Portugal Day 2 – Cascais, Estoril and Belem

Day 2 (18/10/2008)

I don’t know how I just walked straight past a Metro underground station when trying to find it near the hotel. At that point I thought that this city didn’t have underground trains and the only transportation they had were these tiny trams and buses. How could this be?

After walking up and down the main road, waiting at the tram and bus stops, looking at the maps on display I was adamant that there were trains; I just had to find them.

The Metro Underground train do exist but in the suburbs they are not marked very well. It was just a rectangular sign which said Metro on it (obviously) but I walked pass 2 of them. There is a stairwell leading down to the train station but since I was walking the opposite way, I didn’t even see the stairs. What’s wrong with my vision?

At the Intendente metro station I purchased a ticket to go to Cais do Sodre in order to catch another train to Cascais which was towards the coast. The return ticket was 1.70EUR but its worth mentioning that you get yourself a travel card or something for the weekend/week.

With the ticket purchased it was time descend to the train but I was stuck at the barrier to reach the train. Basically the ticket was like a piece of fine cardboard paper, so I was expecting to slot it into the machine near the barrier and just walk through. Wrong! There were no slots, so I was thinking, what the hell? Then this old lady who was on the other side started yelling at me in most likely Portuguese but I had no idea what she was saying but her charades worked. It turns out that this ticket must be swiped on the pad so there must be some sort of encoding on it that these pads can read. Ah this technology has out-smarted me.

It was a fairly short trip to Cais do Sodre where I disembarked and purchased another ticket to Cascais. These tickets were not the same as the ones on Metro but you can put credit on it for that journey. Cais do Sodre to Cascais is about 40 minutes.

Cascais in its former life was a small fishing town but now is a popular holiday town which is not surprising. You can enjoy a walk along the beach or hang out at the many cafes overlooking the coast. You can wander through the cobbled streets, or head towards the marina to gawk at all the yachts. You might even be interested in visiting the castle or take a dip at the beach. If you fancy a walk like I did, head down to Boca de Inferno (Hell’s Mouth) and along the way admire the lovely Portuguese coast line. Don’t forget to protect yourself from the sun with the sunscreen as the sun can be scorching out there.

After a couple hours in Cascais it was time to bid farewell and head to the next town Estoril which is a walk-able distance, but I opted for the train instead (2 stops). Estoril has the famous Estoril Casino and some nice beaches plus salt water swimming pools for those who don’t want to take a dip in the ocean. Beware of those characters who roam the beach side trying to sell you jewellery; they can be somewhat annoying despite not being faintly interested in what they are selling.

I chose a great day to head to the coast where the sun was shining while back in Lisbon it was raining and it looked miserable with the dark clouds. Just before heading back to the hotel I made a stop to Belem to check out the Torre de Belém (Tower of Belem), Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery).

Also from Belem you can see what looks to be like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco but it is The 25th of April Bridge. The other similarity is that it is the same construction company who built it. At the end of the bridge is a giant statue of Jesus but not to the scale of the one in Rio de Janeiro. You could say that the statue in Portugal is like the sister statue to the one in Brazil.

smiles