We had booked another tour with Inside Lisbon before leaving the US. This time it was for an excursion outside the city of Lisbon to
Sintra and Cascais.
We met our guide, Sofia, at the designated meeting spot and along with a small group (young guy from Australia, couple from Germany and a gentleman from China), we were leaving the bustling metropolis of Lisbon.
Along the way, Sofia pointed out many interesting places.
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| Queen Mary the Crazy |
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| National Guard |
Part of the tour included a trip to the
Pena National Palace and prior to visiting the palace, we walked/hiked through the beautiful park.
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| Queen's Throne - where she could look out over the city and also view the palace. |
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| View of the Palace from the Queen's throne in the park. |
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| "The Giant" looking out over the city. |
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| Seteais Palace |
This was a very beautiful spot, but extremely windy! Roca Cape is the same lattitude as New York City.
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The varying shades of water, leading from shallow to deeper with the white at the horizon being clouds.
Pretty spectacular! |
Thankfully no one got blown over and we were soon on our way again.
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| Too windy for most sunbathers. |
The town of
Sintra was very small and a tourist trap. But we got to enjoy the people watching, have a little lunch and stoll about for a bit.
Our next stop was
Cascais, a former fishing village. And now "The Portugal Riviera".
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| View of Cascais overlooking the marina. |
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| Cascais still remains an active fishing town. |
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| The Cascais Mermaid looking out for the seagoing fisherman. |
Whew! It was a full day outside of Lisbon and thankfully the weather, while windy in some places, was nice. Sofia was a great guide and offered some suggestions for dinner that evening. We decided on
Ribadouro, known for it's seafood and was right down the street from the hotel.
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| Shellfish soup - almost like a bisque and very tasty |
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Top - veal with an egg and french fries.
Bottom - shrimp with potatoes and scrambled egg. (Unbelievably amazing!) |
After dinner, we needed to walk off the delicious dinner we enjoyed and decided to take the "long way" back to the hotel. We crossed the street and went down one more block to a smaller street that runs behind the fancy stores and shops. We looked in the window and saw what appeared to be a food court! (There was a sign for
H3, which is a hamburger place our Gourmet Tour guide, Paolo told us about a few nights ago.)
I must digress for a moment here because fast food (as we know it) in Portugal is pretty much non-existant. Yes, there is a McDonald's near the main square, but they have only recently become accepted by the general population. Portuguese take their food seriously and enjoy their mealtimes. McDonald's here has had to modify their menu offerings in order to compete. For example, they have had to add traditional Portuguese soups, sausages, cod dishes, beer, (yes beer), etc. So for roughly the same price as a McDonald's combo meal, you can get a grilled hamburger (with some very interesting toppings including eggs and foie gras), chips and a fresh limonada at H3. So we decided we would have lunch there the next day.
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Frank opted for the H3 Benedict (with a perfectly poached egg and sauteed spinach).
I went for the plain grilled H3. |
You'll note they are served on china plates with real silverware, sans buns. Portuguese people eat as much beef as they do seafood! These burgers were thick, juicy and cooked perfectly! Glad we ventured off the beaten path the other night otherwise we would have missed out on this local treasure, in a food court.
