Travel - Lisbon {Part Two} - Cascais Beach Trip
July 11, 2017
Day two was probably my favourite of the whole trip {you can find part one here}. The weekend that we visited was pretty hot {36 degrees!} so we decided to escape the city and hop on the train to Cascais. I think that's the real beauty of Lisbon, it's such a great city in itself but also for the fact you're able to do some half day/full day trips out to nearby Sintra or Cascais/Estoril. The trains were cheap, v easy and reliable and it was just a 35 minute journey to the insanely beautiful coast.
We had breakfast in our apartment then walked down to the station. Cais do Sodre {opposite the Time Out market by the river} is the train station you'll want for Cascais and the trains leave every 15/20 minutes. I think it cost about 5 euros return for the day.
On the way we walked down this typical Lisbon street scene, trams, hills, tiles and that bright blue sky above. You can see out across to the river from here too.
The train journey takes you along the coast so the time whizzes past as you stare out at the pretty views.
We stepped off the train to find almost a whole town painted pink.
And what do you do with pink walls? Take photos for Instagram of course!
Dress was online here but I think now sold out/gone into the sale. Bag - Primark last summer. Hat similar here {mine is a men's too}. Sandals here - the comfiest ever, will last forever and perfect for walking/going in the sea.
Ben does this thing now whenever he takes photos of me {such a good Instahusband} where he'll keep taking photos until he gives my camera back. So I have a whole collection of funny photos like these now. He loves it.
We arrived by 9.30am and the town was just waking up. Cascais is relatively small and easy to walk around from the train station. There are a few different beaches and small coves along the coast here. If you look at the sea and walk to the left {along the promenade the beaches and sea gets better and better}. We loved wandering around Cascais town itself to start with.
Palm lined streets {we joked we were in California}, swirly tiled floors and pretty vine covered buildings. It was a spotless town and it just had that holiday feeling. We loved Lisbon but being here by the famous Portuguese coastline with the sun shining, out of the city, felt like we were truly on holiday here. We vowed to do more European long weekends, sunny Saturday's by the beach exploring somewhere new are the very best.
I saw a lady carrying a basket of hydrangeas and asked where she'd bought them from, she told us about a Saturday market just up the road and we were so pleased to discover it. It was full of locals, no tourists, yet it was beautiful and full of fresh flowers, fruit and veg. It was ridiculously cheap and we stocked up on cherries {for less than 2 euros a kg!} whilst lusting over all the summer blooms.
Seeing all the food had made us hungry so we bought some croissants and headed down to the waterfront.
We'd booked lunch at Mar Do Inferno, a well known seafood restaurant about a 15 minute walk around the coast. It's worth booking a table if you're in Cascais, the food was incredible. The best seafood we've had in ages with views out across the sea.
On the walk there you'll pass the marina, full of boats bobbing around.
And there just so happened to be a classic car club meet whilst we were there.
Then we reached this magical villa area with the clearest sea inlet. It was beautiful and we fell in love with Portugal even more.
This guy!! I love this photo.
For a weekend lunch you'll want to book. This place gets really busy with Portuguese families {always a good sign}. Our Airbnb host had recommended it too.
A seafood platter for two. We shared lobster, tiger prawns and sea bream and it was all so good and garlicky. Such a feast.
Stuffed to bursting after our lunch we walked back around to Cascais looking for a beach to spend our afternoon.
We sat on the beach in front of the ice cream shop for the afternoon and paddled in the sea {note - being the Atlantic it was freezing!}.
That sea!!
Before carrying on walking along the promenade to get the train back from Monte Estoril.
Back in Lisbon we were hit with the city heat.
So we picked up some dinner supplies from the grocery store near the apartment before getting ready for the evening.
Ben and I were all dressed up and wondering where we could mount the camera to take a self timed pic in front of these tiles. There wasn't really anywhere but then a man happened to walk round the corner and was happy enough to take our photo! It's now one of my favourites from the trip. 3 years married to this guy.
My dress is online from ManaMou and sandals are last season Fitflop.
Our Airbnb host was amazing at giving her recommendations for local view points/sunset bars. Our first stop was Miradouro de Santa Catarina viewpoint, v close to our apartment, which had great views but on a Saturday night was full of people smoking weed and playing music. It was a nice chilled out vibe but when we got offered drugs for the second time we decided to walk on.
We then stumbled across this gelato spot Sorbettino. It didn't even come up on google maps when we searched for ice cream shops, so it was a truly serendipitous find. And yes I know this was our second gelato of the day, what can I say... totally justified when on holiday and after walking over 24,000 steps right?! 😂.
The sun sets around 9pm in Lisbon at the start of July so we went in search of Park, the rooftop bar on top of a carpark. There are no signs for it, one of those hipster hang outs that everyone just seems to know about. And if you put it in google maps it doesn't come up with directions. But it's worth hunting down. You enter via a lift in the car park then find a bar at the top with amazing views across the city.
Being a Saturday night it was packed but it had a nice vibe so we stayed for a while before wandering back through the tiled filled streets to hit the hay. Tomorrow would be a day for exploring Sintra.
Back soon with the third and final instalment.
R <3 xx
1 comments
just lovely - def going to ditch the kids on the g'rents and get ourselves over there!
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