Portugal and Spain 2023

It's pronounced SHTOO ball. I would never have guessed. It's only an hour away from Lisbon by car or public transportation, including a ferry if you want. And that's why it's appealing to us. We're not going back to Lisbon, but this might be a good place to hunker down eventually.

We are staying in an apartment for 3 days in the old part of town, not far from the port. I've got a good felling about this place. It's at times gritty, but it's also charming. I feel like our neighborhood is what the New Orleans French Quarter used to be like in the 50's. The streets in our hood are narrow and cobbled. There are a few apartments for rent, but it's mostly locals. You can barely drive a car down the street, but it's allowed. Clothes hang on lines. If we walk out on our balcony, the neighbor doing laundry is about 20 feet away. Small shops line the graffiti'd streets. A few blocks East is the Praca de Bocage, the central plaza. I'm writing this now at a sunny cafe with the requisite glass of wine. It's surrounded by pedestrian streets and shops that sell one thing only: shoes or purses or men's clothes, etc.

Or maybe Setubal is the poor man's San Diego. It's an active port, there are lots of beaches nearby, cafes are abundant, and there's a beautiful national park just down the coast. Parque Natural da Arrabida is the hilly area that hugs the coast and goes up, up, up from it. We drove around it yesterday, on a Sunday. That's motorcycle day apparently. It was a perfect day and place for them because the roads are narrow and winding. It was fun for me to drive a stick shift on those roads too. We stopped for the amazing views of the Atlantic and the city of Setubal. And we relaxed at a beach for a few hours. It hit 70 that day, so that's beach weather for us.

Another thing that reminds me of San Diego is the Troia peninsula across the bay. It seems like Coronado, which is also accessed by a ferry and has expensive hotels, a golf course, and nice beaches. Maybe it's just because I was just in San Diego that it seems like a cheaper SD.

We had a bit of a problem with checkin. The maid hired by our host was a no-show and the room wasn't ready. Petra, the hostess, was aghast, as this had never happened before. She offered us 40 Euro and walked us to a free parking area. We really didn't mind that much, but it was a nice gesture. She said we're the first guests she's met in person in over a year! Lucky us, because she pointed our her 2 favorite restaurants in town. She's half Portuguese/ half German and lives in Estoril, a western suburb of Lisbon. Places here are so cheap in the offseason, her discount was basically 20% off. We'll definitely give her a good review. Oh, and those restaurants? Both were fantastic. One waitress spoke English, the other place had 3 staff that alternated working our table, but between smiles, pointing, my poor Spanish and poorer Portuguese, we got by.

On Monday, we drove out to a different Bacalhoa winery museum and tour. It was just out of town. But the website didn't state which tours were in English and we were a little late and besides, the English tour wasn't until 3 pm and we were there at 10. Scratch that. We went back to town to just walk around and soak up the sun and sites. It was cafe culture day.

We ate lunch at a tiny restaurant across our street/alley. It got good reviews for its set lunches. We weren't disappointed. I had Peixe Espada (Swordfish) and Deanne had the Dourada (Bream). Again, these set lunches include a half liter of wine (2/3 bottle), olives, bread, the seafood entree, potatoes, a dessert, and espressos. It's really too much for us, but it's not acceptable to split a set menu meal. The cost is slightly more than a fast food meal in the states. Actually, I walked by a restaurant here serving a burger and coke for about the same price! We're starting to skip meals because of this. We shop for groceries first thing in a town to get breakfast food. And with meals like this, we tend to just eat one late lunch out and then we eat snacks for dinner. We're still full at 8 at night because the portions are so big. But man, that chocolate mousse alone was worth the cost of lunch.

Tomorrow we set off for Tavira in the Algarve, the southern coastal region. It's right next to the SW corner of Spain. We were there on our first trip in 2007 and want to go back. We have a couple days to kill before meeting up with friends. Madli and her daughter Naiara are from Estonia. We were quarantined with them and a motley crew from around the world in Ecuador during the Covid crisis. And Louie is meeting us again. He's a pilot from NYC with the ability to take trips on a whim. We all met up in Ecuador last winter and now we're meeting again in Lagos in a few days. We can't wait.

Photos and videos are here! https://photos.app.goo.gl/DrRR8vposBDYP2Ns5

And if anyone wants to learn about Portuguese seafood, there was this amazing display on this street we found on our first night. I'm studying this before we go to restaurants. It's awesome. Choco Frito is the local specialty here. That's fried cuttlefish.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9ftcCKghyyrTFzYZA

A walk through the local market is here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XnYY1h3McAnAaSmZ8Read more