Sesimbra
We started the day pretty early so didn’t have a chance to have breakfast. Our guide/driver was very knowledgeable about the area so he told us about o melhor croissant …. da minha rua, a place very well known for coffee and croissants.
We gobbled the croissants and the yummy coffee and then went for a quick stroll of the town.
I used to be homesick for the places I had lived in or for people I had loved. Now I have this craving for the future as if homesick for the unknown.
Our first stop was Fortaleza de Santiago…so this was the place where our guide’s sil (sister in law) got married…it had beautiful views and a nice restaurant.
As we stepped out we saw some great summer scenes at Praia da California: one of the best beaches in the area.
By now, we were already hungry..yes.. Yet again..so we walked opposite the beach towards the inner part of the town in search of some good restaurant.
There we came across the famous Sailor Wall Art and other city decorations. Since it was still early in the day, many of the restaurants were still not open.
So we headed to our next destination.
This town is famous for special kind of pastries and trying them was on top of our list here. Pastelaria Regional Cego, such a feel good place run by pleasant hearty girls, they have these special egg rolls and S shaped cookies which were rightfully well-known as they tasted amazing. Besides the yummies, the bakery which is called pastelaria in portugese, itself was such a quaint little place with age old decor and historic vibes.
Adega do avô: the lady at the bakery was kind enough to guide us to this place since we told her that we wanted to experience typical portugese food. I am so glad we had our driver/guide with us as he was such a big help in selecting what to order. Also this is the first time, I absolutely loved a fish, twas fried mackerel and boy o boy absolutely yummy …it had bones but totally chewable. This town is also very famous for brewery and wine tours…we didn’t have time or energy to do so but we still browsed to see the options.
Azulejos de Azeitão: One of the most amazing features of Portugal is its tile work. So while we were here, we popped into this tile factory to see how it’s done.
After that we stepped into the blue statue haven in the area called Bacalhoa: again it had some wine tasting tours and offers we could not avail at that time.
Setúbal
We came to this small town with beautiful architecture and wonderful tours of whale watching. Also they had a food market like “Timeout” in Lisbon. We headed to the port to catch a ferry to Troía.
Tróia
Ferry to Tróia: Although I live in the land of five great lakes, Canada, I had never been on a ferry until now. We drove right onto a comfortable parking on the ferry, We had a choice of either staying there or just go on the top deck for some fresh air and beautiful view of the area. If you get super lucky sometimes you can also spot whales from there (I think the guide was just pulling the leg of my contagious excitement). Twas quite a nice ride.
Comporta
We got off and headed straight to Praia do Pego: a dream beach, this was once place i wish we had more time, the white sand, the warm sun, and the boardwalk was absolutely gorgeous.
Guess what, hungry to try some more stuff from this area. So our guide, guided by one of his girlfriends took us to this amazing place where we literally tried our whole food wishlist for this area.
São Romão – Rei dos caracóis: we had bread, choco frito, caracóis here and my god, the food was outstanding.
After that we were literally ready for bed but had one more town to cover. We drove through Comporta: This place is famous for its horse centre which offers horse riding on the beach which is pretty unique for this area and also they had a nice yoga reserve there too. As we drove by the town, it had a beautiful centre, you could easily spend a whole day here itself with nice restaurants and interesting shopping.
After that our list for the day had exhausted as much as our legs. So we headed back to the Ferry to get back to Lisbon and say hi to our beds.
Hope you had fun virtually travelling with us.
What do you think?