Thursday, May 30, 2013

Plans for departure

We hope to leave Cascais this afternoon. Our plans have us heading for
Vilamoura which is very close to the Portugal/Spain border to our South.
Will probably stay there for a day or two and then it will be time to go up
the river to Seville!!



Jim Gregory

Morpheus White 4

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Portugal's Atlantic Coast

Deb and I spent the afternoon exploring the coastal area just North of Cascais.  We ended up spending most of our time visiting a couple of spots on Guincho Beach.

This beach was famously featured in the pre-titles sequence of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, wherein James Bond rescues Contessa Teresa de Vicenzo from a suicide attempt and foils off two attackers in the surf.

The beach  is popular for surfing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing.[1]

We didn't take the video below, but it does a great job of showing what we watched this afternoon.  Too bad that I left my wetsuit in California!!

Hint: skip the first minute.


Guincho Beach Portugal and some surfing, kiting, windsurfing from james bedford on Vimeo.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Departures (by guest blogger Mike Wallach)

Departures

Sunrise Cascais
 The crew take separate paths as the journey comes to a close.


Jim and Deb work on some boat repairs while transitioning Morpheus back to their home away from home.  Which is actually their real home.

My last couple of days on Morpheus include relaxing, updating the blog, shopping and continuing to indulge in Caiscas cuisine.


We stumble on an eclectic little place with a rooftop lounge and decided it was my favorite find  in Cascais. The House of Wonders.


Art on display at House of Wonders

"I'll make a tapas plate for you."
Sunset from the rooftop of the House of Wonders
A great finish to an extraordinary adventure. It's an early start tomorrow - back to Lisbon and flying home.

Moonrise Cascais

A Day in Lisbon (by Mike Wallach)

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Lisbon

Exploring the sights on the streets of Lisbon
 Deb and Kim go horseback riding while Jim, Bob and I take the train into Lisbon for a day of touring.

 When two heads are not better than one. Or none.

We take a cab from the train station to the Castle at the top of the hill.   Rather than tour the castle, we start with refreshments at a little cafe just outside of the castle wall...


  ...and raise our glasses in solidarity with the oppressed worker repairing the cobbled street one brick at a time.


 Slowly. Carefully. Ever so slowly.


 Then spent the day exploring cafes, bars, and stores on the walk back down.






Perhaps the most interesting stop was at the Napoleao wine shop:


Where we sampled some ports and received a tutorial on port vintages and nomenclature. Then on to another sidewalk cafe. This one called Moma:




Where we enjoy more beer, wine, foie gras, wild boar pastry, caprese salad and fries. After meeting the girls at a downtown beer garden, we visit the Institute of Port, but not without a bit of navigation difficulties. Bob's guidebook and map could only get us to the neighborhood. After wandering in circles, we were about to give up when I accosted some locals on a street corner:

MW: "Pardon me. Do you speak English?"
Locals shake head:  "No. Very little." 
MW pressing on: "Do you know where the Institute of Port is located?"
Locals: Blank stare.
MW applying his intuitive linguistic skills: "Institut-OH Port-OH?"
Locals break into big smiles and point: "Two blocks. turn right."

That actually happened. We found it. True.




It was fun and interesting, but a bit stuffy for this crew. So off to find a suitable eatery.


Cocheira Alentejana fit the bill. Fine food. Good service. A great finish to a fine day in Lisbon.
We even managed to avoid missing the last train back to Cascais.

A Day in Lisbon - Photos

Surprising Fact

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, and the oldest city in Western Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London, Paris and Rome by hundreds of years.



************

Lisbon is just an easy 20 minute train ride from Cascais.  We spent the day (and evening) in Lisbon a couple of days ago.

Riding the train


Lost again....

View from the hill

I've seen outdoor showers before

But, an outdoor urinal??  Mike could not help himself....


Veggies!



Bob Branstad

Another Panorama

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