Portugal Travelog: Salema to Lisbon (Day 4)

Our last day in Salema was met with denial and regret. We had found this wonderful home away from home. We knew how to get delicious pastries. We'd mastered the confusing wall mounted (what's that about?) hot water heater and most importantly had settled into a constant sequence of delicious grilled fish meals. Why were we being so rudely disrupted?

With these thoughts in my head I came fully to wakefulness and started my awake thoughts of the day - which sadly were not so different. I decided on one last walk on the beach before we schlepped our bags down the steps to the waiting Clio.

We packed, paid our bill at The Maré and said our good byes to Bettina. Down the hill and into the Clio and we hit the road. We drove west to Sagres and then took a small regional road - the N268 - north out of Villo Do Bispo. We drove this road for some time as it wandered further away from the Atlantic to our left. We saw giant windmills, small fields with cattle and rolling hills along with the occasional bicycle traveler. 

After a couple hours of beautiful relaxed driving, I was ready for lunch. We prepared to stop in the next town we hit which turned out to be the fascinating little town of Odemira. We stopped at the outskirts of town at a small scenic overlook before proceeding across the red steel bridge into town.

At this point I have to confess that Meg and I have a strange curiosity regarding cemeteries. We had seen signs for cemitérios along the way and when we saw the one at the end of the red bridge we couldn't resist. We followed the back road up a hill to a parking lot in front of an enclosed cemetery containing only raised monuments. Pardon the fun processing this image with Snapseed.

I was hungry so we didn't stay long. We drove back into town and searched for a restaurant... and searched... and searched. There seemed to be a lot of people, beautiful streets and even a few restaurants - but virtually no parking. Finally Meg spotted a menu on a post and a parking spot and we were set.

We walked into a small park to the building we suspected was attached to the menu and as I went to open the door, it swung open and a man beckoned us in. We quickly established that we could not speak Portuguese when I asked him whether they accepted credit cards. The answer was a clear no but he assured us there was an ATM nearby and that we should "...eat first and then pay". So we did.

Lunch was delicious! We pretty much put ourselves in his hands and ended up ordering two pretty traditional dishes including pork with clams. It was yet another delicious, inexpensive and most importantly friendly meal in Portugal.

It really was a delight - and another taste of what we would come to see as a very hospitable country. When I finished eating I asked for clarification as to where the ATM was, headed out while they held Meg as collateral, came back and enjoyed an espresso before deciding it was time to go. We had miles to travel to Lisboa and our next stop.

This turned out to be more difficult than we expected. We returned to our car to see it hemmed in by an ambulance. After 10 minutes of squirming (I was sure I could get it out), the locals took pity on us. The dentist from across the street came out, entered the store where we were parked and after a moment the ambulance driver came out and waving apologies moved up so we could extract our Clio.

But it was not to be that easy. Odemira was under a lot of construction and the TomTom very much wanted us to exit the town via a road which we could definitely not take. We flailed... and flailed... and flailed before TomTom locked on to a route that took us over hill and dale and out the other side of town. We were free!

When the TomTom routed us over this abyss trying
to get out of Odemira, we nearly lost faith.

Back on the road again we reveled in the beauty of the surrounding countryside. We drove through roads overhung by beautiful trees, passed vibrant fields of flowers and saw dramatic vistas as the country slowly opened up and became grazing land for cattle.

Next we hit a more major road (an "IC" road I think?) and started to increase velocity - until the Clio shook a bit - and then we hit the A2 to Lisboa - Portugal's interstate highway with a speed limit of 120 kph or about 75 mph. The lesson I had learned in Germany last year was quickly reinforced: lanes matter. In the right lane the speed limit apparently applied but in the left lane, not so much. We and the Clio stayed in the right lane a lot.

Along the way we noticed nesting storks. Last year, when we visited Germany and France, we found storks nesting in high places like church steeples. In Portugal, they seemed to favor any kind of man made pole - like old power lines.

On to Lisbon we drove! As we got closer the number of lanes grew to 3, then 4, then (I think) finally to 5 and the traffic picked up considerably. I'm used to driving in rural Vermont so this sort of thing gets my blood pressure up - especially when I'm in a foreign country. Meg taught me to keep breathing and we hoped fervently that the TomTom's maps were up to date in Lisbon. 

As we arrived in greater Lisbon, we crossed a giant bridge. I knew that Lisbon was on the River Tagus but I hadn't looked in to the bridge at all. It was amazing! It's called the April 25th Bridge in reference to the Carnation Revolution and it seems closely related to our own Golden Gate Bridge.

This image is a multi image panorama taken from later in the trip that is the best picture I have of the bridge.

We crossed the giant bridge and got off the A2 and followed the TomTom's directions. Shortly we were following a city bus through heavy, heavy traffic. Following the bus gave this rural driver the help I needed and before long we were docked and checked into the amazing Bairro Alto Hotel (highly recommended). We checked into our room which overlooked the Praça Camões. Luis Camões was a well loved poet and we ran into his legacy all over Lisbon.

