Leaving Lisbon

We slowly roused from our dreamy sleep, packed our luggage and went to eat breakfast very comfortably. Then we still had some time to go to the city centre to send off some postcards and to see the city one last time.

We planned to take a taxi from our hotel to the train station and ride the train to Lisbon and take the airport bus from Cais do Sodre station going to Lisbon International airport. But then in the taxi, the driver offered to drive us straight to the airport. It was a good deal since it saved us a lot of time and trouble of changing trains and buses as well as dragging our heavy luggage.

We arrived at the airport (Terminal 2, which is on the other end) and immediately checked in. It's a bit annoying when the airline wanted to sell some promo just to get a bit more from you. It didn't make any sense when those promo-paying passengers were shuttled on that few meters runway into the aeroplane.  I can't help myself but just shake my head. Tsk tsk.

We still had a lot of time to kill so we decided to go to terminal 1, walked around a bit and had lunch. By the way, the airport shuttle is free.

I picked up a book, and it was indeed a fantastic read.

17:55 Departure Lisbon to Berlin with Easyjet

Câmara Municipal de Cascais

This time we treated ourselves to sumptuous breakfast at our hotel. After breakfast, we decided to take a taxi to the station and then went with the "Intercidades" first to Lisbon then with the suburban train to Cascais. We rode the Cascais Line from "Cais do Sodre" station in Lisbon via Oeira and Estoril, and it takes around 45 to reach Cascais. It was very convenient, and the train runs every 15 minutes from morning till the evening.

Our hotel was a bit far from the train station and with our luggage, walking was just not an option.  We chose Cascais as our flight back to Berlin is from Lisbon. There was no direct flight from Porto to Berlin, only via a long way to Mallorca island. Cascais is 30 km west of Lisbon city and to Lisbon International Airport for that matter. Information on airport transfer can also be found on this website. Besides, we wanted to be near the beach on the last days of our vacation. The town is very impressive and looks very clean. There are a large yacht harbour and several small beaches around town.

We picked out our last accommodation to basically treat ourselves. Casa Vela was the choice, and we were not disappointed.

It is situated in a quiet residential area, has a large pool with a comfortable and spacious garden all around with an old and a new building. In the older building are the dining room and a spacious common room. Our modern studio (Brasil Room) is just exquisite and has floor-to-ceiling windows and can be drawn apart to open and extend into the balcony. There is the flat screen TV in the room. The kitchen and the toilet are just fabulous. What I liked most was the shower cabin with its two rain shower heads which was integrated into the whole design concept in the room. I just had to try it out the minute we were there. Do check out what others on TripAdvisor had to say about the place. It was hard to tear away ourselves from the apartment, but we wanted to go somewhere else.   

We walked to "Boca do Inferno" (lit. Gates of Hell / Hell's Mouth ") which quickly reached from our hotel. One can perfectly observe from the viewing platform the fascinating forces of the sea, how powerful the waves breaking against the rock cliffs and hear the roaring sea underneath. It was one fantastic play of nature. There was a small flea market in the area and a bistro where we bought the famous delicious Portuguese pastry, the Queijadas.

From there, we went down along the coastline to the city centre, passing by the yacht club and the numerous shops then to the fortress, the Cidadela de Cascais. We came around to the lighthouse, the Farol de Santa Marta, but had to quickly go out again since they are already closing. The lighthouse houses now a museum and the whitewashed new building is an impressive modern architecture. Then we came to the more prominent beach, the Praia da Ribeira but it was too cold for swimming, so we decided to go to the big shopping mall, the Centro Comercial Cascais Villa, where we picked our dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Back to the hotel, I dared my friend to take a plunge at the cold pool. Well, it was a quick dive and out again because it was really freezing.