On our second day we decided to jump on a train and head out to the beach. After deliberating over breakfast in the apartment on which beach to discover for the day, we went with Cascais, mainly because I had heard lovely things about this idyllic beach town. It also seemed the easiest in reach in terms of transport and also for our slightly heavy heads, a night of Fado can bring on!
Cascais is about a 35 minute train journey, 20 miles West of Lisbon, from the Cais do Sodre station. Choose a seat on the left hand side as you just follow the coast along, very lovely. Except we had flash backs to the tram ride to Balém and spent most of it stuck to strangers, but yes we decided to travel to Europe in August! Another tip just to add to the chill out holiday vibe not take it away, is to not buy your train tickets at the main station, walk ten minutes down the road and pick one up at the first station stop from Lisbon to Cascais. There were queues to beat all queues for the ticket booths and the same for the just 6 ticket machines, machines that only allow you to buy one ticket at a time, so families of 4 plus had to repeat the motion over and over ….you get the picture…. long queues. But the good news is the train to Cascais came every twenty minutes, so after a mini pause we were off to the beach!
Literally from the train station you are a 3 minute walk from the beach, with a wander through what was once a fishing village, with its bright coloured walls of pinks, burgundies, and of course tiles to match or even beat those in Lisbon, idyllic holiday scenery at its best. With old churches, cobbled streets, palm trees and lots of pink, it was a happy place to be. The main square had an array of bars, shops, open air cafes, a very pretty old town, full of Portuguese traditions and of course charm. Feeling pretty lazy we just headed straight to the beach.
Surrounded by 19th century rather grand, architecture, some derelict but still beautiful, with warm golden sands, clear water, a good book and a good nap what more do you want. A holiday town with class! Now just returning briefly to that water, now people said it was cold, of course it’s the Atlantic Ocean, but I swear on everything and anything, it was the coldest water I have ever dipped my toe in and I was brought up with holidays swimming in the English Chanel. Cold through to the bones, clear as clear and clean as clean, very beautiful but oh so ‘add your own expletive ‘ cold. I did go in, yes I did. I did swim too but it was a pretty short moment. A new word for refreshing!
So after a day of sunning ourselves, bags of crisps ( what is it about crisps abroad) bottles of Coca-Cola and of course managing the water, all with the sun beaming down on us we headed back to Lisbon for our last night.
Walking back along the water front and through the Praça do Comércio, did I mention that early evening light? Complete with a sneaky G&T from the cocktail standalone, we soaked up as much of the city as possible before washing off the beach and heading out for dinner.
We tried to go to Park Bar, but it was closed on Sundays ( we struggle a lot wherever we go in regard to rooftop bars) so we took a walk through the city to Sky Bar, a very stylish, maybe a little too stylish for us rooftop bar but with super friendly staff, amazing sunset cocktails and a rather wonderful view of the city. We headed back towards Chiado for dinner, where we had the most amazing meal at Cantinho Do Avillez, a traditional Portuguese restaurant with a modern twist, deep fried green beans and Tata sauce, well a taste sensation! An absolutely delicious meal and one of my new favourite restaurants
A final stroll through the city to Santini’s of course, how else to you end a rather delightful two days of venture in this endearing city, with traditional Portuguese tiles, beautiful architecture, cobbled winding streets, Pasteis de Nata a plenty, rattling trams, G&T’s on the go, golden beaches, freezing refreshing waters, the friendliest people?…….Gelato of course!
Lisbon you were delightful, warm, friendly and full of beauty and charm…… We very much hope to be back soon…….
We flew with EasyJet
We stayed at Baixa House and we booked our stay at Baxia House through Anabela here
We had sundowners at Sky Bar
We ate at Cantinho Do Avillez & had Gelato at Santini’s
I wore,
Skirt now one sale
Thank you for reading x
Promise To Carry The Cases 