We got settled and then headed out to get familiar with the neighborhood - the Bairro Alto neighborhood - and get some dinner. We walked around a bit and had dinner at the touristy Cervejaria Trindade before returning to the hotel and racking it.

Wet Hosta

Back to Vermont for a moment. Our hosta bathed in rainwater after dark last night.

Portugal Travelog: Salama (Day 3)

Day 3 in Salema started with us trying our best to pretend we actually lived there. We were falling in love and didn't want to ruin the illusion. We learned the day before that several trucks pull into town between 7 and 8 including both the fish truck (primarily for restaurants) and the bread/pastry truck. We were able to get down to town and get some absolutely delicious pastries to go with homemade french press coffee and orange juice we made from oranges we found at the mini mercado near the beach. Life was good.

We entertained a visiting cat (Bettina later confirmed it was probably her son's cat) and watched the local fisherman pull their boats out of the water (they must have headed out early!) before we got our act together and started to plan the day.

This photo shot from our terrace looking downtown to the beach
shows the ever present tractor pulling one of the two
signature fishing boats out of the surf.

My friend and colleague Chet had visited southern Portugal not so long ago and was mightily impressed by the area around the town of Sagres (apparently pronounced "Sa-gresh" - lots of soft "s" sounds in Portuguese). This is the westernmost point along the southern coast of Portugal and is home to two promontories which inhabit the tourist route: Cape Sagres and Cape Vincent.

We packed into the Clio again and headed west. Sagres is only 8 km or so away and at the main roundabout we headed north for 5 minutes before coming to Cape Vincent. There is a lighthouse here - purportedly one of the most powerful in Europe - and a small tourist shop and café exactly as you would expect.

What I didn't expect was the impact of this place. Cape Vincent juts into the Atlantic on cliffs rising several hundred feet out of the crashing Atlantic ocean. Despite the tourists and the man-made structures, it's a raw and elemental place.

First we looked south towards the town of Sagres. The little dots on the cliff are people.

Then north towards Lisbon.

Its difficult to describe the impact of the place. Despite the crowds and the "Last Bratwurst before America" food truck, it was sobering, serious and a bit puzzling to me. Faced with this, who climbs on a ship and sails out into that unknown?

We walked across the rugged terrain to the south to get out on the point in the picture above. We got a view back to the lighthouse.

We finally tore ourselves away from Cape Vincent and started the drive back towards Sagres. On the way to Cape Vincent we had noticed a large stone structure overlooking the water. We stopped to check it out and discovered that it was an apparently abandoned Pousada. It presided over a beautiful sheltered cove and had steps that went down to the water where some folks were fishing.

Back in the car and hungry now. We decided to try to find another restaurant that we had read about which was further up the coast. This involved some maps, navigation, cursing the TomTom, false starts and a very frightening road without guardrails that wound down through the hills to the ocean. It was a rather harrowing journey and we were starving. As we approached, I was giddy as it appeared we had the place to ourselves, like we had found a hidden pearl that nobody else knew about.

Alas this was not the case. Instead we learned the Portuguese word for "Closed". We had picked the wrong day of the week to visit Restaurante O Castelejo. Regardless the location was transcendent and completely impossible for us to capture with our cameras. The hills along the coastline that create those massive cliffs we had seen at Cape Vincent dip down on either side to an amazing, isolated beach that faces the churning Atlantic ocean.

We tore ourselves away from this amazing place and - now seriously hungry - headed back towards Sagres. We toured the town before we found the restaurant we were looking for which was a lovely beachfront place. The weather had turned and we had to hurry through the raindrops before getting a wonderful table overlooking the beach. Heaven - including cold beer.

Lunch was delicious. I got the quintessential Portuguese dish known as bacalhau - which is salted cod. The rumor is there are 365 different ways to prepare it in Portugal. This one was baked and paired with garbanzo beans, potatoes (always), a hard boiled egg and other veggies all infused with a bit of garlic. It was stunning. Meg's Salad Algarve turned out (we ordered blind) to be essentially a potato, tomato and onion salad - and did not include any fish as we had wagered.

After lunch - again very late in the day - we headed out to visit Cape Sagres. It was once home to Prince Henry the Navigator's School for Explorers (my words) where all the biggies went to train including Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama. In later years a fort was built on top of it and now it is a tourist attraction. You pay your money and find yourself in a big walled fort on top of a promontory jutting out into the ocean.

Once inside one of the first things you see is this giant circle - about 100 meters across - which dates back to the Navigator School days. It's not known exactly what it was used for but I found it rather amazing.

View to the north of the waves crashing towards a nearby beach.

When we came through the ticket gate, two local folks followed us (without paying) and quickly strode past us. They were loaded down with fishing gear. I had heard from my friend Chet that locals fished off these high cliffs but it was something to see in person. As we took the 45 minute walk around the grounds, we saw this fellow stringing tackle to dangle over the edge of the cliff, with one of the forts cannons in the foreground of this shot.

