38:41.787N 009:24.756W

SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Tue 14 Aug 2018 18:52
UTC 1718
Local time 1818

We are still at anchor in Cascais.

Yesterday, most of the day has been spent in Lisboa ( Lisbon, or Лиccabon ). No mater how you call it, no matter how you pronounce it — the same place. The capital of the Portugal, and it is the largest city of the country.

From Cascais to Lisboa — about 10 nm sailing or motor sailing into the estuary of the river. There are 3 marinas… all public… probably cheaper then Cascais… and unknown availability of spaces… NO ANCHORAGES AROUND… (Though, going ahead, I should say that I have seen the sailing boat(s) anchored… But I do not know… )
Also, on the same stretch of the water — there is a big commercial container terminal ( or full port ? There are plenty of commercial port installations around, not easy to say…. )
At the same time — there is a train communication from Cascais to Lisboa… The train is leaving on each half an hour, the return ticket — 5 Euro, the time in route — 30-40 minutes… You can not miss your stations — since the both are the ends of the route… On each end, all personnel is helpful, and is speaking English…

That said, guess which option I took? Your guess is right — 5 euro have been well spent, and I find myself moving in train to the Lisboa…

Moving by electrical local commuting train has brought the memories of its own… Ironically, all the most important places for me in Russia are located ( have been located ?! ) in 30-40 minutes local train ride from Moscow… And moving in local train in Portugal, watching the stations passing by, watching the doors opening and closing, seeing people entering and leaving… To degree — travel in time of its own… Nostalgia?! Oh, NO,NO,NO!!!! Just travel in time, some memories, some thoughts!

The arrival point in Lisboa — 5 minutes walk from the ‘historical centre’… And the ‘exploration’ of the town has started. I know the drill pretty well… First the map — just in case… Then extra advice from the person, who gave the map, putting it together will all previous info… And start to move, trying to get lost in the small streets as quickly as possible…

To start to move — simple. The amount of tourists is amazing. The amount of languages — makes you soon comfortable because you are realising that it is impossible to learn all of them… You may filter away ‘obvious ones ‘ — English, French, German, Italian, Spanish…. But it does not actually narrows the spectrum what you are hearing around… The waiters in the endless cafés, selecting the orders by pictures if they failed to find the common language — made me really comfortable that I’m not alone with ‘language learning disabilities ‘…. ;-)

The ‘old city’… No matter how many modern boutiques are opening their shiny windows on the first floors, the old city managed to keep its ‘old face’… A few turns from the ‘main touristic’ route — and here we go…. Old city indeed… Narrow streets… The just made washing is hanged under the window to dry, nearly touching different sides of the street as the wind is blowing… Nicely and interestingly stoned pavements…

The city is struggling… It is in not in a good shape… THERE IS A LOT OF RENOVATIONS! My hat is off for people — they are renovating the building, keep the authenticity as much as possible — the size and frames of the windows, doors… colours… The renovation nearly everywhere… But… it still not enough… The city would take more, much more… Besides the houses, the pavements are need some attention… Some more money would easily find the way to be used…

Going ahead, I discovered that the ‘new city’ is actually in a much better state… And then, the officer in the Cascais marina explained it to me. The old city is still mostly privately owned by families, who were leaving there for quite a while… And literally, they do not have money to go through the support and reconstruction needed…
The authorities were trying to find the solution by bringing investors from ‘outside’… But that fired back — creating the issue that the original owners were ‘forced to leave’…. Now, the process is a bit in a ‘limbo state’ as everyone is looking for the solution…

Bun nevertheless, the city is amazingly charming… The place— at least that part of it, for sure — is located on the small hills… Small…but big enough if you are walking around… ;-) The abrupt turn of the narrow street is usually accomplished with the small café /bar… May be a few tables, chairs, and shadow… Yes! As soon as there is no breeze over the ocean — it is WARM!!!! Well, at least I started to feel the real 24C degrees as warm!!! ;-)

Since the small and narrow streets are covering the slops of the hill in sporadic ‘spider net’, it is often when you are running into the ‘stair shortcuts’ from one street to another… And following those — is adventure as it may be since you do not know what is exactly around the corner… And all that ’serpentine’ has traces into deep centuries…

Up, up, up… and you are reaching the Castelo De S. Jorge… One of the places the tourist ‘has to see’… No, I did not go inside… The amount of tourists, and its slowly growing concentration is increasing… And on top, it became too touristic to my taste…

Rapid turn to the street which seems to be too narrow for the family of tourists to pass through… And you still may enjoy the reality of the old city… With roofs in each ‘spare’ place between the building… The street suddenly ends in a small square yard, which is already occupied by another small café,,, The smell is so delicious… If you stop… you would probably never move again….

Panteao Nacional… You stepped inside the cathedral, and you do not need any single word to explain the power of the church… You just first see it, and then feel it…
Centuries of history… I found the big difference between the churches in Portugal, and the churches in Rome, Itally… Here, in Portugal — they are much ’simpler’ internally — if I may say so — and extremely rich at the same time… The combination makes such a powerful impression… which probably explains why it is so quite within all places within the cathedral… People either silent, or lower their voices naturally…
Locals are making their best to keep the cathedral as museums, cultural centres, and still working church / cathedral… And they are doing pretty good with that!

And again — centuries of history just in-front of you…

Obviously, one day is not enough to see everything in Lisboa… Plenty museums… modern city… etc, etc, etc…. suburbs… Sitra — another place, further in the hills, which one ‘must to see’, etc, etc, etc… Plus plenty of local food, plus extremely nice people around… ;-)

Back to Cascais… In all guides — it is mentioned as a ‘village’… It is actually very challenging by itself since if that is a ‘village’ then what is the English for settlements which are starting about 40 km from Moscow centre in Russia? What is the English for the St. Georges on Grenada, St. John on Antigua ?
A modern city, with the superb infrastructure, with economy of its own… and still keeping the colouring of the old Portugal settlement…

And it is not the only ‘village’ on the West coast of Portugal which is raising that question!

It makes me anxious to keep going, and to see more!

Opened the guide, and started planning the continuation of the trip South….

Our status — everything is good and under control.

Talk to you later,
M.