Leaping around Lisbon
The Guinness
Hennessy's was an Irish theme pub, set out on two floors and stuffed full of Irish paraphernalia. There we found our first person in Portugal who spoke English and ordered some drinks and sat down to celebrate finding a Guinness in Portugal, almost as easily as we had in Cardiff. The food smelt good and as we ordered some I explained my mission and asked the barman to perform his duty.
A cool Guinness in hot Lisboa
As we were eating our meal, young Patrick and his co-workers really came up trumps and bought us over some Guinness gifts; a massive Guinness hat and four pocket torches that cheekily projected a picture of a Guinness glass onto the wall. This was the first place that appeared to honestly grasp what I was up to and enter into the spirit of it all as opposed to whispering in the background that there's some nutter in the bar drinking Guinness.
Patrick pouring me a Guinness
Getting There and around
We flew from Luton to Lisbon before hiring a car and heading for the seaside village of San Pedro de Moel, a few hours drive north of Lisbon and comprising of just a few streets, handful of cafes, restaurants and shops. The sandy beach stretched for miles and the waves were crashing in. To get back to Lisbon for the day and have the Guinness we took a bus from the nearby town of Marinha Grande.
Team Makeup
A family holiday
The team - outside Hennesey's in Lisbon
Accommodation
A Keycamp chalet with a gas barbecue and plenty of board games.
Food
The first night of the holiday we ate the Portuguese speciality of Bacalhau pie made from dried cod. It was very palatable and the almond cake for pudding was even more delicious.
The following night we ventured out to a restaurant in our village of San Pedro de Moel. The waiter, a strange looking tall chap in an ill-fitting suite, made an impression on the boys in particular by his disdainful expression when we asked if the dishes came with vegetables. 'We don't serve French fries here if that's what you mean' was his retort in a pleasant style. The fish meals were very good. Margaret and I had the selection of local fish and the boys had something equally adventurous and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a real treat to see the boys being adventurous in their food and enjoying the whole experience.
Returning to Lisbon we stopped off in Peniche, a fishing port. For lunch I had sardines, a speciality of the area. It took a few minutes before I realised that they hadn't been gutted - something else for me to worry about.
The fishing town of Peniche
Sightseeing highlights
We had just half a day to explore Lisbon by the time we’d had the Guinness and our lunch. This enables us to wander through the main square and view the impressive buildings, statues and trolley buses that the city appears to claim is a tourist attraction, a bit like London buses I guess. Behind the main square a pedestrianised road leads up into the city and was lined with stalls.
The trams of Lisbon
Quirky moments
Our final day out was to Coimbra, an old University town. It was a day of ups and downs. We found the town itself no problem but then parking was a real nightmare. After driving around for a long time we ended up back on the outskirts. I stopped at a roundabout but the car behind me did differently and drove into the back of us. We pulled over and tried to sort things out. Fortunately no one was hurt but unfortunately the lady driving spoke no English. We managed to call the police somehow and when they arrived they also spoke little English. Everybody remained calm. The police said everything was ”no pronblemo”. The requisite forms were filled in and everyone shook hands and drove away - all very calm indeed.
The university town of Coimbra
Lasting Memories
The laid-back nature of the Portuguese. The fish. It was also nice to visit somewhere that English wasn’t always spoken.
A crazy looking building in Lisbon
Out of the City
One day we went to Obidos, a small medieval walled town on the road back towards Lisbon. Giant free car parks and far less crowds than the guidebooks had warned about made the whole experience very pleasant. The ramparts that surround Obidos are still intact and open to the public, the only thing being that the safety inspectors haven't yet visited. The one-meter wide path on top of the wall is fine if you have a head for heights and nobody comes towards you. On the outer side of the path is the wall but on the inside is a sheer drop down. The good thing I suppose in the olden days was that if you did fall off you fell inside the city and could be scrapped up and buried with your friends.
The walls of Obidos
The next day we went off to visit the gothic Batalha Monastery. Its looks very austere and is absolutely massive with lots of towers and buttresses. It is surrounded by a mass of granite paved area which the sun was bouncing off. The main entrance is surrounded with some 70 small statues of characters from the Old Testament. Inside we happened upon the tomb of Henry the Navigator.
The door at Batalha Monastery
Next we visited Grutas de Moeda, the Coin Caves which were discovered relatively recently in 1971 by two hunters chasing a fox. I reckon that their dog probably discovered the caves but they just didn't want to give it the credit. They then spent two months exploring and digging out the caves before presumably and hopefully flogging them off to be the tourist attraction they are today. Unfortunately there has been a bit too much interference from man for my liking with concerted floors and coloured lighting installed everywhere but there is no getting away from the fact that they are a remarkable passage of caves and equally remarkable remained undiscovered for so long. I wonder whatever happened to the fox?
