Cascais, Sintra, & Obidos, Portugal Day 3

We said adeus! to Lisbon and bom dia! to Cascais today. It was a beautiful and sunny day and we were at Pescadores beach for some kayaking by 9am. It was fun to be out with the fishermen who were gathering their catches for the day.

After paddling from the Pescadores beach to “Hell’s Mouth” (as seen in the image above) we doubled back to Praia de Santa Marta where we pulled the kayaks onto the beach, jumped in the car, and zipped over to Praia do Guincho for Colin to have a bit of time for some surfing.

While he was living his best life getting clobbered by the waves, I was busy enjoying “bolas de Berlin” otherwise known as Portuguese donuts. Yes, they sell Portuguese donuts on the beach!

Afterwards, we stopped at a local Portuguese restaurant for some fresh-caught and grilled Bream with potatoes. Then it was on to Pena Palace or so we thought… After encountering a road block, navigating a new way, encountering another road block, navigating another new way, and then again, we had to throw in the towel on visiting the Palace I’d really been wanting to see. It seems there was a fire of some sort that had the roadways closed. Good thing is that Portugal is the land of palaces and castles so we’ll be okay…

Sintra was next on our day’s agenda (and I’m not ashamed to say it) we (probably more me) were excited to see special Sintra and EQUALLY excited to try “Travessiro” (aka large pillow), a special pastry invented at Casa Piriquita in Sintra in the 1800’s. Sadly, we underestimated Sintra on a Saturday where all the traffic was snarled from so many road closures and it was so congested once we arrived that we had to save it for another day. I promise sweet little Sintra, we’ll be back to see you some day!

So, another navigation re-calculation and we headed for Obidos, our final destination for the day. We arrived at our darling accommodations at Casa d’ Obidos and immediately fell in love. The owner graciously showed us to our “Apartment” which is really what we’d call a little house which is decorated in old antiques and is quite an old-fashioned inside but in a such a sweet and nostalgic way. He explained that our apartment didn’t come with breakfast but then opened the refrigerator to tell us they provided us with cheese, yogurt, cold cuts, butter, jam, cereal, tea, coffee, and a fresh basket of bread at our door in the morning. Okay!!! Hooray!

Casa d’ Abidos is nestled in the valley beneath the castle that sits high up on the hill above. Inside the castle walls is the little village of Obidos that is one of the CUTEST little places on the planet. So, after checking in, we took the little footpath around the church and up the hill inside the castle gates. There’s lots of little shops and restaurants and it’s so cute I can’t even do it justice. We walked around, stunned by the little old houses nestled inside the walls and all the little shops. Was it a fairy tale? Yes! And it was real too. (I’ll be sharing more from Obidos sometime soon!)

As cute as it was inside the castle walls, we decided to head back down the hill to have dinner close to home at an authentic Portuguese restaurant, Vila Infanta, down the path from Casa d’ Obidos. I know this is going to sound super extra but… we shared cheese and bread, and I had Octopus Salad, Vegetable Soup, and an Omelet with Shrimp followed by Lemon Mousse for dessert and it didn’t feel like a ton of food, It just was delicious, but not in a stuff yourself sort of way. ~Shrug~ We’ve settled in for the night and are looking forward to more adventures tomorrow, when we’re heading north once again!

This post is one in a series posts on my visit to Portugal. You can find all of my posts here:

The story behind my journey to Portugal
Day 1 & 2: Lisbon Portugal
Day 3: Cascais, Sintra, & Obidos, Portugal
Day 4: Nazare, Costa Nova, & Aveiro Portugal
Day 5: Porto, Portugal
Day 6: Soajo & Geres National Park, Portugal
Day 7: Douro Valley & Aldeia Das Dez, Portugal
Day 8: Monsanto, Portugal

IT'S ME, SERENA!

I bounced through the first years of my life in a hippie gypsy wagon, hand-built by my father, wandering the back roads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. My family eventually settled into a tiny cabin in the woods on property that was once inhabited by Native American Indians.

I spent my childhood days searching for arrowheads, teaching myself to sew on a treadle sewing machine and to bake in a wood-burning stove, with no running water, refrigeration, or electricity in our home. My family lived frugally and early on, inspired by my parent’s thriftiness and style, I gained a knack for thrifty creativity and turning ordinary objects into something useful. And I dreamed of the home I would create for my own family someday.

Now I’m married to my husband, Colin, and our children are all grown. After 24 years of producing The Farm Chicks Vintage & Handmade Fair, I'm spending time visiting other markets around the world. You can watch episodes of Serena Goes to Market here.

I share more about my life story from time to time, here on my blog. You can also find me on Instagram, and Facebook.