Seven sunsets

 Though I spent lots of time during my week in Nazaré inside, in front of my computer, I did get outside every single afternoon for one or two or three hours and stayed out at least until sunset, walking endless back-and-forths along the promenade or climbing the bluff or struggling through the sand on the beach. It was lovely. As were the sunsets. I thought I'd show you all seven of the ones I got to enjoy while there.

The day of my arrival I got off the bus after sunset, but luckily my walk to the apartment I'd rented took me right along the beach promenade, so I was able to snap a shot before the light was gone. All the others were taken at sunset, even if there was enough cloud cover that you can't really tell...

I have a few questions.

I know it's supposed to be bad luck if a black cat crosses your path. But does it become good luck if you cross the path of a black cat...or maybe four black cats?

Wait, what if there are six of them?

Also, what exactly happened in the twenty-four hours between when I was standing basically right at the foot of this lighthouse, at the end of a concrete pier, to take this picture...

...and the next evening when there was Portuguese caution tape and a "DANGER" sign stretched across that pier??

Cheated death--and bad luck--again!

Nazaré

I had some work to do and a writing project and an application I wanted to work on, and--I'll be honest--I kinda just wanted to kick it somewhere for a week straight. The Atlantic Coast beach town of Nazaré ended up being that place and it was awesome.

Above the main town is a bluff with an upper part of town and that bluff points out into a rather famous part of the ocean: Praia do Norte, which is one of the world's most impressive surfing spots when the weather is right. The weather was NOT right this week, which means that it was really beautiful and not windy out, which was fine with me. But it was still fun to go check out the gorgeous point...

...and gorgeous lighthouse...

...which sat atop an old fortress that is now a surfing museum. I don't really know anything about famous surfers, so all these boards donated by different luminary athletes were wasted on me, but even so the vibe in that room was eerily reverential and cool to experience.

The view back down at the main part of town, also not so shabby.

Bluff-top church.

I couldn't stop taking pictures!

It was especially cool to see those fishing boats coming in at the end of the day. There would also be fish drying on racks on the beach all the time.

And a bunch of older Portuguese women selling the dried fish along the promenade.

I suspect this boat had a good amount of fish on board.

And I suspect I will not forget this lovely spot anytime soon.

Sintra daytrip

The "must-do" daytrip from Lisbon is an adventure up to the (relatively) high country of Sintra--the hills above the city that (according to what I read) are constantly shrouded in a romantic fog and gave the Portuguese elite an escape from the heat of the Lisboa summer.

I'm going to have to take everyone's word on the foggy mist, because the day I went up to the Sintra area was pristinely clear and sunny. which was so nice because I could actually see all of the ornate vacation palaces dotting the hills. Peña Palace, built by King Ferdinand in the 1800's, is the crown jewel of weird decadence in the region.

It also afforded amazing views on this rare, clear day.

After the palace was a stop in Sintra town itself, which was a fun place to pretend I was a Portuguese noble as I lunched on vegetable soup and olives (a post on food to follow eventually).

From Sintra itself, Cabo da Roca--the westernmost point of continental Europe (not to be confused with the southwestern most point that I visited previously...we're very into superlatives, here) was only a 40-minute drive away. Again, I was warned that this famously windswept place would certainly steal your hat, but on this unusual day it was nothing but calm, peaceful, and sunny.

On the way back to Lisbon, it was really fun to stop in the town of Cascais, a SUPER ritzy vacation get-away for monied Portuguese. The cars were fancy, the stores were fancy, everything was fancy. An enjoyable wander, though I wouldn't want to live there. Which is probably evidenced by the fact that I didn't take pictures of any of the fancy things. Here's what you get of Cascais instead:

Lisbon

I managed to finally make my way back to Lisbon to spend some time there on the weekend that they were having national elections. So that was an exciting ruckus.

But after the marches through the streets died down, the city settled back into what I assume is its default: a kind of buzzing coolness, with tons going on but none of it in a big rush, and that endearing Mediterranean thing where people yell many of their conversations but aren't angry at all--really they're just trying to decide which of the 10,000 sidewalk cafes they're going to meet at for three hours at dusk to sit and drink beer or vinho verde before staying up having dinner until 1am.

Oh, and it's gorgeous.

Another thing to know: Lisbon is not flat. Sooooo not flat. It would be a good place to go to develop the gluts you've wanted all your life. What I don't understand is how I always felt like I was walking uphill, never down. Might have been a perception problem.

There was an enormous, amazing Saturday flea/craft market that proved to me if I ever move here, I really only need bring the clothes on my back and the shop for the rest after arriving.

And the tile museum is definitely worth checking out, both for its curated contents and the architecture of the building that houses it.

Afterwards you can just, you know, chill.