Our second walk in Sintra was to visit the footprints of the dinosaurs and traverse the cliffs above the Atlantic coastline with Sophia. Victor had to go and see his sons end of year performance at school so we had a charming young woman taking us for a hike along the cliff tops to see the coastal region of Sintra from Praia Grande,coffee in Adraga Beach and lunch in Buraco do Fojo where we would meet up again with Victor.
It was a great walk, not too demanding but interesting viewpoints and towering cliffs, dotted with narrow snaking pathways running down to the ocean,well used by fiishermen. We were high above the ocean and the limestone and granite outcrops, the sparse vegetation, reminded me of the Otago Peninsula, equally rugged and with similar volcanic origins. There was a fisherman's hut away up here with a stand for them to rest their lines on. Not sure how they could get them down such a height,must be enormous sinkers to get so far down.
Victor drove us out to a meeting place in the National Park area where we would later have lunch at the restaurant. He introduced us to Sophia and he headed away promising to meet is later.
To get access to the footprints we climbed down to a wooden viewing structure high above the beach-shades of Cave Creek to see the footprints embedded in the up thrust of volcanic rock, centuries old. It was quite cool but good temperatures for walking, not so promising for swimming.
From there we walked on along the headland to another small sandy beach full of surfers and swimmers packing up their cars because of the cold temperatures and rain starting to patter down on their parade. The rain did not last for long,just enough time for us to have a cup of coffee at a small beach cafe in the car park.
The walk continued to the blowholes and viewing platform there before returning along an inland route to the village where we met Victor for lunch.
We went to a small restaurant called Pensao Sisudo 1953 in the village of Almocageme. It was a lovely place,a great atmosphere as a local group were holding a celebration so lots of talk and laughter during the time we were there.
I had a most delicious dish,best yet, of monks fish, shrimps, mussels and rice served in a case role dish. Brad had hummus and cod fish with olives.
Later we walked again in the area with Victor who introduced us to all the local flora and fauna as we walked along towards the headland and the lighthouse at the most westerly point of land in Europe and looked at the different plant life and the views of the cliffs and beaches.
We walked up to the lighthouse before heading back to Sintra and competed with bus loads of tourists who were doing a tiki tour from Lisbon for the day to get some photographs of the memorial. There was a Melvin Jones memorial here too.
We called in at a local village food market on the way home for a look and Victor bought some vegetables for the family tea as he was cooking once he got home.
We arrived back about six thirty so felt rather exhausted,my cold is still bothering me and I am coughing and spluttering so it is making me rather tired.
We went back to our restaurant under the caves once we had a rest and recovered some energy for the walk back up the hill to the town. I tried the pizza but nothing like the quality of our lovely lunch.
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