THE BEACH! Well, we had actually planned to go to Sintra on this particular day, but the wildfires were burning near Sintra, so their website said it was closed from July 11-15 (at this point in time). Instead, we took the train out to Estoril to check out Tamariz Beach!
Our apartment literally sat on top of the Roma metro station, so it was easy to take that metro train down to Cais do Sodre and hop on the commuter rail from there.
Next stop for the Bailey ladies: Estoril! Masks were mandatory on public transportation (although you definitely saw people NOT wearing them - mostly young people).
When we got to Estoril, we hopped off the train and went through the little area where you can buy beachy things and souvenirs. THANK GOODNESS they are there, because we didn't bring beach towels. Instead, we got four new beach towel souvenirs! HA! We also paid for two seats under the umbrella (well, four seats, two umbrellas) so that people could store their belongings and get out of the sun if they needed to.
The beach was a bit crowded, but nothing like Clearwater Beach at spring break!
The sand was much softer than the Cape here, but the water was probably about the same or even colder. In the distance, you can see the city of Cascais.
Grant is always a good sport about having his picture taken. Here he is with the Forte da Cruz behind him.
This cool looking building was built in the 1600s on orders from the Portuguese monarchy. In the very late 1800s, the current owners great grandfather bought it (to be closer to the monarchy during their summer trips to Cascais) although now, it is really only used as a venue for weddings.
The kids did not hesitate to get in the cold ocean!
Natalie declared that this sand was MUCH better than Cape sand for making dribble castles!
Someday he might be as tall as his dad.
Kern and Grant played in the water a bit before we all went up the beach a bit to grab some lunch.
We stopped at Abusrdo (on the advice of my fellow travelers on the internet) and although the service was wildly slow, the food was good! And you can go in with a wet bathing suit and sandy feet - PLUS it's mostly open air so there were fewer Covid concerns.
Natalie had heard the story of my Turkish-American friend Masuka, who sucked the eyeballs of a shrimp when we were in Madrid. So she wanted to try it.
She liked it! "Salty," she said.
I liked this cute picture of KK with Grant at lunch.
Grant at lunch with Lynne - he was just surrounded by beautiful women!
After lunch, we headed back out to the beach. Kern, Dorothy and Grant are so gangsta.
Kathleen is fluent in sign language, so she taught Kern and Dorothy how to say "bull shit" and they thought that was pretty funny!
Apparently the Forte da Cruz is super pretty inside. And don't worry - it's only 34,000 Euros to rent out for a Saturday wedding in the high season with 50 guests. And guess what? That is for only 2 hours of open bar!
Palm trees, ahhhhhhh...
We continued to walk past the Forte da Cruz and out past the Piscina (more on that in a second.) Grant wanted to check out some pigeons and give them (NOT the seagulls) a little piece of bread that he had. That's him in the very middle of this picture!
This area just across from Forte da Cruz is called the "Piscina Oceânica do Tamariz" which means ocean swimming pool of Tamariz. Hard to tell from this picture, because the tide came WAY in, but this is a man made, walled off area where ocean water moves in and out with the tide, but without the rush of the ocean current so families with small children can feel safe swimming here (well, uh, maybe at low tide!)
KK took this awesome picture of us in front of the Fort! I think Kern is trying to be taller than Todd!
One of the MOST fun things we did at the beach was stand over by the seawall and wait for the waves to splash up and drench us! This picture was taken when the wave got ME instead of Kern and Grant!
Eventually, it got them too!
This is the one that went right up my nostrils!
And this is the one that went right up Kern's nostrils!
You can tell that one really got him!
Man, I miss these guys. I keep saying that they need to move back to Massachusetts, but noooo... they just want to be west coasters now! Well, at least they will travel with us!
Seriously, how can you even tell that this is the same thing as the picture below?
That tide means business! (Sorry internets, I stole this from someone! Don't arrest me!)
I love a good tropical destination! The high was 93 degrees during our visit here!
After having a great time getting blasted by waves over by the Forte da Cruz, we strolled past Absurdo and it hit me: This is Europe! I bet we can get drinks and bring them back to the chairs! For a small pfand, you can take your drinks back to the beach - but remember to return your cup and get your money back!
A very relaxed Lynne enjoyed a passion fruit margarita!
Aaaaaand of course, we have this again... (the funny thing about these pictures is that this all started when Todd would send these to Kern. But he was actually here with us on the trip!)
Finally, Kern and Todd had enough adult beverages to get in the chilly ocean. It was 65 degrees! To be fair, that's about what it is on the Cape at Hyannis ha ha.
Hello out there!
A pretty sailboat went by as the tide was still coming in.
EEEK! YAY! You know I love a good manhole cover!
Finally, everyone had enough sun, so we headed back through the tunnel, past the beach toys and towels to the train station. Lynne and the kids look so cute, but really, who are the crazy people behind them???
We followed Todd through the Cais do Sodre train station where we switched to the green line.
I liked this guy behind Todd, because he felt like wearing his mask and his sunglasses (inside a metro train going through tunnels) was a pretty badass look.
When we got back, we needed more provisions as we were about halfway through the trip (already!) So we ran down to the Continente Bom Dia for some goodies.
KK joined us, because she had to find the good wine! In Massachusetts, we do not have plastic bags (well, at least not in my town) and much like in Germany, we only use reusable bags at the grocery store. So my favorite thing to do is buy reusable bags in various countries and sport them down at my local Shaws! It's a great souvenir!
The kids went CRAZY when I told them I found ACTUAL Kinder Surprise eggs! IYKYK!
After getting cleaned up and having a nice dinner back at the apartment of various store bought things (meats, cheeses, etc.), we decided to play a bunch of games. I'm not even a big fan of games (not as much as the rest of my family anyway) but Kern brought this game called Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and it was HILARIOUS!
After Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza, we played a few games of Heads Up!
Grant and Natalie working on the next category in Heads Up. Yes, both of my kids are wearing Christmas pajamas because that is the only time of year I ever buy them pajamas!
Grant is only pretending to sleep here while Dorothy is giving clues for Heads Up. After this we learned how to play Among Us and LITERALLY played for hours, although I don't think anyone got any pictures! It was seriously one of the funniest games!
Goodnight Lisbon! Until tomorrow!
Well, a lovely time was had by all. I must say, I'm exhausted!
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