The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Go South, Young Man

There's never a lot to report on a travel day and this was one of those -- 3+ hours down the main motorway from Porto to Cascais, a semi resort area about an hour west of Lisbon. It seems like everyone we've asked pronounces the name of this place differently, but the consensus seems to be something like "kosh-kice. (It won't be on the quiz!)

The weather was spectacular -- slightly cool with bright sun -- and the traffic was light most of the way down. My little Garmin GPS (recently recovered from our missing bag) guided us unerringly through the maze of streets in Cascais to our new temporary digs. There's a built-in GPS in the car but it only silently shows the route. The Garmin talks me through the trip verbally, advising of turns coming up and other such guidance that allows me to keep my eyes on the road rather than on the GPS screen. Seems like a smarter idea.

A quick phone call when we arrived and we were joined by the irrepressible owner, Candida Reis. Candida and her husband restored this small duplex with love and great attention to detail. Her English (and, we gather, her French, Spanish and probably German) was impressive and her love for the area was obvious. She walked us through the information in the house book (Finally a house book. Yay!), showed us all the quirks of the apartment, explained how to get to markets and restaurants, recommended places to see and generally was the embodiment of hospitality, quite a change from our rather corporate reception in Porto.

After a quick run to the neighborhood grocery for a few minor supplies (we'd brought many odds and ends with us from Porto), we spent time nesting. Two bedrooms and two baths gave us lots of room to spread out. Finally the growling of the stomach dictated an actual meal. We kept it as quick and easy as possible, walking a block or so up the street to a little neighborhood restaurant/coffee shop who seemed to be doing more takeout business than indoor dining. Actually, indoor EATING might be a more accurate term since the place had all the ambience of a small town truck stop ... but the burger was huge (with bacon, egg and fries) and quite tasty. Two burgers, three beers and a bottle of water later, we paid less than 20 euros for dinner and walked home feeling quite content.

We have two full days in Cascais before we head to Lisbon on Christmas Eve. Who knows? Tomorrow we may actually do or see something! Woo Hoo!

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