The Camino and the Coast: Day 4 ~ Coastal walk to Cascais

Day 4 -19kms- Caxias to Cascais.

I should be in bed crying about my pulverized feet but no, I'm freezing at an outdoor patio, having a delightful glass of vinho tinto watching all the pretty people walk by and pretending my feet don't hurt.

The sun has set although without much glory. It's been masked by clouds since shortly before we arrived. No complaints here however ..we had sunny, blue skies all day. We were blessed with beautiful weather so far and are hoping the rain holds off for at least a few more days.

Cascais is gorgeous. My mother's favourite childhood escape from Lisbon. Now I know why. It's a very quaint sea town with the smell of sardines coming from every restaurant with it's white table clothes and twinkling lights. There are Irish Pubs, British Pubs, Thai, Indian, Italian fare and so much more but the feeling in the air is pure Portuguese with a sprinkle of posh. The shops are beautiful.

The beaches are tiny but dramatic and there are many sea birds squawking and circling overhead.

There are castles, churches and tiles everywhere.

I imagine this place in the summer.... probably not even close to quiet. Part of the reason why I like that it's chilly right now... just enough for crowd control.

Today we left our hotel in Lisbon and walked down a steep cobblestone street to the train station. We bought a ticket for 4€ to get to a seaside town called Caxias, just outside of Lisbon. With the exception of the Belem Tower and surrounding harbourfront, the Lisbon waterfront area is very industrial so not feeling too bad about skipping past it all.

I also didn't want to hurt us on our first day... so I reduced the days distance by about 8kms. It was a wise decision because we were sore as we reached the end zone.

We saw beautiful beaches and were pleased to find a place to stop for coffee. We took a rest at an overlook in a warm sunny spot and that seemed to make a big difference in our endurance.

Once we reached the last 2kms we found a place to eat by the water. The service staff were awesome in helping me with my dietary restrictions and wow... their recommendations were spot on. Dominick had sea bass and veggies. I had a portugese steak and salad. It was a tender steak topped with a slice of ham then a sunny side up, farm fresh egg, crushed garlic and buried in potatoes and olives.