Costa da Caparica

 We head out of Lisbon over the grand Ponte da 25 Abril; the vast steel bridge, completed in 1966, spans the wide Tagus estuary, carrying six lanes of traffic and two railway lines. The lanes are narrow and, with the 'van on the back, this means I have little chance to glance at the amazing view but Sue is mightily impressed....

View from Lisbon

Anyway, we arrive at the superbly organised Orbitur Costa da Caparica site in about half an hour and are pitched and sorted before noon. 

A booked pitch this time to ensure that we can get the car on; this is another three nighter as we're chilling a bit and seeing A&J.

Afternoon on the beach with a good book... and we see a school of dolphins passing by. 

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It's morning so we're up and off to see Setúbal. Pity about the forecasted rain. We take coffee, of course, in the large square, with its imposing statue of the bohemian poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage who, although spending much of his time in the Navy, found himself in conflict with various authorities and unfortunately spent time in various prisons. He died of syphilis in 1805. He's a kind of national hero, hence the statue. 

(spot the cat)

We see two of the town's churches, the Igreja de Jesus, an interesting 1491 church, once part of a convent deserves mention. The six twisted columns are an outstanding feature. Boytac was the architect.

We head out of town in the Volvo to drive the coastal road which rises and falls dramatically as it traverses the Seven Hills of Lisbon; it's a great drive, even in the thunder and light rain showers which limit what would have been outstanding views.

We spend the evening at an upmarket beach restaurant with Alex & Jake in their (temporary) home town. It's great to see where they're living and working. We spend Saturday with them in Almada, seeing, among other things, the old dock front, now gaily decorated with stylish graffiti. 

Some great restaurants lurk here, too. We ascend the imposing statue of Jesus which overlooks Lisbon, reminding us of our time in Rio.

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It's been a wonderful visit to Lisbon and it's sad to say goodbye to Alex and Jake; it's three weeks before we meet up again in Calais... at the end of this trip.

We're off to the south tomorrow - heading to Lagos. Fancy coming with us?