PORTUGAL AND THE DOURO

SINTRA 12/13/2013

SINTRA

We found a driver who would take us up the coast of Portugal to see Cascais and Sintra and more. He was just amazing, with more information than I could record or process or remember. No matter where we traveled he had the history, the implications, and interesting details and stories. It was a fine day.

While driving out of Lisbon, our guide talked about the demography. Most of the people who work in Lisbon live in the suburbs and commute. Housing is much cheaper. 2.5 million live in the total area of Lisbon and suburbs; only 560,000 live in the city itself. So there is a huge rush hour. We avoided it by going out of Lisbon in the morning, but we could see the cars backed up on the other side of the expressway coming if for the workday.

Our first destination was Sintra and a castle there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra

Before heading to see the Town Castle we stopped to look around on a short, steep street and to sample the famous guide recommended pillow pastry with café at Piriquita.

Here is a short video showing these pillow pastries, even in one shot at the place we visited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBkcOhiEmRM

Sintra is a favorite destination for Portuguese, so there are little tourist shops in the area. They were a bit overpriced.

We did NOT go to the Café Paris, however, I liked the mix of colors in building walls, shingles, tiles and a tree in this shot of one of the downtown streets.

he National Palace of Sintra or Palácio da Vila (Town Palace) and was one of the Portuguese royal palaces. It is located in the centre of the town. Building started in the 15th century. The designer is unkown, but it considered to be organic architecture because of the way the disparate buildings are joined.

There was more than one choice for a visit, but we thought one would be enough for us and chose this one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra_National_Palace

We saw one of the other choices high up on a hill and photographed it.

Soon after we got a clear photo a mist moved in.

Here was the palace of our choice:

We found our delightful and since photographs were allowed, we caught a number of wonderful images

I loved these fish

The ceilings were really unique

Here was the chapel where the royal family prayed.

Here again is one of those fine writing tables

Dove covered walls

A great dove design and another of leaves below. I missed a photograph of a corn tile design. This perhaps the largest collection of tiled walls in Portugal. A great pick for me as this tile, as I knew it would be, was one of my favorite parts of the visit.

Here is the holy family resting during the flight to Egypt

Fish fountains. One of my favorites

The Philospher is an original by a famous Italian who painted in Spain, Jusepe de Ribera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jusepe_de_Ribera
Here is an interesting comment in Spanish from the mathematical angle
http://mateturismo.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/el-filosofo-de-ribera-de-sintra/

I remembered having one of his paintings as my favorite in the Prado over 40 years ago.

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/jusepe-de-ribera/st-jerome-1644

Elizabeth was amazed I could remember that, but I'm not.

It was 40 years ago, not last week.

We were surprised to see that the beds were so large. They were wonderfully ornate.

This kitchen was a delight. It had two chimneys and was so spacious as compared to other ancient kitchens we have visited on our travels.

On our way out of Sintra we passed through National Forest that is protected. In the old days this contained deer and bear and other wildlife and some of it was hunted by royalty and rich who visited the area. However, there is little here now. I thought that very odd since our deer manage to adapt to people and civilized areas. Here was acres of protected wild land that could not be developed and yet no deer. There may be some rabbits and some wild boar and fox.
In the past, the first owners of the land and huge estates were perfectly happy that the land was being protected. However, now the current owners would probably better like to develop their land and they are restricted.

Azenhas do Mar

AZENHAS DO MAR

Along the way we stopped for a few minutes to see Azenhas do Mar, a small town near Sintra

Once there was a mill here. We did not eat at the restaurant located where the mill was, but farther along the road at a place the guide has visited for years with family.
The waves crashed and the ocean was wonderful to watch. It reminded me a bit of Northern California along that scenic highway 1.

Seems a long way down to fish, but I've seen fishermen fish from this far up a cliff.

EATING SEA BASS WITH VINHO VERDE 12/13/2013

EATING SEA BASS WITH VINHO VERDE

Our guide knew a fine little restaurant where they did a famous sea bass recipe.
It is called Mestre ze Cascais and gets good reviews on the internet although no one mentions the sea bass we ate.

a photo of the place is here:
MESTRE ZE CASCAIS

The fish was cooked in a cake of salt that was then broken when served. This reminded me of the cub scout method of cooking bluegills in a cake of clay in the fire and then breaking it open and eating the steamed fish.

HERE IS HOW THE FISH COMES OUT OF THE OVEN. AND FOLLOWING SHOTS SHOW THE WAITER SERVING US. VERY LITTLE BONING WAS LEFT TO US.

With the fish we ate octopus salad and some potatoes. Both were good. The octopus was nothing like the chewy, rich fried calamari in Spanish pubs that I can never get a taste for.
(note: I sent this to Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish because he has a chapter on sea bass and I am, or thought I was, friends with him on Facebook. He gave no comment but deleted my post on his timeline. Rather snobby I'd say. No wonder he gets so few "likes" for his posts.)

Also, we drank vinho verde, another famous wine of Portugal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinho_Verde
It has become popular in the US where it is not expensive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/dining/vinho-verde-portuguese-for-cheap-and-cheerful.html?_r=0

We liked it, but for me and my taste, nothing really replaces a good dry red wine.
However, this was the drink recommended with the fish by our guide and we had to give it a go.

Cascais

CASCAIS

This was a tourist area that looked like the old beach areas we once had in the States. I tried to convince Elizabeth to go on the Ferris Wheel with me, but she was intimidated. For some reason I was unable to go on by myself.
I'm sorry about that. It was a fine wheel.

Close to the beach area we went in an Irish Pub. It sure seems incongruent. It was clearly a real Irish Pub. We walked through to use the bathroom and no one objected.

The Irish Pub O'Neil's is in the bottom left hand corner of this photo.

Here is the beach

In the harbor were many small boats moored.

This was a sand sculpture that had been a couch and this side table, but someone had ruined the couch part. Look at this little telephone. Cool.

Our friends Mary and Neil loved this little town and encouraged us to visit.

Nearby the guide dropped me so that I managed a walk through the casino. There were machines I recognized and some video poker pay tables that were not too bad. 9/5 JOB and 9/6 DDB. Had I had more time, I'd have gambled a bit, but Elizabeth and the driver waited for me outside. No live poker tables, but some table games on a floor I did not see.

Cabo Da Roca EDGE OF THE WORLD 12/13/2013

EDGE OF THE WORLD

or

END OF THE WORLD
Onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa

It is astounding to me that Vasco de Gama would venture out to near the edge of the world where he fully expected to meet dragons that might eat him, and all to bring spices from India. Food and flavor drive a good bit of exploration.
And in our imagination, on this visit to Cabo de Rocca, we were at end of land and perhaps very near the edge of the world where if sea monsters did not slay us, we would just fall off the edge.
In the olden times this was believed to be the end of the world. It is the Roca Cape Cliffs, at the westernmost point in continental Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_da_Roca

Now there is a new story told there. Although it is directly across the water from Washington, the story is that on the right day and depending upon how much wine one drinks, a visitor can see the Statue of Liberty.
I told the guide that I had waved to Obama and I was fairly certain he waved back. However, I don't think I've managed to start another viable urban legend.

It was a fine place to visit with rocky cliffs, a little light house, and some great views.
Here is a video I found of the area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA9SjJNYK4o