On the walk we encountered both snails - and a few people collecting them for dinner it seemed - and cats. This black cat seemed to be beckoning us along the path towards the old charnel house. We did not comply.

As we completed our walk around the fort, we came back by the old chapel beyond which we could see the outline of Cape Vincent where we had started the day. Meg took this image as the day came to an end and I couldn't resist converting it to B&W.

We climbed back into our now familiar Clio and headed back to Salema all too aware that our time there was running out. As we had eaten lunch so late we were not very hungry but returned to the Mira Mar to have some warm soup outside (it was cool enough that the Mira Mar was handing out blankets for your lap) and toast to the end of another fascinating day in Portugal.

Portugal Travelog: Salema (Day 2)

Our second day in Salema started with a fantastic breakfast from Bettina at The Maré (highly recommended!!) after which we set out for the town of Lagos that we had passed through the day before. We squeezed back in the Clio and headed eastward for about 8 km to Lagos. It was a beautiful morning and after a bit of driving around we were able to park in front of the main Mercato. It was a beautiful morning and as we perused the various types of sardines and bream, delicious strawberries from the Algarve and honey made with rosemary (!!) we got this shot back across the Lagos harbor.

We walked through much of the old town in Lagos checking out tiles adorning the buildings. We found this everywhere we went in Portugal.

And admiring the amazing stonework that lines seemingly - or actually - all the streets and pedestrian thoroughfares in Portugal. We came home with lots of shots down streets that don't look like what we're used to here in Vermont. This one had to be rendered in B&W as it had so much fantastic texture.

We toured the Church of Saint Antonio - viewed through this street mirror below. It included a small museum describing a bit about Lagos's history and it's traditional seafaring way of life. The attached church showed off St. Antonio's miracles in paintings arranged around the main chapel including St. Antonio's ability to clean up spilt wine.

We toyed with lunch in Lagos but despite our best efforts we couldn't divine a non-touristy place with great food and decided instead to head back to Salema while the day was young. 

On the way out of town, Meg directed me back towards the coast to see what we would see. What we found was a quiet dirt road ending at a lighthouse overlooking grottos (read: caves carved by water) below. We parked, hiked and saw some amazing sights.

This area was protected by a lighthouse which was itself off limits. It had a big nasty fence around it that exuded a sense of secrecy and foreboding. Oh as you can see, the lighthouses here are different from our US lighthouses. We would see more of this in coming days.

Upon returning to Salema and the aforementioned The Maré, we moved to our new quarters: Apartment B. We gained space, a terrace, a kitchen and lost Bettina's breakfast: tough call though we love the additional space and privacy. The terrace itself was especially wonderful as we could sit out there in the fresh air (no black flies or mosquitos as we have in Vermont this time of year) and enjoy a view to the beach downtown.

Hungry, we decided to hit the Atlantico which we did with zeal. The swordfish there was of epic proportions and delicious though it was three in the afternoon and the place was empty. This dynamic - delicious food served with attention - followed us all the way through Portugal. The swordfish - at one of the more touristy places in Salema - was stupendous. As always delicate and delicious potatoes accompanied the fish.

After our late lunch - and this would not be the latest "lunch" on our journey - we walked the beach. The day was still gorgeous but we could see a bit of weather coming in as the clouds started to gather on the horizon.

The photo above includes the analog to the lobster traps we photograph when we're on the coast of Maine. These are octopus pots. Octopus is a staple here and in Spain - and probably a lot of other places that I don't know about. I had ordered an octopus salad the previous night at dinner expecting a green salad with some octopus mixed in. Nope - what I got echoed the famous Sausage Salad that I got in Karlsruhe, Germany on my first business trip overseas years ago: it was a pile of octopus delicately seasoned with olive oil and it was delicious.

After returning to our apartment and catching up on things, we pondered dinner. We were not really hungry but I was very curious about a particular restaurant in town. It was a very modest place away from the beach called Restaurante O Lourenco. I had read some encouraging reviews and didn't want to leave town without trying it out.

It was awesome! It was the best fish dinner I've had in my life by far - plus a fun experience. Back up Tyler and calm down. 

We walked across the way and entered a bit before 9PM. The place was quite full so we sat right near the door on what was turning into a cool and raw evening. Though the place was full, it turned out that it was full of people mostly from England most of whom seemed to either be together or know each other and they were all watching soccer - sorry "football" on the TV (yes, this is the modest ambiance of O Lourenco).

The waiter (Paulo according to Rick Steves though I failed to verify) was patient in explaining and showing us the fish of the day. In the end we put ourselves in his hands and ordered sea bass and red bream - both grilled. It was divine. Again a simple preparation but the fish was incredibly fresh and clean tasting with a wonderful grilled flavor, flaky and moist. This meal was the epitome of the rustic, flavorful, straightforward and yet magical food we ate throughout our stay in Portugal.

Very highly recommended - if you go to Salema don't leave town without a meal at O Lourenco. Actually if you're anywhere near Salema, make sure you go there for a meal. Amazing!

Shutters of a building just off the downtown
square in Salema.