Cascais, Portugal

Manie took us on an outing down the coast to Cascais. The drive reminded me of going south to Cape Point from Cape Town, but the houses look more like Brazil with their pale stucco and red tile roofs.

Cascais is a tourist town of beaches...

...and narrow streets.

 We wandered along the promenade past this sand castle...



...and this fortress...



...to this lighthouse.



Manie is a photographer, too, so we both scrambled for good shots like this Moorish-style house from under the bridge.

The house turned out to be the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum with this beautiful courtyard.

For lunch we ended up at a local spot on a side street (not the main tourist avenue) run by this delightful woman and her husband.

I looked at the squid and shrimp, but ended up with grilled sardines since I had never eated them not from a can. I'm not sure I would order them again (at least, not with squid and shrimp as an option), but glad I did once. Mani instructed me in how to peal back the skin, eat a layer, then peal out the spine and ribs to reach the other half.

They were cooked in this grill on the varanda where we ate.

Steve did NOT eat sardines. He has a slice of beef with an egg and chips.

We ended up helping a couple couples (like the one in the background here) with translation. The arbor was full of tiny grapes that will ripen (according to our hostess) in September.

And here is Manie.