The next installment

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30 May 2011 Madrid

I am sitting in the Madrid airport killing time right now. I had to return our rental car so I just did that. Now I am waiting for a flight that is 5 hours away to take me to Lisbon, where I will catch a bus, then a ferry, and then another bus so I can walk the last 2 kms home. This is once that public transport is not really convenient but at least it is there.

The drive from our place was uneventful. It just took 6 or so hours. This means that I got up at 3 this morning to return the car by 12 noon, including going through a time zone.

For the rest, our time has been spent using this car to good advantage. Friday, we drove northeast from Lisbon to Santarem and then turned south along the Tejo river. We looked at the areas for a feel of whether we would want to live there or not and whether there was much for sale. In a small place called Porto de Muge, we found some dike houses with the back yards in the flood plain of the river. Very remindful of the Netherlands but with sun. A search of the internet for houses in the area turned up two in Porto de Muge! And one was a dike house with water frontage!

Saturday, we drove south through Alcacer do Sal and on to Troia, then to Setubal, along the coast to Sesimbra and then home. While the areas between Alcacer and Troia looked interesting, they also looked dry. So, no settling here... Troia reminded me of a Mexican seaside resort thrown at a sand beach, but then empty. Not a place I would recommend to anyone. We had a nice late lunch on the boulevard in Setubal. Great fresh swordfish, grilled in front of us and salted with sea salt. Mmmmmm! We then drove along the dramatic coastline to Sesimbra. Wow. Nice views and landscape. Definitely a recommend!

Sunday I wanted to travel a bit north along the coast to have a look at some of the harbors and beach resorts I have been reading about. We took the toll road north and made a sharp left at Nazare. Nice town with a very nice atmosphere. Not that many tourists but indications that in the summer, it would be very busy. There is a nice harbor so living on a boat here should be possible though with a northwest storm, however rare, it would be uncomfortable. Along the coast toward St Martinho do Porto, the landscape and views were nice. Trying to get into St M. do P. was a pain though as it was very busy in town and traffic was diverted from the center. To get across to the other side of the bay, we had to go the LONG way around. But it was worth it. The bay entry is flanked by high cliffs and the bay itself is surrounded by sand beaches. This will be a nice place to visit either on a boat or in a car. There are no facilities for yachts but the north end of the bay is full of smaller boats and a few larger ones. Salir do Porto, the next city on the route seemed interesting for living because it was not overrun with tourist facilities. We took the road south from S.do P. towards Lago de Obidos and we rewarded with spectacular views of the sea from high cliffs. Here we found some land that we WANT!!! Quiet road, steep hillside sloping off to the sea and no houses around. Well, okay, there are some but not that many. I will be checking on availability and then we will just have to invest too much money.

And that brings us to Madrid again. I am going to stop writing now and go people watch. While it is not a weird as Wally World, it still is very amusing...

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Photos

Nazare
Small streets in the city center

dramatic seashore
the cliff fall directly into the sea

St. Martinho do Porto
The beach is seemingly endless

St. Martinho do Porto entry
The bay is entered through this cut in the cliffs

serra pescaria
The view from the road back towards St Martinho do Porto. This is where we would like to buy...