The first time I experienced Extreme Cobblestoning was in Sintra actually.  We had climbed up to the top of the mountain by way of paved road and then dirt paths to the Moorish Castle. And after the return dirt paths, we decided to go down through the old town. We turned a 900 year old corner and looked down the narrow street, with the cobblestones worn smooth and slick from centuries of use, and shiny enough to reflect the late afternoon sun.  I was wearing flip flops, a brand called Urban Beach, similar to Reefs, that  had proven to be really fine for lots of walking. But they were seriously wearing out and I was about to learn this. I started down the street, and immediately went into a slide, to which I instinctively responded to by crouching  into a deep knee bend and used outstretch arms to balance and hips to steer, and descended with style to a safe landing below.  Leg and ankle wise,  It was not unlike windsurfing down a wave, except I had no booms to hold onto, or perhaps it was like skateboarding, only I don’t skate board,  yet.

I chose to take off the flip flops and continue down using barefoot walking as my descending method, mainly due to the thickening hordes of tourists I didn’t want to hit while sliding on my worn out shoes.

Soon after this little event, we had to hurry to catch our bus back to Oeiras. 

I didn’t repeat the cobblestone slide, opting instead to buy new flip flops, for fear of hitting someone while showing off.  And after a while, I forgot about it. But I didn’t forget about cobblestones.

Portugal has a lot of cobblestones. In the Azores, they are made out of volcanic lava.  And mostly dark. But in the towns, the cobblestones were mixed black and light gray, and they were laid out in intricate designs. Often depicting maritime images, historical sayings or just abstract designs.  In Cascais, the cobblestones ware also dark and light, although I don’t think they are lava, and every where they are, they  forms patterns. In some cases walking on the wavy patterns make the  streets look like are water with waves .  In Alfama, the neighborhood surrounding Castello St George in Lisbon, the cobblestones are chunky, and multi versions of darks greys and browns.  And I could not figure out how the local women could so easily cruise these roads with their spiky high heels that are so rampant here in Portugal.

While we were hunkered down in Oerias, we hoofed every street on the way to either the train station, the store or the old town.  There was construction going on at one traffic circle, and quite a bit of new home construction in the newer residential areas.  We noticed that the sidewalks around the traffic circle, which had been completely torn up, were replaced with the same little cubes of white cobblestone, and dusted with sand, and therefore easy to walk on. I was quite impressed and relieved that they didn’t chose to go with a faster cheaper surface like black top or concrete.  The new homes that were being built, were being surrounded with new white cobblestone sidewalks. I even picked up one of the curious stone cubes as a souvenir!

Now we are in the town  of Sines, which is a beautiful very old town.   There are some new buildings, some modern but not out of place, and some with  architecture  that has detail and character so to blend in the town’s historic charm.   It also has many winding and narrow cobblestone streets, some  paved roads with cobblestone sidewalks,  cobblestone steps going up from the beach and steep hills.  The city of Sines is currently  “repaving”some of  its streets, and redoing some of the infrastructure, so many of the streets are torn up and are now just dirt.  But some are completed, and they, thankfully, have replaced the old cobblestone with new cobblestone.  Although I actually like the old crumbly cobblestone better, at least they, like the folks in Oeiras, went with more cobblestone as opposed to black top.  There are also some of the patterns inlaid here as well.  Especially on the promenade along the beach, where there are inlaid old  ships, dolphins, and a huge “Vasco Da Gama” in  gray and white cobblestone.

The town is doing this work now, in February, because the town is quiet now. According to the locals, it’s a hopping place in the Summer, with live music, festivals, beach parties, throngs of people and 24 hour energy. But now it’s peaceful and quiet.  Which is still nice.

We’ve been walking a lot, as we do when we have no car.  And I’ve been wearing Vans shoes, that are 4 years old and have served me well as comfortable,  good looking and  hip walk around shoes.  But the bottoms have seen better days, And  they are beginning to wear out. Back in Annapolis, they showed signs of wearing out when I was painting a giant outdoor mural that had a steep slope of grass in front of the wall.  I would try to walk up the hill to get to my work and slide down backwards. So I stopped wearing the Vans as work shoes. But here they’ve been great. They also have enough thickness to the suede to be warm, and can be worn with fleece socks. It’s been one of the coldest Winters ever here. Although sunny and dry,  we’ve been getting very chilly nights well down into the low 30’s.

So, the Vans have become the shoe of choice for walking into and back from town.   Only now they are a bit dangerous, and they slide.    However  being that there aren’t so many tourists around, I can turn this “danger” into “sport”and  start shaping and inventing  Extreme Cobblestone Sliding, maybe even turn it into a competitive sport!!  Maybe start the First Annual  European Mid Atlantic Regional  Cobblestone Sliding Event!  Maybe I can invent some cool moves and give them names, like the Pivot Jibe in windsurfing,  (which I got good at) or the Twizzle in ice dancing.  (which I did not get good at, yet)   

  I have the foundation in me after years of windsurfing,  ice skating and staying constant with working out and general fitness.   In the Ocean,  I turned  hand steering our boat downwind in 12- 15 ft waves , 15 – 20 ft swells in 20  30 knots of wind into a sport that I now seriously miss and recall fondly with big smiles.  And I look forward to doing again. But we aren’t crossing the Ocean again until Fall.

   I really miss working at improving skills involved in a sport.  Any sport.   I really have been considering taking up skate boarding. They have some really weird and cool looking skate boards  around here that look like lots of fun, but probably cost a lot.  I also considered inline skates, but again the cost.  But  I already have the Vans, and  the old slick cobblestones are already here and the hills are steep.   So if I can figure out a way to gracefully slide down steep historic Portuguese cobblestone hills, knees bent, arms out, hair flying, I’ll be sure to name some tricks, when I invent them.