first south long the beach, before weaving back through town me then north for a while. I sat and watched some surfers for a bit before heading home to meet up with everyone.

The morning light was nice and I had the beach mostly to myself.

As I was wandering this morning, there were goats! Just randomly wandering the streets of the own. Most people seemed to find this rather ordinary.

They clearly were not concerned about people.

I think moma goat and her little one - there was some drame when they needed to cross the road and the little one was clearly not sure how to do it.

The plan for the days was to drive south about an hour to the town of Cascais to explore and see some new sights. It’s another beach town, but it got rave reviews and we felt like we needed to explore a bit further and see more of Portugal. So we packed up the car and headed out. The drive south was pretty quick - only ~45 minutes - and initially started south of Ericeira, weaving along the coast. We made a quick stop at a lookout point just outside of Ericeira, which provided a great view back to the town.

After that, the road wound its way through a valley before heading to the highway. There was not a lot to say about the drive really. The best bit was some views of Sintra as we went by that area, but generally it was just open highway and not very exciting. Before long, we headed into Cascais, and were winding down to the harbour. We thought that we had found a prime parking spot, but a local was kind enough to advise us that it was not parking. More of an offloading spot.

Looking out to the castle in Cascais. We were parked not far from here, and it proved a great spot to explore the town from.

We ended up finding some parking on the other side of the harbour close to the castle. From there, we wandered down into the harbour and checked out the sights. It’s a very pretty little seaside town, with lots of little beaches along the coast. We walked up a few shopping streets but it was pretty touristy nonsense. After we got tired of wandering, we headed into the centre of town and found a place on a patio in the shade to have some lunch. The food was not as good as last night, but the service was much better!

Looking into the main harbour in Cascais

It’s a beautiful little beach town. The small inner harbor was busy, with lots of small boats coming and going and the beaches were quite busy with people swimming. I’m guessing the water is warmer than where we were staying.

It’s seems I took quite a few photos to basically the same view! More to come when I get a chance to go through the pics from my proper camera.

After much we grabbed some gelato for a nice treat in the hot sun of the afternoon. We continued to explore for a bit, walking up and through the castle. They have converted most of the inside of the buildings to small shops and galleries. It was really quite nice.

We got a closer look at the castle, walking around and then through the impressive structure.

That bit of exploration put us out pretty much right by the car, and so it was time to hop in the car and drive back to Ericeira. The drive back was easy, with no stops along the way. We had some fun finding parking near the apartment (that’s the risk of moving the car) but eventually we managed to find a spot.

We then got organized and headed back down to the beach! The weather was quite a bit calmer than yesterday - warmer, less windy but also less waves. Rather than sitting on the beach, we found some chairs at the beach bar with enough shade and sun to make everyone happy. We ordered some drinks and enjoyed the afternoon.

Another great afternoon hanging out at the beach.

I was the only one brave enough to get in the water today. It was seemingly colder today, and less fun without the waves. Still, it was nice to float in the ocean and enjoy the water. I didn’t stay in too long - it was cold - but long enough to enjoy it.

The beach bar - we enjoyed our time at the beach!

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging at the beach bar. We had a few more drinks and hung out until late in the afternoon. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment, got ourselves cleaned up to head out for dinner.

For dinner, we went to a tapas bar that we had tried to go to on the first night (closed on Mondays) and had a nice wine and some food. The food was a mixed bag - some was really good, others just OK, but it was a nice place and we enjoyed the evening. Later we walked through the town a bit before heading home and having a night cap before heading off to bed. We had an early start the next morning to get Michael and Maureen to the airport.

I probably should have included these in the last post, but here are a series of photos of the apartment in Ericeira.