Cascais

We took the train to Cascais on our last full day in Lisbon. We thought it would be good to leave the city and see something more of Portugal,  but we also wanted to see Paula Rego's house.

Cascais is one of the richest towns in the Iberian Peninsula. It's where Lisbon's upper classes live, many of them in palatial mansions dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. It's the Portuguese Riviera. A former fishing village, it became a cosmopolitan resort when the Portuguese king made it his summer retreat in the late 1800s. The town has one of the most expensive real estate markets and one of the highest costs of living in the country.

Almost immediately, we could see the beach

a combination of sand and rocks.

It was May, 31oC so people had taken advantage of the good weather and were swimming or sunbathing.

First, we wanted to explore the town however, so started walking on the undulating mosaics of the streets

This is the main shopping street

 and this brought back memories of Amsterdam

There is something about rounded houses...

The design of the mosaic changed halfway through the street

It almost makes you dizzy looking at it - isn't it wonderful?

We reached the road by the sea

Praia da Ribeira, the beach that is located in the centre of the town, was on our right. This is traditionally a fishermen's beach as it has a dock for boats where the catch is unloaded and sold at the fish market. Swimmers and ball players use this beach as well, though.

We took this long avenue full of palms and beautifully arranged flowerbeds

admired the buildings

good views of the beach from here - you can see the fishermen's boats

We turned right, the Palacio da Cidadela de Cascais on our left

into the tree-lined Avenida da Republica

we had arrived at the Casa das Historias Paula Rego. Amazing, or what?

We spent a long time in the house, looking at the exhibits, then decided to explore the nearby park, Parque Marechal Carmona

The round pond

that was full of turtles

in the water

or perched on rocks

Very lovely and peaceful

We crossed the bridge

and then we noticed the chickens

They were everywhere - what happens to them at night? Do they have somewhere to go?

They were even walking around in the cafe where we stopped for a drink

This cat was on a lead - we thought this was odd until we remembered the notice we had seen at the entrance of the park requesting that all pets be kept on a lead, because of the chickens we presumed

After our rest we walked on

Bird of paradise

lots of flowers

games for people to play

majestic trees

and of course, peacocks - we could hear their haunting cries throughout the park

We came upon this round stone hut

isn't it perfect?

walked up to the roof

which is as round as the hut itself

good views from here, including the roof of Paula Rego's house

we could see a group of sculptures

so we left the roof of the hut and went to investigate. It's called Familia Num Momento de Lazer by Escultor Melicio

We walked on, past this group having a picnic

I wanted to further explore the park but Ken wanted to go to the sea so we turned right

and soon enough we came to a bridge and this gorgeous building

a small chapel

and the Counts of Castro Guimaraes Museum

a fountain with intricate tile work

a small garden in front of the museum

We walked inside, admired the courtyard

but the sea was calling, so we left the museum

and we were out in the open, by the sea front, the walls of the Palacio da Cicadela de Cascais on the left

past the lighthouse, one of Cascais' landmarks

we entered the marina

which is highly commercialised

past the walls of the Palacio da Cicadella de Cascais

up the steps

the whole of the bay at our feet

They do arches so well the Portuguese

We walked along this avenue which runs between the sea front and the ancient walls of the Palacio da Cicadella

fishing boats

and beach huts on our right

and finally arrived where we had started from.

Funny, did we did not notice this statue earlier

The beach was busier.

We left and sea front and went to explore other parts of the town

We opted for the narrow streets

The sea was never far though

After a while we turned around, and headed for the train station. It had been a good day.