Today we’ve piled onto a tour with a bunch of Cruise Critic folks. The company is called “We hate tourism tours” and – as you can probably imagine – is pretty eclectic. The tour guides show up right on time at 8am in 2 VW buses – red and bright yellow – decorated with all sorts of caricatures and cute sayings.
The tour actually goes to most of the places we’ve been before, but we figured it would be great to get commentary along with all the sights – so what the heck! First stop was up in Chiado, the now trendy area of Lisbon near Barrio Alto. We stopped at Carmo Square where the Military police is headquartered, and is the site of the where the most recent revolution ended (when the Prime Minister took shelter in the Police headquarters, unfortunately it was a military coup, and he soon surrendered). The square is also the site of a cathedral that was destroyed during a large earthquake that occurred during services. Virtually all the deaths during the quake occurred here, so they never rebuilt the cathedral, but left it as a memorial to the dead.
Also right off the square is one of the elevators of Lisbon. Actually, it’s the only true elevator in Lisbon – since they call the funiculars elevators. But this one actually is an elevator. We could walk out to the platform for a bird’s eye view of Lisbon’s downtown area. You can see how the “new” part of the city (after the earthquake and tsunami) is laid out in a grid pattern with squares and broad avenues. Very nice overlook into the city.
Clambering back into our trusty van, we head off down the steep and winding roads of Lisbon proper heading out of town toward our next stop, Belem. Belem is famous for the Belem Tower, originally built to guard the Tagus river, the Patron Memorial built to commemorate the navigators who discovered Lisbon, the Belem Monastery and cathedral. The area is beautiful with parks and gardens all over. Also the seaside promenade that runs as far as the eye can see, from the tower toward Lisbon.
Of course, Belem is famous for one other thing: The Belem Tart. According to local legend, the Nuns in the convent here used egg whites to get wrinkles out of clothing, so they had a lot of left over egg yolks. Trying to figure out what to do with the egg yolks, they experimented about and ended up making a custard tart. They added a pastry crust and started serving them at Mass on Sundays. Church became very popular after that – and a legend – and famous treat was born! Now a patisserie down the street makes the tarts, on average of 15 – 20,000 per day, however they have recorded a record 56,000 in one day! Wow! And boy, did they live up to their legend! Marta, our guide, had gone to the bakery and purchased one for each of us while we were sight seeing around the monuments. Served out of the back of the van – these little sweets were really a treat!
Now that we have our sugar high, we head off to Cascais, the beautiful beachside community, passing through Estoril and their famous casino on the way. The drive is nice, first time we’ve driven down the coast. The last time we were here, we took the train, so the scenery from the car is different and beautiful. Plus of course, the commentary. Marta is very personable and knowledgeable and imparts tons of different information – some of which I’ve retained, most of which I’ve not. 
We have 30 minutes to wander around Cascais – so we stop off at a café for cappuccino and water. Then we leisurely wander over to the fort where our vans are waiting to pick us up, basking in the sunshine, watching the sun bathers and sailors in the bay, as well as the fisherman and their lobster/crab pots.
Further up the coast we head, into the National park where the luxury apartments and homes give way to windswept landscapes, and large white sand beaches. You can see how windy it is on this side of the coast. The vegetation tends to be short and hardy, the dunes reinforced with sea oats and sand fencing, and the surfers abundant, particularly at one beach that ends in a semi-protected little bay/cove area. We keep pressing Northwest, finally ending at Cabo da Roca, the western most point of all Europe. Next stop, USA, if you decide to jump or sail or what have you!
It’s beautiful up here, with an old, but operational lighthouse. But it’s cold and windy, and the clouds are rolling in. We still spend a few minutes wandering around the cliffs, taking in the vistas and endless ocean views.
Lunchtime! Yay. Next up, we head a few minute away to O Farol, a quaint little restaurant with full glass windows overlooking the lighthouse at the point and the windswept Atlantic ocean. We’re the only customers, so we have the place to ourselves with a family style luncheon of wonderful, salty/sweet bread, olives, cheese and Bacalhau (the ubiquitous salted cod) fritters, plus chorizo, cooked table side in little ceramic dishes. The main course was a typical Portuguese soup (the name of which I’ve completely forgotten) with kale and chorizo. Free flowing wine, water and orange juice finished out a great little meal.
Our last stop is Sintra – a lovely drive through the national forest area, up into the mountains brings us to the pretty little mountain town. We once again have 1/2 hour to just wander the little cobblestone streets and soak up the atmosphere. It’s really busy here today though – tons of tourists, so we opt to hang out at a café with wine (the server mistook Ed’s cervaiza request for Vinho, so we had 2 glasses of wine instead of our usual beer and wine!). As we all meet back for our ride to Lisbon, Marta has one more surprise for us – the special treat of Ginjagai – sour cherry liqueur served in a chocolate cup! I’m thinking I’ll hate it – but actually it’s quite good! Good enough for us to buy a bottle of the liqueur to bring home (not the chocolate cups though – they’d be a melted blob by the time we’re done exploring Calabria!).
The drive back to Lisbon takes about 30 minutes, and we arrive at the ship with 15 minutes to spare for all aboard. Not shabby! Great day –and lovely tour. Very fun! Now we’re aboard sailing toward Brest – another day at sea tomorrow – then our last two ports! Wow – this has flown by!
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