travelogue: portugal, part 1 cascais

kam and ghazaleh are the reasons we visited portugal. they picked up and left their north vancouver home to spend a year in cascais to be near ghazaleh's family.  

cascais is a pretty little seaside town just outside lisbon. long ago it was the favoured retreat for the portuguese royals. the top photos is of casa de santa maria, a mediterranean style villa built in 1092 as a summer home for royalty and is now a museum filled with traditional painted tiles, arches and oil painted ceiling. it shares the coastline with a blue and white, red topped lighthouse overlooking the bay... creating a dreamy view.

on the main square, people watching is a great sport. local ladies hanging their laundry to dry from second story balconies and old gentlemen in caps walking and getting together for chats. we visited chequers, ghazaleh's parents' restaurant where kai devoured a pizza which he says was the most delicious pizza ever. we were then invited to eat a lavish persian dinner at their home too. lucky us.

oh, and you'll find a really great gelato too... try santini's pistachio and stracciatella gelato.

across from the main square is the praia dos pescadores, translated as fisherman's beach. here you will see a small harbour of fishing boats bobbing on the water, octopus nets and other fishing tools, and rustic houses in the background painted with pastel hues and thick coats of white.

staying along the water, you reach the citadel of cascais and then casa de santa maria.

cascais has a long Atlantic coastline which we explored with kam and ghazaleh. we admired praia de guincho. it has a secluded beach and is a favourite among windsurfers and kite boarders. next time, i want to ride the seven km bike path there from cascais.

we took an afternoon trip to sintra where in the mountains high above the village are a cluster of castles in bright colours, the palacio nacional da pena and the moorish castle, but it was so congested with tourists that we skipped it.  

instead, we stayed in the village, strolling the narrow streets, popping into the shops, getting ice cream for the kiddos, and eating more sardines!  stefan tried a traditional portuguese liqueur called ginjinha, a sour cherry liqueur made from morello cherries, sugar and  sometimes cinnamon. it was served in a chocolate cup which is a bit touristy but he says also delicious.

kam took us to the duna da cresmina where we walked along the boardwalk amongst the dunes with the rolling waves of the atlantic. the cafe on site served treats and warm drinks... much needed when the rain decided to join us on the dunes.

and then a quick stop to europe's most westerly point, cabo da roca, with its lighthouse and windswept cliffs.

we stayed at the sheraton, right across the lawn from kam and ghazaleh's apartment. our days began with lavish breakfasts at their place (but the persian tea was much too strong for me!) and much lounging before getting out to explore. much playing happened too... elika and i detangled most of her barbies' hair and kayan loved kicking a ball around with kai. 

usually on vacation, we (okay, maybe just me) are eager to get out to make the most of our days exploring but it was really nice to slow it down. it felt like a true vacation... thank you kam and ghazaleh for your hospitality; we miss you and your kiddos.

 

next up... lisbon! hint, we loved it.