Month: September 2022

We started the day a little bit later than we expected, but found the local bus station in Cascais and hopped a bus out northwest to Sintra. This area is home to home upon home built in the romantic style, and it was one charming chalet after castle after another. Unfortunately this area really requires a week long visit at the very least, and we only had one afternoon.

One of the tour books says that the Pena Castle looks like something out of the movie Shrek, and we agree that it’s totally got a Far Far Away look to it. It’s not nearly as old as other European castles, thanks to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 that left everything in the area a pile of rubble. Ferdinand II had the castle built upon the grounds of the monastery that originally stood there.

I found everything about the castle quite gaudy, but irresistible at the same time. The views from every corner were spectacular, and the color scheme kind of grew on you after a while.

Lisbon has several marinas up river, but also has a wicked current. Alternatively, there’s an anchorage right in the town of Cascais at the mouth of the river and Lisbon is only 40 minutes up by train. Cascais is a very charming town on its own, if a bit touristy. The marina and surroundings are clearly aimed at a much more upscale crowd, but things are still pretty affordable.

Wandering through town viewing the fabulous architecture, the pretty neighborhoods, the dramatic coastline, and it’s always fun to people watch. Football (American soccer) has always been big in Portugal, but this was the first place we’d seen where they play (I don’t know the actual name, but…….) a combination of football and volleyball. Played on a volleyball court with the net, only your feet, thighs, chest & head can be used. No hands. Difficult to do & impressive to watch. Lots of restaurants too. Gone are our days of cheap little taxca meals (think local tavern food), but we’re still eating well (& spending less – just not as less).

Funny enough, boats that we met in Leixoes are all following the same path south, and this is one of the major stops. We’ve already seen a few boats in the anchorage that we recognize.

Despite the delay in days waiting for the headstay replacement, it worked in our favor to wait for the seas leftover from the storm to ease. Unfortunately, so did the wind. We had a lovely sail for several hours down the coast, but eventually the wind died and we were forced to motor.

Most boats were opting to sail only during the day due to Orca attacks on sailboats that have been occurring for three years now with no end in sight. No one knows why, but they (often juveniles) slam the boat from side to side and chew on the rudder, often completely disabling boats and requiring tows to shore. To reduce the risk, many boats move in water no deeper than 20 meters (60 feet), as attacks only seem to happen in deeper water. This is dangerously close to shore (rocks), and involves looking out for ever present fish traps, and requires movement only during the day.

Many boats make the offshore passage without incident, but it’s the boats getting “attacked” that make the news and stay in our minds. Most of these incidents were happening 80+ miles to the north (where the tuna are currently running), and we have a bottom color (red as opposed to the more appetizing black) as well as a hull/rudder design that should not attract Orcas. Off we went offshore. We saw plenty of dolphins, new jelly fish (barrels), a few birds that actually landed on board, but no Orcas – whew. We were lucky, as a boat was attacked in the same waters just three days after we passed through (so much for theories).

We did make one stop in Peniche, to rest for a couple of hours and wait for the wind to become more favorable again. It was a lovely anchorage that we had to ourselves in front of a dune swept beach. We were able to nap a bit, and then take off again early evening, knowing we would reach the Cascais anchorage in daylight rather than in the dark.

The headstay was down, a new one had been ordered, a storm was rolling through in a few days, so we decided to go visit Porto. It’s only 30 minutes by bus and quite the visit.

We were a bit shell shocked at the size of the city and the crowds, but immediately loved the vibe. This is a city you could walk around for hours (mind the hills). Fabulous architecture, lots of history, stopping here and there for a meal, coffee, or cocktails, and street musicians everywhere. On the other side of the river is where the famous port wine distilleries are. I’m sure we just barely scratched the surface, but had such a lovely couple of days wandering around.

Day two was particularly nice when Trip managed to finagle a spot for us at the Barao Fladgate dining room terrace (reservations were required and they were booked up, but……. We were celebrating our 10 year anniversary early and a divine lunch of local octopus for me and rack of pork for him followed by 30 year tawny port was exactly what we needed. It was off for more walking after that!

Leixoes is the hidden treasure of the Porto region. Not nearly as picturesque as Porto, it’s on the coast with some amazing beaches and a recreational marina protected inside a huge industrial complex. We anchored out the first couple of days before getting chased inside so a commercial dredger could do work where we were.

The restaurants in Leixoes are inexpensive, plentiful, and incredibly tasty. So far we’ve tried fried/grilled sardines, tripe (a local Porto specialty), and cuttlefish. Other than the cuttlefish (I prefer squid), everything has exceeded our expectations!

The beach is long, open and exposed, and we’ve spent many an afternoon here at local bars catching up on Internet stuff and watching the local surf crowd. It was particularly fun to watch just before and after tropical storm Danielle ran up the coast….