ASKOY, Discovering Portugal

Arrival in Portugal : October 26th 1999 Departure early February 2000 next stop : Canary Islands
18 to 21 january 2000 Having heard of the pretty village of "Seixal", in front of Lisbon, we decided to anchor a few days there for a change. This was a great opportunity to sail with Askoy just for the pleasure of it. Until now, we always had a port to reeach before nightime or at the right time of the tide. Although there were some nice days, the state of mind wasn't the same. Sailing in the bay of Lisbon is very nice in spite of funny currents and turning winds. Once in Seixal, we realised how much noise surrounds us in Lisbon. There is a buidling in construction, a lot car and train traffic, cargos being unloaded, etc. The only moment of silence (or as close as we can get to it) is at night. In Seixal, we listened to silence and to the churche's bell. We visited a "tide mill", dating back to 1404 and still functionning, as well a beautiful shipyard specialised in the repairing of "Vaniros", the local typical boats. These are so colourful and have gorgeous shapes ! We haven't ever taken as many pictures as we did that day... 11 November 1999 to early february 2000 We aren't going to make a guided tour of Lisbon here, it would take too long. We've visited museums, monuments, typical markets and districts. We've discovered Portuguese cooking and music. All that was wonderful, but what fascinated us most was the huge aquarium of the 98 Expo. Have you already had sharks look at you straight in the eyes ? We have, and it feels funny,even through a thick glass window ! As a matter of fact, we're going again tomorrow to make numerical pictures for you ! You can see them by clicking on the image on the right.
We spent our first week in Portugal's capital making the new boom and cleaning the boat thouroughly. We took the tools out (they 've barely had time to cool), and after three days of measuring, cutting, sanding, gluing, and sanding again, we had a bran new boom ready to be varnished.Our friends were quite impressed when we glued the boom with epoxy. I must say that Ludo and I are quite used to this type of work. Everything was ready on the pontoon, and each of us knew what he had to do. It took another week to vrnish (one layer a day), and to put the boom back into place with everything on it for the sil, reefing, etc. We were lucky to be able to do the job on the pontoon. I don't think things would have happen the same way in Cascais... Our stay in POrtugal was a great experience. We met many very nice people. Most were very hepful even though they didn't know us. There is a genuine kindness in these people that kept surprising us. Plus many of them speak fluent French ! That made life a lot easier.
CASCAIS 10 to 11 November 1999 All right, if you don't have a choice, come to Cascais. Otherwise, go straight to Lisbon. Cascais is a bran new port which is still being developped. But the price is very high already : (are you sitting ?) 4500 escudos a night ! The showers are not finished, there is nothing to hang clothes, you have to put everything on the floor. They are building a big outside mall where there will be all kinds of shops and restaurants. Pontoons are large, there is a lot of space, but this place is just a parking lot for boats, surrounded by an ugly cement wall. I'm sure in a few years it will be packed with huge motor boats. It's like Saint Tropez in France. Many guards around, everything is computerised, and if you want to go on the mole to see the ocean, you will be stopped by a guard who will tell you to ask permission at the office first... The town is like the rest, in a nicer way, but still the main purpose it to make money. It's the standard balnear port. Lots of cafes, international newspapers, pedestrian streets. Don't look for Portugal there. Just have a coffee outside in a perfect vacation like set. If that's what you are looking for, then you'll be very happy.
8 to 10 November 1999 Is the nice city of Peniche worth putting up with the uncomfort of the marina ? that's for each one to decide... I don't have an opinion since we didn't see much of Peniche. We heard a lot of good things about it and had planned to visit, but we broke the boom on the way there, and we were quite busy trying to find a solution to the problem... But really, the marina is very unpleasant. Boats go in and out, and we are very exposed to their waves. James' boat just couldn't stay on the visitors pontoon without risking to damage his boat badly. On top of that, there is a terrible smell at low tide. Something like rotten fish mixed with gasoil... We could even smell it inside the boat when we woke up in the morning. We were quite amused to hear Jean Louis' story about his shower. He explained that there is a movement detector in front of the toilet which turns the light on. It's fine when you are on the toilet, but when you shower, the light goes off regularly, and you have to throw your leg in front of the detector to have the light back. Of course as usual, you have the cold-burning water torture, but that's something we are used to by now...
7 to 8 November 1999 Another port where we only stayed one night. Once again we were too happy with the good weather not to sail south, so we din't visit anything else than the customs office and the showers...The marina isn't very quiet because of the fishermen who leave at night with very large boats. But we were told that the small town up the hill is very nice. You have to take a train to go up there, it's quite a walk to get to the train, but people seem to say it's worth it.
