Church of Nossa Senhora da Graca
The bells of Church of Nossa Senhora da Graca
Woke early this morning - Mal took himself on a bike ride to explore! We had battleships in the bay right in front of us......which was another 'new' experience. After breakfast we had decided to visit the 16th Century Fort Sagres which presented us with some awesome views, there is a beautiful old church here too Church of Nossa Senhora da Graca which dates from 1579. We then set off on the road towards Lisbon, stopping off at Sines for a picnic lunch. To stave off the boredom of travelling Holly & Phil watched DVDs on the trip. We arrived at Camping Lisbon just before sunset. Whilst Mal & Phil got the van in position & hooked up to electric etc., Holly & I headed to the on-site supermarket.....WOW!!! I know we are in a recession but I half expected to find powdered eggs & ration books. Out of season campsite supermarkets are just not 'the thing'! Holly & Phil kindly offered to cycle to the supermarket whilst I cleaned the kitchen & bathroom. Anyway the sun went down down & it was very dark, I was starting to worry about them as I knew they had no lights on the bikes....anyway the happy campers returned unscathed, but laden with bags of good things. I knocked together a curry whilst having a 'mini' fire with poppadoms under the grill - the curry went down great. We settled in for another of our card marathons....
Camping Lisbon - 8th Nov 08
http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/costadelisboa/
http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/castle.html
Santa Justa Elevator
The view over Lisbon from the Castle St George
Castle St George
Statue of Christ
Plaza
One of the man street trams
Now I must say this site has a great website & is classed as a 4* but it is not as nice as any of the other lower class sites we have stayed at, the facilities are below standard, with hardly any hot water for showering - the site itself is a little run down & just needs a bit of TLC.
Today was our 'explore Lisbon' day!! We packed our rucksack & headed off after breakfast on the bus to the Oceanarium which is the second largest in the world! Wow the Oceanarium was a real blast, great for kids of any age, we saw Octopus, Sharks, Seahorses to name a few - they also do sleep overs for kids too which I thought was a great idea, we all thoroughly enjoyed it especially the Sea Otters! Lisbon is like many major cities not very clean, the streets were strewn with litter & dog muck, there is a lot of graffiti too! The 'main' tourist areas shops etc are cleaner. Next we caught the metro to the Castle of St George it's oldest parts date from the 6th Century! Prior to visiting the castle we explored the backstreets of this district & happened upon a little family run restaurant. We all decided upon the lunch menu of the day at 7.50 euros each, prior to ordering the waiter arrived at our table laden with plates containing cheese, ham, olives & bread - as he had just placed them onto the table we placed our order.....he then proceed to take the plates off the table just leaving the bread & olives! He was clearly trying to get us to order the more expensive menu, which was far too much food....anyway this really put Phil offside & for the rest of the meal he had a grudge against the waiter & decided he wasn't giving him a tip (Mal sneaked a tip to the waiter at the end of our meal). The meal was absolutely beautiful & really inexpensive for the amount we had - clearly you must state exactly what you want & not be pushed into an alternative menu! Fed & watered & armed with directions from 'the waiter' we headed to the castle. The castle provided expansive views over Lisbon, in particular they have a Camera Obscura here which Mal & I wanted to see, unfortunately it was closed!! We ambled down into the City where there was an abundance of shops, we sat in a street side cafe & quenched our thirsts with a jug of Sangria, putting a perfect end to a perfect day! Due to there being a huge street protest & some of the roads being closed we ended up getting a taxi back to the campsite.......jeez it was like a fairground ride (wild mouse), the guy would have been better off in Estoril on the F1 track! Mal et al fed on Risotto (I was still full from lunch so gave it a miss). We finished the day with a couple of rounds of cards being our last night together.
Guincho - 9th Nov 08
An early start today as we had to get Holly & Phil to the Airport.....we dropped them off at about 7.30am. We currently have a broken table!! Good old Hymer quality strikes again.....boy I am cheesed off with this. Basically the telescopic foot on the table has stopped working, so the table will not rise into it's upright position! We will have to stay in the area & go to Hymer in Sintra on Monday. Mal & I tried with success to get the table to rise to it's correct position, almost killing Mal in the process as a piston shot out of the bottom of it & smashed right into his chest. We thought we would try a spot of 'wild' camping for the night along the coast, without success....the drive along the coast was breathtaking & very very busy. Anyway we ended up going back to one of our old campsites & staying there for the night. The weather was great 25 degrees so we sat out sunbathing, Mal made a delicious tuna bolognese for tea.
