We took off Saturday morning, and had a direct flight to Lisbon. Since Sesimbra is about a 30-45 minute drive from Lisbon, I'd arranged with the hotel to have a driver meet us at the airport. He was a little late due to traffic, but eventually we hit the road. As we were leaving Lisbon, he pointed out a bridge that we were about to drive over, asking if it looked familiar. I used to live near San Francisco , and sure enough, it looked identical to the Golden Gate Bridge. Turns out the company that made the Golden Gate Bridge also made this one.
He also pointed out the first Aquaduct built to supply water to Lisbon as we were driving directly under it. It didn't take long to get there once we left Lisbon, and it was beautiful. We checked in to our room, and the first thing we saw when we stepped out on to our balcony was the beautiful beach below.
We changed into swimsuits and flip flops, and headed out. We hadn't had lunch yet, so our first stop was a little cafe on the boardwalk. We had plates of shrimp and tapas with meats and cheeses. The food the entire time was amazing. The only complaint I had about the beach was that the water was cold. But it didn't take long to get used to. After we had lunch, we set up a spot on the beach and jumped in. Well, Shanna jumped in. I took my time slowly walking in to the water, getting used to it bit by bit. I kept telling myself it would be better to just submerge myself, but I couldn't do it.
That afternoon was just about relaxing. We swam in the water, laid out in the sand, and enjoyed having absolutely nothing to do. When we were done, we walked off the beach and right into our hotel. We got cleaned up, ordered room service, and sat out on the balcony people watching. After we finished dinner, we were about to head to bed when we heard loud music outside. At first I thought it was a car or someone's radio blaring, but it sounded live. We looked outside, and there was a procession of people playing music and dancing through the streets. We later found out that a festival was going on nearby.
The next morning, after breakfast, we found a tour we wanted to book that took you along the coastline in a boat, where you could Dolphin watch, and go swimming. The hotel tried to calling the number on the flyer to book it, though, and no one answered. The flyer said they weren't far from us, so we went for a walk. The town itself was beautiful also. There were countless buildings that had intricately painted tiles.
We made our way along the beach to the marina, but never could find the place to book our tour. At this point it was about mid-day, so we just decided to hit the beach again. The rest of the afternoon was sunning out on the beach, and swimming in the water. One thing you couldn't help but notice was how clear the water was. We would go out to the point where we had to tread water and we could STILL see the bottom, as well as all the little fishies swimming by.
Later that afternoon we walked back to our hotel, and happened to notice a shop that had been closed before. It was labeled as a car rental place, but had signs in the window advertising tours they arranged. We walked in to talk with them, and found out they offered the same type of tour we had been looking at earlier. We made arrangements to go on the tour the following morning. Afterwards we found a great seafood place to eat at on the water. Shanna had grilled fish (I can't remember the exact type) and I had something that resembled seafood gumbo. It had lobster, shrimp, crab and all kinds of delicious shellfish in it.
The next morning we walked down to the dock to meet the boat. It was a little pontoon type boat, but the great part was it was only Shanna, myself and one other person, along with the guide. The other person spoke some English, but preferred Portuguese, so our guide would tell us something in English, then the other person the same thing in Portuguese.
The tour started off in the harbor area where the boats come in after fishing to unload their catch. It was about 10am, so we got to see the boats unloading directly into big trucks that would then take the fish to the local restaurants there and in Lisbon. Now it made sense about the chalkboards in front of all the restaurants. The chalkboards were blank in the morning, but that afternoon, had all the daily catches written on them. So the seafood you were eating was actually caught that day.
From there we went down the beach, and continued along the coast line. Once we left the beach area, the coastline became giant cliffs. It was like that the majority of the way until we got to the next town. It was absolutely breath taking.
As we started the boat trip along the coast, the guide pointed out a giant rock out cropping she called "The Lion". Hundreds of years ago, sailors would give various unique rocks names to help identify where they'd been. This particular one looked a lot like a lion perched in the water.
