Cascais, Almada, and Being Polite.

I'm kind of at a loss as to where to start with this post. A lot of stuff is accumulating on my list of things to tell you about! Right now, the thing foremost in my mind is the transition from Belem to Cascais for three days. Cascais is known for it's beauty and its large expat community of English speaking people. 

I rented this place for the view (both sunrise and sunset) and its low price, but that low price comes with certain expectations… like a bed that you can feel the springs in the mattress, the microwave that doesn't work unless you slam the door and maybe it'll work, and dirty silverware. Oh well, we can get around those inconveniences. The bed was actually comfortable once I figured out where to lay. I'm stunned at how noisy this apartment is. It's on the 7th floor and the traffic and landscapers sound like they're right outside the window. I'm excited to have made a discovery—we aren't cut out for high-rise apartment living.

We came over yesterday in the afternoon and sat at the waterfront. A nice waiter came all the way out to us on our bench and brought us wine and beer (Largo da Praia da Rainha). We Ubered up to our high-rise and tried to remember all the recommendations our driver gave us… no success there. He did ask us if we were from California though. He could tell by our accent.

Last night we wandered down to the waterfront area again and found a happening restaurant in an alley… meaning it was actually outside in the alley. It was fun and our waiter was hilarious. Joe made fun of me because the waiter offered to give me a taste of the wine before he poured it. Joe said he'd like a taste of the beer, which is in a bottle. So the waiter had some fun with Joe. He made a show of opening the beer bottle and holding it across his forearm like wine. He poured a little in the glass, so Joe did his best impression of me and sniffed it then took a sip. They discussed the year… a 2023 Super Bock Stout. They had so much fun at my expense!

Today we went down to the marina. Wow, that's a whole lotta money. The yachts, the shops, the restaurants… we kept walking to a humbler part of town. The fish and chips at O'Neill's Irish Pub was great. We stopped at the grocery store on our way back and bought rotisserie chicken and potatoes. It wasn't until we got home that I remembered our microwave doesn't work. After slamming its prehistoric door several times, I got it running so I could cook the potatoes.

Now let's go back in time a bit. A couple of days ago we took a ferry across the river to Almada. I could see from the internet pictures that it had a pretty pedestrian street with lots of restaurants. This must be their off-season, because we were the only tourists in town. But, one must always be prepared for the unexpected. I walked past an open door. A glance showed it to be dark and musty. I saw a newspaper article on the wall outside. This was the home of the Guinness Book of World Records largest mural made out of coins… come on… how could I possibly pass that up?

I back-tracked and an elderly man, Eduardo Henrique, ushered me in. He proudly showed me the mural made up of 67,567 coins of various values, metals, and sizes. It's called "Europa." But even better was the wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor murals and sculptures made from coins and other artifacts. Eduardo proudly escorted me down into the bowels of the shop (more a museum, really), turning on lights as we went. Room after room of antiques like old compasses dating back to some bygone era. One mural was of an ancient ship at sea. He said it represented the first Portuguese voyage to discover the ocean's limits. He explained that Portugal was the oldest country in the world and they discovered the sea. Not actually true. Japan is 15 million years old. But Portugal is very old (Oct 5th, 1143) and Lisbon is the oldest city in Europe (settled in 1200 BC) and one of the oldest cities in the world. The region of Portugal was settled by the Celts in the first millennium BC. The oldest mummy in the world was found here.

We decided to head back to Lisbon. Being fearful of missing our ferry, we hustled to the waiting area. Suddenly Joe asked for his ferry card and then he sped away to the turnstiles. He scanned his card and broke into a run. I trotted after him. I couldn't get my card to scan, so the guard helped me. I tried to catch up with joe, but he's fast. He disappeared around a corner through the giant closing gate. I ran and made it through without being crushed. Then Joe turned to make sure I followed him… this was a subject of conversation for the rest of the day and has come up every day since :)

Once back in Lisbon, we went to Time Out—that enormous market with half devoted to fresh fish and produce, and the other half a food court. It's fun, but a madhouse and expensive. Being the frugal pair we are, we went outside to a kiosk and got a glass of wine and beer at half the price and none of the crowds. We prefer being around the Portuguese instead of the tourists anyway.

Portuguese have a lot of things that are, in general, unique. One of the unspoken national mottos is; Mind your manners—be polite. It's probably why it's one of the safest countries in the world. It's truly cultural. Boarding buses and trams, they always give way to elderly or infirm. Another thing is their habit of following the rules. In Belem, the drivers all stop for pedestrians anywhere near the crosswalks. Even the big trams stop if someone steps to the crosswalk. People always scan their tram passes, always. We watch because it's a super easy system to cheat. I've never seen an employee watching. The buses are a little different, because we all shuffle past the driver and the scanner is right next to him.

Usually the buses are fairly smooth, but the other day, on the way to the pool, the driver was a maniac. First let me tell you that the ride up to Restelo (where the pool is) is full of the geriatric crowd. This driver would take off as fast as he could and slam on his brakes. Everyone was hanging on for dear life. Watching them try to get to the door before the bus stopped without being knocked down was traumatic for me… but no one complained. Maybe they were too busy trying to survive.