Lisbon, Cascais and Beyond
July 7th, 2007
We sited land on 7/2/07 after a lovely 5 1/2 day downwind sail from the Azores. Arriving mainland Europe was an amazing moment for us, especially for me since just 4 years ago even the thought of it scared me. I still have to pinch myself and look at a world map to realize just how far we have come. Michael says it is about 32,000 miles.Landfall was Lisbon, Portugal. We spent one full day walking the hilly streets of downtown Lisbon looking for boat parts, finding a way to get wireless internet on board and securing international phone service. Most of it proved to be challenging, but as always, an interesting way to get to know a city and its people. Most travelers go to cities to see the sights, it seems that we go to find boat parts! But, we finally succeeded on all accounts and are set up to start our European lives.
We took one day off from boat chores to tour Lisbon and the neighboring areas, including the historic hilltop city of Sintra. We have a few terrific pictures of the Pena National Palace, built in the early 1800s, for the Portuguese Royal Family’s summer residence. It sits high a top a hill with many other old mansions and palaces along the lush hillside.
We stayed in Cascais marina outside of Lisbon which was hosting an international sailing regatta. It was such a hoot to be among all of the young athletic men and women participating in the races. There were hundreds of small racing boats, 16′-20′, with one or two racers riding them like giant kite boards! Seveny-two countries and 1,700 Olympic-class boats ranging from Star class to windsurfers. They are FAST, and very physically challenging. We got a few choice pictures including several spectacular crashes very near our boat.
We have started our way south towards Gibraltar, but plan to make many stops on the way, especially along southern coast of Portugal, the Algarve region. More pictures and descriptions will follow. Once passing through Gibraltar we may go to Morocco. There is a small section of the country which is actually Spain, so we can come and go easily without having to check into and out of another country.
