Art on the main drag near the Fort
Saturday in Cascais. The number of tourists was noticeably greater. More Portuguese tourists coming in on the train. We took a walk in the morning along the west coast to the Boca do Inferno. Instead of beaches, this side has a rough rocky shoreline and usually rougher seas. It was pretty quiet today, but still beautiful. The Atlantic side north of Lisbon is known as one of the surfing capitals of the world. It currently holds the record for the highest wave surfed of 80′ in Nazare.
For the return, we took a route through an upscale residential area with large gated estates and then through a park.
The day before, I had posted on one of the several ExPat Facebook sites in Portugal that I follow. I asked if there were any other retired Americans in the area that wanted to meet up to share their wisdom over drinks. Small world that this is, I got a response from a couple about our age that were life-long Davidson residents who just retired to Portugal in March. They live about a 40 minute drive south of Lisbon in a small town. They most graciously offered to drive up to Cascais to meet us today.
Our new friends Angella & Sandy, drove in and met us at our favorite wine bar at 5:30. With all the tourists in town for the light show, it took them awhile to find parking, but they eventually found a spot. We compared notes for about 2 hours in the wine bar. Our favorite waiter, Luis, took excellent care of us. Then we all decided they should join us for our dinner reservation across the street at the Marsala Indian restaurant. Wayne walked over to change our reservation to four people. Even though the restaurant was crazy busy, they made sure we got the best table on the street and came over to get us in the wine bar when it was ready.
It was a fabulous evening and we learned a lot from our new friends. They absolutely love their little town and have no regrets about making the move. They bought in a building under construction and actually moved in before it was totally completed. They said it is not legal here to do that but that everyone does it anyway. Because it is not quite done, they have not yet made their final payment and they are not paying any utilities yet. They said they can easily walk to everything they need including grocery stores, cafes, and such. They even have a winery (Quinta) across the street. But, they still like having a car. From where they are, though, they can take a bus 10 minutes to the train station and then the train about 40 minutes into Lisbon or to the airport. They also said that Uber is very cheap and reliable throughout Portugal.
Angella & Sandy agreed with much we had read about costs here. They said cars, gas, and electricity are expensive. Food, wine, healthcare, internet, & cable TV are cheap. They said their total for mobile phones, cable, and internet is about 40 euros a month. The only thing they miss is their personal belongings (art, furniture and such) that they have not yet shipped over. They plan to be back in Davidson at Christmas to arrange that. And, they miss family, of course. They have two grown kids; one living in LaCrosse, WI and one in Australia. But, they have had a steady stream of visitors since arriving. Angella said she went to Barcelona last week with a cousin and her airfare was just 100 euros. Everyone they know thought they were crazy for making this move, but after visiting are now either jealous or hoping to do the same.
Our dinner at the Indian restaurant was outstanding and cheap. Just 30 euros per couple and we were stuffed
