Again, one of the things we love about Lisbon's transportation is how it's all integrated. You purchase a card with a magnetic strip for 50 cents and load it with money and then use the Viva card on trains, trams, busses, and the metro. It's so smart and inexpensive. I put $12.00 on both our cards and that gets us from Oriente train station on the metro onto the intercity train to Cascais, 40 minutes from Lisbon and back. And the best part is each connection is seamless. You walk off the metro and follow the signs to the intercity train. It's all easy and pedestrian friendly.
We booked a room with a private bathroom and a shared balcony through Airbnb and it's okay. It's clean, the shower (although missing one of the glass panels) has plenty of hot water, and we're about a seven minute walk to the heart of Cascais. With a little effort though this place could be quite charming. Doesn't matter; it's inexpensive and we have access to a kitchen if we feel like cooking and the the apartment is in a quiet residential neighborhood.
Last night we got oriented, walking into Cascais city center and picking up a map at the tourist information office. Then we enjoyed watching some college kids play beach volleyball, some children running in and out of the water, and hordes of cub scouts marching around the narrow streets and eventually gathering on the main square. We strolled along the harbor and then found a place that served fish and chips for dinner. All the menus in the city center are in French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Cascais is tourist central and you can click here for information.
Sunday morning we went looking for a cafe the property manager who met us said was in the neighborhood, and after asking someone walking her dog, we managed to find it in the basement of one of the apartment buildings within this labyrinth of apartments. We enjoyed our usual coffee and a pastry with residents and that was nice, but without help, we never would have found the cafe.
Afterward we headed out to get lost, and 7 miles later, had hit the highlights of Cascais. Tomorrow we'll walk the promenade to Estoril and check out what this harbor town has to offer, but for now, here's what we saw today and last night.

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Cub scouts in city center. |
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Does this look like October 20th to you? |
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The view from the large balcony is lovely. Yes, that's the Atlantic in the background. |
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On our walk this morning, we headed in the direction of the harbor and found Marachal Carmona Park. Lots of roosters and chickens wandering this expansive park. That goes for children, too. |
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Turtles and ducks were quite at home in this pond. |
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Santa Maria with Santa Marta Lighthouse in the background. |
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Coast along walk to Boca do Inferno (i.e. Hell's Mouth). |
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These commercial fisherman were
dividing their catch. They could
have had about 300 pounds of fish
between them.
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It was caught right off the cliffs we
were walking along on our way to
Boca do Inferno. I'm sure all of it
will end up on tourists' plates in
town tonight.
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This section of Boco do Inferno collapsed, leaving a little bay. |
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Boco do Inferno is a rock formation chiseled from the constant bashing of the Atlantic. This is the "cave" that allows water to fill the little bay shown above. It's quite pretty. |
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Cliff face. You can see in the background where the Atlantic is carving our another cave. |
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Cascais Citadel was built in 1488 to protect the harbor & Tejo River estuary leading to Lisbon. This guy walking by provides some scale. |
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Sailboat announcing you are about to enter the marina, a kind of Monaco wannabe for the 1%. |
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Cascais Harbor from Cascais Fort. |
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Cascais central square with statue of Peter I. (1320-1367) The love story between Peter I and Inez de Castro is worth checking out. |
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Loved the name of this store. |
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Pretty nice mall next to train station.
We discovered it by looking for Pingo
Doce, our favorite grocery store.
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Marie had a beer and I had a mango/basil drink that was a bit sweet but looked like I was drinking tadpoles. Not joking. |
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Here's a close up. |
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I ordered the seafood and fried rice dish. |
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Marie had tofu with ramen noodles. (aka nudles) |
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We passed by this flea market in the parking lot of the fish market on our way home after linner. |
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Lots of good stuff to be had. |
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We've noticed these flowers in bloom growing like weeds along fences and up telephone pole wires. |
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