Armacao de Pera - 10th Nov 08
I set about cleaning the van first thing as it was a bit of a cess pit after the 4 of us staying in it. Then we headed off to Hymer - Mal explained our problem with the table & water cap (not locking - this is our 2nd cap), the guy at Hymer took the van off & came back about 1/2 hr later to say he couldn't fix it! They would need to order a new base, also they had no water caps left as he had just fixed 2 other vans, apparently this is a common problem. We decided to call Hymer UK to get them to order the part & get it delivered to Seville then we would get it fitted when we headed over to Spain for Xmas. Anyway we got on our way down to the Algarve, stopping off only for a quick snack - courtesy of Deb's snack bar! Arrived in Armacao de Pera just west of Albuferia at 6pm ish (it was v dark out) not great to arrive anywhere new in the dark, as it's difficult to find a spot, pitch up, you can't get a feel for the area etc. However, we got parked with relative ease & settled in for the night, concluding we could always move tomorrow if need be.
Armacao de Pera - 11th Nov 08
Naomi!!
Naomi having a route....
Great!! I got a lie in until 9.30am, but was a wake on & off with workmen drilling & hammering! I will have to suss out what's happening later. Just as I sat eating my porridge, whilst gazing out of the window.....I spotted a black animal lying down near someones van (it was not a dog) - it was a little back.....pot bellied pig!!!!! I got Mal to check it out too.....'said' pig was just chilling by someones van! I can't believe someone's keeping a pig in their MH??!!?? can they...... just asked Mal if we can get a pig........he says the van is not exactly pig friendly! I suggested he could live in the garage - the pig of course!! tee hee We took a cycle around the site & after numerous round trips & aided by the knowledge of a friendly couple at the back of us Eve & Bill (telling us about the sunrising & setting) we decided to stay where we are but to put the van in sideways, so we would benefit from the sun more. I put down our new outside matting, chairs etc. looks like we have really set up home for a while at least - think we will stay for about a month (depending on the weather of course).
Armacao de Pera - 12th Nov 08 to 17th Nov 08
We are really enjoying our time here the weather is fab 25 degrees today, so plenty of sitting out & reading being done (want to make the most of the sun before it turns colder). Now 'the pig' her name is Naomi (after Naomi Campbell) she is 5 months old, she loves you feeding her apples (or anything really), she now comes to visit us, she allows us to scratch her & lies on the floor so we can scratch her belly....she has a real personality, answers to her name, is house trained, knows where home is, basically she is great & I want one! We have spent the last few days exploring the area, there are some great beaches here with lots of fishermen. Mal & I got some great fish from the fishmonger in town (don't know what it was), we are getting very adventurous now! We have met another nice couple Mary & Brian, who have kindly been updating us on good campsites to visit & general knowledge on 'full timing' as it is called, they have a huge RV. Mal sorted out one of their laptops for them. We visited the street market on Saturday (which I love), we bought some fabulous fruit, veg & fish - I made a great Paella on Sunday. Once again life has taken on a more leisurely pace, with hours spent in the sunshine reading. However, we are commencing our Spanish lessons on Weds (just studying together), but we felt we must set down a timetable for them or we will not do it! Piri Piri chicken for tea tonight courtesy of Mal's kitchen.
Naomi!!
Naomi having a route....
Great!! I got a lie in until 9.30am, but was a wake on & off with workmen drilling & hammering! I will have to suss out what's happening later. Just as I sat eating my porridge, whilst gazing out of the window.....I spotted a black animal lying down near someones van (it was not a dog) - it was a little back.....pot bellied pig!!!!! I got Mal to check it out too.....'said' pig was just chilling by someones van! I can't believe someone's keeping a pig in their MH??!!?? can they...... just asked Mal if we can get a pig........he says the van is not exactly pig friendly! I suggested he could live in the garage - the pig of course!! tee hee We took a cycle around the site & after numerous round trips & aided by the knowledge of a friendly couple at the back of us Eve & Bill (telling us about the sunrising & setting) we decided to stay where we are but to put the van in sideways, so we would benefit from the sun more. I put down our new outside matting, chairs etc. looks like we have really set up home for a while at least - think we will stay for about a month (depending on the weather of course).
Armacao de Pera - 12th Nov 08 to 17th Nov 08
We are really enjoying our time here the weather is fab 25 degrees today, so plenty of sitting out & reading being done (want to make the most of the sun before it turns colder). Now 'the pig' her name is Naomi (after Naomi Campbell) she is 5 months old, she loves you feeding her apples (or anything really), she now comes to visit us, she allows us to scratch her & lies on the floor so we can scratch her belly....she has a real personality, answers to her name, is house trained, knows where home is, basically she is great & I want one! We have spent the last few days exploring the area, there are some great beaches here with lots of fishermen. Mal & I got some great fish from the fishmonger in town (don't know what it was), we are getting very adventurous now! We have met another nice couple Mary & Brian, who have kindly been updating us on good campsites to visit & general knowledge on 'full timing' as it is called, they have a huge RV. Mal sorted out one of their laptops for them. We visited the street market on Saturday (which I love), we bought some fabulous fruit, veg & fish - I made a great Paella on Sunday. Once again life has taken on a more leisurely pace, with hours spent in the sunshine reading. However, we are commencing our Spanish lessons on Weds (just studying together), but we felt we must set down a timetable for them or we will not do it! Piri Piri chicken for tea tonight courtesy of Mal's kitchen. 
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