Monday, 1 October 2007
We arrived at Quinta das Rosas late in the afternoon – much later than planned. Unfortunately, our flight from Toronto to Lisboa was delayed by nearly six hours. Nonetheless, had a good flight with a nice crew. In April, our last place was here at Quinta das Rosas, and we liked it so much we decided to start this visit here.
Dinner: Re-visited Sete Saias in Nazaré where we started with some cold boiled shrimp (so fresh they tasted sweet!) followed by arroz de marisco accompanied by a bottle of vinho verde de casa.
Weather: An unexpectedly nice 2.5 on the Knowmark Weather Scale (it was supposed to be rather unpleasant today).
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Lunch: We lunched at A Casa in Alcobaça, which is also a garrafeira (which we had visited in April). After a couple of salgados we shared a portion of polvo à galega and a portion of polvo à lagareiro. This was accompanied by most of a bottle of vinho verde and then a couple of excellent cafés to finish.
Dinner: At home, watching Sporting dispatch Dynamo Kyiv while listening to Arsenal ease by Steaua Bucureşti in the Champions League.
Weather: Very mixed. A lovely 2.5 until late in the day, when a large storm blew through. But, by 7pm we were getting a lovely sunset.
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
After the market and our morning café e pastel, we went a few kilometres south to São Martinho where there is a Percurso Pedestre (walking track). We eventually hiked part of the trail around Serra dos Mangues. The day was quite hazy at that time, so most of the photographs we took were of rather low quality.
Lunch: We returned to a spot we ate at in April – Casa Pires “A Sardinha” – for the house specialty: sardinhas grelhadas. They are freshly grilled on charcoal just around the corner from the main door and they are amazing. We think they might have been better this time than last, but that might just be our imaginations as Anna told us this morning that in April, they would have been frozen and this time they would be fresh. They are served with a simple salad, potatoes and really great bread. We of course accompanied it with a bottle of vinho verde.
Weather: A very passable 2.0. Not much sunshine (foggy in the morning), but no rain.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
A travel day as we move from three great nights at Quinta das Rosas in Nazaré to our new digs in Coimbra.
Lunch: Picnic on the road at a well-used public fonte in Santo Antonio.
Dinner: Great meal tonight at O Cantinho dos Reis.
Weather: A very pleasant 2.0+ today (only because of the late afternoon shower in Coimbra).
