After having our breakfast on the terrace of the guest house we were off...but not quite. The door was automatically closing and we had half of the luggage in the car when the door closed. Hmmm. I took a chance and knocked on the first floor windows, hoping another guest would let us in. He did, then went back to bed. Finally, we were off to Setubal, and yes, this time I did check under the bed for any credit cards that may have been dropped. This time the priority was to travel quickly so we took the freeway. For a lot of the journey we seemed to have it to ourselves. Travelling at 120km plus, we made it to our lunch stop in no time. Again, we travelled through vast agricultural acreages.
We saw a swoop of hawks but the most astonishing thing on this journey was seeing how the storks had colonized the electricity pylons that criss-crossed the freeway. At every meeting of the girders a huge shaggy nest had been built. On one pylon, we counted 12 nests.
We had expected Setubal to be a picturesque little fishing port as it was known as one of the main locations for the fishing of sardines. In fact, it was a vast fishing port and a huge and prosperous city. The sea front was very much a home for the fishing fleet and there was row after row of fish processing buildings. The streets were wide and down the middle of the main street stretched a wide garden with cafes, shade and seating. The city was hosting a marathon which must have finished as we arrived as throughout the market and streets there were tired looking participants still wearing their yellow shirts and numbers, walking home.
Our first stop was at the Freedom Market. This was a large working market supplying the locals with food for cooking. We searched high and low for a place selling sandwiches or something similar for lunch, but almost every stall had only cakes, coffee and wine. We had almost given up when a closing stall saved us. The lovely kid behind the counter even spoke a smattering of English. We took our picnic back to the garden and walked on for a while before setting down to lunch under the shade of the plane trees.
Down a side street we could see the sea and we walked off in that direction. We could see a lot of activity in the distance, past the moored fishing boats so we gravitated it. This was where the dolphin watching tours left from and there was a whole street of restaurants selling fish apparently straight off the boat. Being only an hour from Lisbon, I imagined that the crowd of diners in Setubal was a mixture of locals and tourists. The restaurants were overflowing and despite the heat and the intensity of the sun, there were people waiting in lines for tables to free up..
For us it was back to the car and a short drive back to Lisbon to drop off the rental car and get a taxi to our hotel in central Lisbon. Again we crossed the massive 12 km bridge, but today's sun made the central supports look like enormous sails.
Our taxi driver from the train station next to the car rental spot was heavy on the accelerator, the brake and the horn, but my god, he got us to our destination quickly. We were rapidly delivered to the My Story Hotel a short distance from the waterfront. This was our first stay in a hotel, on this trip. We had stayed at the Adega and then and guest houses and apartments. The hotel cost heaps, but it was centrally located and there was a LIFT!
We had our priorities right..1. dump the luggage..2. link to Wi Fi.. 3. find a mini Mercado and buy some cold beers...4. Plan where we would go for dinner. Johnny was determined to have a dinner meal of sardines. Lisbon was just as we had left it, busy, exciting and a bit intimidatingly large, but hey, we had been here before and as Britt said to us, we were almost locals by this stage.
Dinner was around the corner from the hotel and yes, it was cod croquettes, sardines with salad and potatoes and a huge glass of red wine. There was a great atmosphere as the streets that were crowded with people from around the world. Afterwards we walked down the main street to the river front through the massive arch, for ice cream and just managed to catch the departure of a cruise ship to parts unknown. The setting sun lit up the sky and ever watchful Venus followed us home.
While we snuggled into bed, the young ones were hurtling down the road below us on their electric scooters. Each to their own.
