Gryphon II - Cascais to Lisbon and return

Cascais to Lisbon and return

Gryphon II

Chris and Lorraine Marchant

Sun 30 Aug 2009 11:13

We had a good, gentle sail up to Lisbon, passing the small dock near the 16th century Belem tower and the almost equally impressive 1960s tower to the Discoverers, like the great discoverer Vasco da Gama who expanded the horizons of the Portuguese in the 15th century and later. Alongside Belem tower was the small dock that we had stayed in 28 years ago, but sadly it is no longer a marina for yachts in transit unless booked well in advance.

We carried on under the suspension bridge that connects Lisbon to South Portugal. The bridge makes a noise like a massive swarm of bees due to the use steel grids for the road deck, apparently to cut down on windage.

We decided to go onto a small bay on the south side of the Tagus alongside the small town of Seixal. We had hoped to stay longer but we had made contact with a local sail maker to make us an awning for the boat to provide shade and to help cut the heat down on deck and down below. We have already had temperatures in the 90s and are preparing for even hotter when we enter the tropics. Consequently we had 5 nights in a rather noisy marina, with continuous noise from the bridge and, at night, discos that went onto 5 o'clock in the morning. Ear plugs are a wonderful invention!

Lisbon is a city of great contrasts. There are wonderful squares, paved in black and white cobbles and the quality of the public buildings is high. The city centre is built on an easy to follow grid system developed during planning for reconstruction after the earthquake here in the 18th Century. However, everything is covered in graffiti, which the authorities seem powerless to do anything about despite the very heavy and obvious police presence everywhere. Buildings, trains, walls, windows, subways, monuments etc. etc. are covered. Alfama, the oldest quarter of the city to survive the 18th Century earthquake and a massive fire about 10 - 15 years ago, is a maze of little alleys and is neat and tidy with less well endowed people who appear proud of their homes. However, it was here where we saw a pile of spray cans, next to a small motorbike, left over from a graffiti artist's hard night's work..

The people appear as you would expect in a big city, from tramps and surly bus drivers to people who could not do enough to help. The worst experience was on a bus going to the town centre. When we arrived at our stop I was blocked by someone as I tried to get off and had to push past to get off. On reaching the pavement I realised I had lost my wallet and we quickly got back on the tram, assuming I had dropped my wallet on the floor. It was not to be seen but I stirred up enough of a commotion for people to realise something bad had happened and a man pointed at a person wearing sunglasses, a hat and with a coat over his arm. I put my hand to his coat and he pulled away but, lo and behold, my wallet appeared on the floor at the man's feet. He had clearly lifted the wallet as I pushed past on the bus. I was so relieved I just went to the far end of the bus and we both got off at the next stop , as did the would be thief. I wish now that I had followed him and introduced the police to him but in the heat of our relief he just walked quickly away.

A lesson learnt and yes, I will now use the pouch Hattie gave me last Christmas!

Back to Cascais so that we could stock up and have a rest day before the passage to Madeira. However our first night was far from restful as the fireworks were on again and we were told we would have to move by the police. I decided to comply as I could not face the potential hassle from the authorities ..... unlike the majority of the Brits who simply stayed put. Anyway off to the open ocean tomorrow.

This is a picture of Gryphon ll taken by our friends Andy and Sue from Spruce when we were drifting down the Portuguese coast.

Beware all those with a penchant for pastry.

One of the memories we will have of Spain and Portugal, as we prepare to leave the European Mainland for Madeira, is the abundance and variety of street and community art and sculpture; some wonderful, some marginal. Our favourite by a long way is the piece above found in Coruna near the tower of Hercules.