Next we came up on an old building that was in ruins. That's where the fisherman used to live back when the town was only a fishing village, and not a tourist spot. 60 years ago there was a fire, though, and it was never rebuilt. We also passed by a small village, and up in the hills we could see a convent. Next to it were little buildings that were used by the nuns to give them a private quiet place to pray.
We finally reached Setubal. We weren't stopping in the town, but the harbor area outside the town was where we were heading to watch the dolphins. Our guide told us that it was hit or miss in seeing them, but they also kept their eyes out for a certain company's boats. They have contacts with the various fishermen in the area, who call them when they spot dolphins. So when the smaller companies see their boats, it means dolphins are in the area, and they follow them. Sure enough, we saw one of their boats and followed them. While we were behind them, I started to notice jellyfish in the water. They were, by far, the biggest ones I'd ever seen. Some were small, and could have fit in my hand. Others looked large enough to cover my entire head and upper body.
We eventually came to an area where the boat ahead of us stopped. It didn't take long for us to see the dolphins. Our guide told us these dolphins are different then the typical grey dolphins people think of. They are black, and the type of dolphin they are is not migratory. They live in that area, and while they will sometimes disappear for a few days while they go out hunting for food, they always come back. We saw a group of 4 or 5 dolphins swimming around. We followed them from a distance, and spent the next hour. In total, we probably saw about 20 dolphins, all in small groups swimming around. I hadn't really cared about seeing them when we saw the brochure, but now that we were out there, it was really neat seeing them swimming in their natural habitat. It was also tough to get a picture of them. They didn't exactly stop to pose, and you never knew where they were going to pop up. I was able to get a few good pictures, though.
When we finished there, we headed back to the coastline. Along the way we past by an old fortress that had been converted into a hospital. It had a small private beach in front of it that only patients and their families were allowed to use.
Eventually we made it to a small cove where we could swim. The lady in the boat with us didn't want to, but Shanna and I did. They didn't dock the boat, they just anchored down to a buoy floating by. S Shanna and I dove in the water. Like near our hotel, the water was cold, but it wasn't too bad and we adjusted quickly. The guide tossed us snorkels, and we got to see all the huge fish swimming in the water around us.
After we climbed back into the boat and they brought out lunch. They had made sandwiches, but the guide had also made a popular dessert called Farinha Torrada. It was popular with the local fisherman because it would last for a long time, and they could take it out on the sea with them. When lunch was done, they broke out a bottle of Moscatel, a popular liquor made from grapes grown in that area.
Finally we made our way back to the dock. When we got out, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town. We stopped in various shops, including one that was selling old Port wine. I bought a bottle from 1981 (the year Shanna & I were born), but they had bottles from the 1940's, 1950's...they even had a bottle from 1847! If only I had 900 Euro to spend on it. We also stopped in a local market where they had fresh meats, cheeses, and...snails. That's right, live snails you could buy to cook. You just picked them right off the piece of rock they were crawling on.
This is a small blog post, because there wasn't a lot of sightseeing, it was mostly just a relaxing get away. The weather could not have been more perfect. From the moment we stepped off the plane to the moment we got back on, we never saw a single cloud. The temperature was hot, but not unbearable. The sun was definitely intense, though. Even with constant sun screen application, we still got a little burned. It's no wonder the local people have such dark tans. But Shanna loved it, and we came back feeling much more relaxed than when we left.
If you ever find yourself in Portugal, try and stop by Sesimbra. For the people reading who live in Europe, and want to stay in the town, the SANA Sesimbra hotel is great.
The next post will come in a few weeks. We have 6 days off, so we're going on a road trip, driving through Belgium and The Netherlands.
To see pictures, click here or on any picture above.
Looks beautiful and peaceful!! We lived on the island of Guam for 4 year. I had island fever so bad by the end, I never thought I would miss the beach. But I've been looking at old beach pictures and I see a beach vacation in our future!
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