Sintra, Portugal

One of the few places in Europe i had spotted on the web before we left Sweden was the town of Sintra in Western Portugal and Palace ‘Quinta de Regaleira’ in particular. Sintra was home to some royal/wealthy families which spent their summers up in the mountains to get away from the Portuguese summer heat.

Quinta de Regaleira - a UNESCO world heritage site - with it's gardens and palace is one of the most inspiring places i ever visited, sooo much details you could spend months there trying to take it all in. You find yourself on walkways, shortcuts and in cave-systems in this immense garden which takes you through and out in various places. It's all built in a steep slope so you climb up and down in altitude as well. You even reach the initiation well (the photo of which i saw on the web that got me interested) through the grottoes. Symbolism is the thing here and for those who are so inclined this place is a must-visit. 

We had hoped to see the other palaces as well but we were a bit late to get to Sintra, got stuck driving up and down the steep hills around town because it’s one way streets and i managed to miss a turn. It probably took us an hour to get back due to heavy traffic. When we finally got to the entrances of the other palaces it was closed for the night at 5PM in the afternoon. 

Sintra is well worth a visit if you are in the Lisbon area! 

Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinta_da_Regaleira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/António_
Augusto_Carvalho_Monteiro

Lisbon, Portugal

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Lisbon cityscape from a viewpoint - in the distance you can see the 'Puente 25 de abril' bridge that looks a bit like Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Click to enlarge.

We left Porto and the Douro marina at noon with clear sunny weather having both wind and tide with us doing 10 knots with just the genoa up. Soon thereafter we passed the Vega-crew which had left the marina just a couple of minutes before us. At nightfall we lost all wind so we had to do a part of the trip by motor. In the morning the wind came back and we did the last part of the sail to Cascais in fair winds! 

Not long before we got to Cascais we passed the J-boat Endeavour with it's impressive 710 sq. meter sail (front image) doing 8 knots in practically "no wind". 

Spent the first night in Lisbon in Cascais marina, we were hoping to meet up with the family of four we met in Cameret-sur-Mer just before crossing the Bay of Biscay. Unfortunately they were inland somewhere at their relatives so the day after we moved to Oeiras Marina where we had been promised a discount. Douro marina in Porto and Oeiras marina in Lisbon have some kind of deal between them. :)

Happy we moved the boat, Oeiras marina is a small marina with everything you need close by with an incredible staff helping out and driving you for free to the train station or whatever place in the vicinity you need to go. When you go from marina to marina like we’ve done you realise how unplanned some of them are in terms of how far you have to go to get food, visit the toilets/office and so on. Not to talk about the wifi coverage in European marinas, we have moved from Stockholm to Portugal without a functioning wifi. Thankfully the cafés in Oeiras marina were so close that we were able (with wifi-antenna) to connect and get decent speed for once. 

While in the Lisbon area everyone needed some time alone so both the guys in the Albin Vega and me and Janne spent some nights at hotels/rentals on our own. When you live in a confined space like a yacht you need it once in a while. A friend of mine told me about AirBnB(.com) which is an awesome service where one can rent apartments from people/companies. Very cheap, at least here in the Lisbon area. Check it out!

Janne spent some time with Paul - the american we met in Baiona - they did some skating back in Oeiras which both had been looking forward too! I managed to run a couple of kilometers with Nils before he left. I’ve been having issues with my knee for some time now which is annoying because i love to run. I have this idea that when we get to warmer climates it will function better. :) Otherwise i will have to start biking, which i don’t enjoy as much. 

We spent nearly two weeks in Lisbon due to the topsy turvy weather of 2015 - normally the wind is northerly outside Portugal but this year with all the weather anomalies caused by El Nino it’s been mostly southerly blocking our path forward.

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon

Porto and the Douro Valley

Last couple of weeks have been packed with events and socialising which became apparent when i was looking for pictures too share in this blog post. In retrospect i wish i had taken more photos of the cityscape and of all the great street art that you find in Porto. 

We didn't spend that many days in the city itself, decided to rent a car instead with the other Swedes and take a drive through the Douro Valley. A place that proved to be one of the most beautiful landscapes we ever seen. Majestic hills covered with organically scattered houses as far as you can see in all directions. Here is a shaky video i took in the car which i think will describe the place a bit better than the still shots:

Porto the home of port wines is an old Roman settlement strategically put at the mouth of the River Douro with ready access to the Atlantic Ocean. Before the Romans occupied the Iberian Peninsula the Celts had already been active in the region from around 300 B.C. 

We all liked the city and surrounding areas so much we started to make plans to go back in a distant future renting motor cycles and going around the valley with more time to spend! :) 

Nils that were with us on the Bay of Biscay joined us again - he stayed for the leg Porto-Lisbon and then unfortunately had to fly back home again due to a water leakage in his apartment. He was supposed to be with us to the Canary Islands. 

Porto on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto

Islas Cíes

We left Baiona to spend a night anchored at Islas Cíes just a couple of miles off shore. Looking at the islands from Baiona brought on the imagination, thinking of Jurassic park or something remote and unexplored. :) 

Decided to switch crew so I jumped on the Albin Vega (S/Y Svea) while Isac joined Janne on Fragancia, it was a fun experience to see how a smaller boat moved at sea. Isac seemed pleased to learn how to operate the Bavaria as well! 

The islands was very beautiful and serene. We were the only people there except for a man taking care of the island who came out to greet us when we walked by. We decided to walk a couple of kilometers up to the lighthouse and found ourselves walking through eucalyptus forests and shifting vegetation. We got to higher altitude very quickly and soon enough we had amazing views of the islands, the Vigo bay and Baiona.

We got back to the dinghy just before nightfall and made our way back to Fragancia where the five of us spent an evening together - dining and chatting. All in all an awesome day and a beautiful morning the day after! :)

Baiona

We didn't do all that much in Baiona due to the weather. Had a stroll around town the first day having a delicious seafood lunch which is pretty much what you find everywhere here on the Atlantic coast, seafood, seafood, seafood.

At least we made it up to the hills on our photo walk and got some pictures of Islas Cíes islands that we were aiming to visit for a night before we continued south to Porto.

I usually take a look at tripadvisor.com to see wether there is anything extraordinary that one wouldn't want to miss while visiting a city. But we ended up spending most of the time in the marina.

We met some new friends that were neighbouring Fragancia; an American family with two little kids on-board. They had been circumnavigating for 8 years already and had spent several months in Sweden.

One day Paul on the neighbouring boat and I went for a jog along the oceanfront and on the way back Paul couldn't resist the temptation to play some football with the locals. I'm not readily jumping into football games but I must say that after a while I was tempted to join in as well! :)

Apparently Paul likes to rollerblade which is a perfect because Janne loves to blade as well! They are planning to do some skating together soon! (We are currently in Oeiras outside Lisbon where we once again are in the same marina!)

Panorama shot of Baiona and Ría de Vigo

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A panorama photo of Baiona and Ría de Vigo with Islas Cíes in the background to the left. We are heading out to the islands to spend the night anchored. The islands have been protected as a nature reserve since 1980 and were called the best beach in the world by The Guardian in 2007 - lets see about that and wether any of us will take a dip in the ocean. The Atlantic coast water temperature is not very pleasant right now. :)