The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
If At First You Don't Succeed ...
We made a valiant effort to see some of the sights in Sintra, the former seat of Portuguese royalty, hoping to come away with photos like these. There are dozens of spectacular sites in the park. These are just a few of the major ones. The first two are of the Pena Palace, then the Monserrate Estate and finally beautiful downtown Sintra and the National Palace. [mouse over for photo credits]
But the crowds were heavy, parking was non-existent and the park itself is huge, mountainous and heavily wooded with narrow winding roads. Walking was totally out of the question even if we could have found parking, so we wound our way up and down the steep narrow roads in the hope we could at least catch a glimpse of something. It was not to be. The best we could do were photos like these two! Sometimes it just works out that way.
Finding Sintra to be a non-starter as far as sightseeing went, we decided to give Cascais another try. We drove through the marina area to a spot we remembered from our abortive attempts yesterday ... and today there was an open parking spot! Woo Hoo! We weren't sure what was around the area for lunch, but an open parking space is not to be taken lightly. A few yards toward the water and we could see the beach, the ferris wheel and the sun on the terrace of the Hotel Baia. Decision made!
The terrace at Baia was, in fact, a pleasant place for lunch The waiter did a tableside service of Margene's pork and clams (a strange combination in my mind) and I went more basic with fried John Dory (a mild sole-like white fish). A glass of vino verdhe (Portuguese green wine) and I was a happy -- if not overwhelmed -- camper.
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