3 to 7 November 1999 The city of Figuera isn't as pretty as porto, but it has a Casino, quite a few shops, and a cyber-café with one old tired computer with an Internet acces. We loved in particular the market which is just across the marina. Lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, bred, etc, in a very colorful atmosphere. i was there every day ! The marina was 1700 escudos a night. Make sure you do see the customs first thing. They're very serious about that. You have to stop in front of thier office before you go to a pontoon. Even if you arrive at night. Showers are very basic. They don't have separate showers for men and women, and guess what, there are no doors ! Only shower curtains... Toilets do have normal doors.
Discovering Porto was one of our nicest surprises in a long time ! Maybe it's not worth staying a whole week in Porto, but coming here for a week-end when we lived in Paris would have been the perfect escapade. As soon as we arrived the city surprised us with its colored buildings, its crooked and busy streets, little shops of all kinds, a beautiful old train station with the entrance covered by the typical "azulejos", museums, churches, old tramways,... After walking around for two hours, we reched the Douro river. We crossed it to go visit a Port wine cave. But which one to choose ? There were dozens of them ! We finally made up our minds for Ferrero. A very nice guide took us around the cave and made us taste two white ports and two red ones. they were all very different. Do you know the difference between a Ruby and a Tawny ? But I won't tell you anything more. You have to discover it by yourself. Don't forget to take a sweater though, it's cold in there ! There is a very pretty street that runs along the Douro. Next to tourist shops, (but the nice kind, not the sort that sells plastic Eiffel Towers...), there are olive and nuts shops, women's underware shops, "bacalao" shops (the popular dried fish). The" sun was there all day, which added to our good humour. After two weeks waiting in Bayona that the weater calms down, there was something magical about this day. One last word on Porto for navigators. It is possible to take your boat into the Douro, there are dangers at the entrance to be aware of, but it isn't impossible. However, the water is quite filthy, I'm not sure it's any better than in Lexoes...
27 Octobre to 3 November 1999 I would like to begin by quoting our friend Jean-Louis, from Objectif Sud : "This port is the most expensive dump in Europe !". I couldn't have though of anything better to discribe this place... The picture below shows the water in which our poor baots had to spend whole week. Each day brought its load of new disgusting discoveries among the items floating around us.The first one was a dead seagull, probzbly dead for having eaten a fish in the port. Then, james saw the first dead rat, in a quite advanced state of decomposition. Of course, no need to mention numerous dead fishes, plastic bags, moto parts, bottles, and so on. Enterprise, James' neighbours were able to get rid of a very long rope that was cought in their propeller without having to dive. We all feared the same thng : having to dive into this filthy water. At least, I knew it wouldn't be me. Being surrounded by only men, for sure I could count on these gentlemen's good manners to offer to do it ... Sometimes, it's good to be a girl ! :-). Finally, after one week stuck there with several days under pouring rain, we left very happy because we had good winds, and because we were leaving this unpleasant and expensive marina (2400 escudos a night). Even if you bring them a piece of the pontoon that came undone during the night and to which your boat was tied, they won't see any reason to charge you less. Even the showers complied with the image of the marina. First of all, you must choose the right moment to shower. You see, if there is already someone under the shower, you can forget it. There isn't enough hot water for two showers at a time. Of course, one might ask why then, there are two showers for women and tree for men. I don't have the answer. So, let's say there isn't anyone in the shower when you get there. Good. But before you take your clothes off, make sure there is hot water. This will prevent you from having to put your clothes back on the go to the office and ask them to turn on the water heater... If everything goes well, you can now shower. Just don't pay too much attention to the floor and the walls (maybe they expect us to clean them..), and beware of flooding, as when you shower, the entire floor is coverd by water. What saves this porc, sorry, this port, is that it is easy to access, and that it is close to Porto, a very nice place to visit. Ho, and I will even say another positive thing : the ice for the ice box is free ! 26 to 27 October 1999 We only stayed one night in Viana. The port seemed very nice. The marina was all right. Same system to tie the boat as in Bayona. There can be a lot of current coming down from the river. One must eally pay attention to that. As soon as we left the marina, the current took us. We were going 9 knots on the GPS, and only 4 knots on the surface... We paid 1700 escudos for the night. Maybe we should have stayed an extra day to visit the town which at night was very attractive, but we finallt had good weather, and were eager to go further south.