back to Portugal...... Peniche and Obidos ..

... after spending plenty of time at the beach at Peniche ..wandering all over and taking lots of pics and enjoying all the views... the day was still young enough to hop into the car and drive on...

But, everywhere I looked there was more to see;  ... more to photograph.  Turn your head to the side while waiting for a green light...and hey!  look at that beautiful window!  stop ... look at that neat door! ..wow.... look at that.... whoa... just a minute........ I was worse than a little kid.

All of a sudden ... we were at Obidos....  a medieval town with castle...

And.... there just happened to be ....a chocolate festival going on!

All along the cobbled street, vendors and the tiny regular shops had chocolate goodies to delight vistors.  I can't believe we didn't take a picture of the tiny chocolate cups containing our strong sweet alcoholic beverage!  Maria.... what was it called again ?? UPDATE:: it is called Ginja or Ginjinha... and is made from cherries... thanks Maria.

Like I said...keep looking ...sideways... behind..UP..... definitely up... and see it all...... or miss plenty!  How would you like this for your little morning coffee balcony.  People lived in these quaint places.

It was becoming afternoon....and the light from the sun.....wow.....

I think this is Wisteria (although I first thought Laburnum, but have only seen that in yellow)  from having seen some on Lines from Linderhof ... and also on Sylvia's blog Cosiness.

Just heading into the castle itself after wandering through the cobbled streets of the little medieval town..

.... hurry....sun going down soon........

... ahhhhh....this little guy has the right idea.  Last rays of the day's warm sunshine..... his own private bench.  Cats have it all figured out.

Hahahhaha...how incongruous.  All part of the candy and chocolate theme of the festival... but, still..... made you laugh out loud really.

Looking out from the parapet .... those serfs are a long way dowwwwnnn.........

... out the other side and back into the little town within the castle walls.... such steep pathways and roads.

Yes.... the cars were driving up from somewhere and popping out of these little things!  One guy totally burned out a clutch...we could smell it for quite a while after walking past his car.



















Goodbye Obidos.... whoooooo...and goodbye plenty of chocolate goodies.  By then we were wired and could have gone on all night I think....But... it was time to head for home.  M & J's place in Portugal that is..... our beautiful home away from home.

interrupting regular programming......

..... got this in the email box yesterday.  My sister's cat..... okay, well, only one of them....she has 5 ..or so..   What a cheeky little minx....  I wonder if she meant the cats I took photos of in Portugal? I don't have any others on the sidebar...except my blog buddy Daisy.... hmmmmmmm
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Dear Aunty,

Just a note about the blog…uh, as I was browsing through your blog the other day, I noticed there were no pictures of me on there. Now, I thought it would be fair for me to have a little showing of my own, just to let your followers know that I really do exist. They have seen all the other cats, but for some reason I was missed when the photo shoots took place. I was probably out helping my Mom with the horse feeding because that is what I do each morning. At first my little nose was out of joint, and I felt a bit dejected, but then I realized it was an oversight, so I told William I was going over to the big house to rectify the situation. I posed nicely on top of the car and they couldn’t resist me. I hope this completes your cat album at our house. Oh, I don’t know if you want to know about Mr. Fluffy Bum (a Manx) who thinks he lives here, or the other guy Mom calls Jane (plain Jane?) who cruises our yard sometimes looking for an extra crunchy or two. They don’t live here really. If you need any other photos, let me know and I’ll come over to the house for another session.

Hugs,

Little Kira  

Peniche

.... after spending a great time feeling the spray and the sea breezes.... just thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of being so close to wild and pounding surf..... we walked back to the car.  It was so quiet .. and not far from the edge of the cliffs at all.... that it almost felt like there was no water behind us.  Weird that....

Down the road...around a few more corners and voila.....we were at a lovely sand beach...with good sized breakers.... well known by surfers.....

It was barely a week or two early in the "real" beach season...and amazingly, we had the beach to ourselves.... well, with the exception of a few surfers and two girls who were either trying to get somebody's attention, or ..maybe they had a shot of something alcoholic prior to donning teeeensy "bathing costumes" and racing jumping and shrieking into the frigid Atlantic waters..... oh, man...it was so cold your foot couldn't feel a thing after about 30 seconds.... ..... brave or foolish I guess.  The surfers were clever...wetsuits.... of course.

Ohhh, boy....this is the time to go to any beach I'm sure...so beautiful...so peaceful....and it's mine, all mine!!  Wheeeeeeeeeee.... That's how I felt anyway....

We had all our clothes on.... with the exception of brave Maria (who had her shoes off toute suite).... and we kept them on.

Looked to our right and saw this ...

Walked to our left all the way to the end and saw this......  didn't see one "for sale" sign on the beachhouses.....            


                                                                                 Fresh mussels anyone?..  

Looked back and saw this....

Looked down....

No matter which way I looked....more wonder.....

.....and the sheer power and beauty of ocean......

When I'm standing on a beach..... I never want to leave.........
but, it was time to go and so we walked back towards the car....

Past amazing little mounds of vegetation that somehow survives in spite of sand piled on top of it by wind and wave......

Goodbye for now beautiful beaches........

Peniche, Portugal

Our second day in Portugal .... hahahhaha..... this posting of pics of our trip even at the rate of quite a few each time, could take a year!  I better speed it up somehow...and yet....I don't want to just speed through it.... same as I hate speeding through anything really..... so... maybe not quite yet.

If I get busy doing anything really exciting around here or feel like I am getting tired of reliving our adventures.... maybe then.....

I need to finish off at least two little bears and hurry up about it.  Sheaffer's Auction/Birthday Bash  ... in aid of Sheila's Sanctuary, is quickly approaching.  I just haven't been able to get my head around doing anything "crafty".  House stuff... even shovelling snow from the shaded side to the sunny side of the grass..and baking...  and... tidying... seems to have taken over my life.  Must be spring.

Second day in Portugal....on the road to Peniche, a seaside town. Actually when I looked for that link...it says it is a small city.  A busy fishing and surfing area.

Olive groves along the highway ... ...

...towns and villages dotting the hillsides ...  whitewashed houses with lovely red tiled roofs.... exactly like the post cards suggested it would be....

... it certainly was never "are we there yet"? with us... .. we loved every minute of the drive as well.... so much new and exciting to see at every turn in the road...hahahha...and there are plenty of those.  Talk about winding roads.......

Loved the pastels alongside the whitewashed ... some hotels ...some business ....and some homes...

Within seconds of being seated.... appetizers arrived on the table!  Almost as if by magic.  Wouldn't happen around here.  I found service to be second to none.  Can't say it happens at every single place in Portugal...but, it happened in every one that we went to during our stay ...and we did a lot of sampling and eating, believe me!

Bread, olives and cheeses... and in this case... little sample sizes of some type of fish eggs... er...sorry Maria...just couldn't bring myself to sample it....
and some baby octopus or squid... can't remember for sure now....

YIKES!! lobster, giant prawns and mussels...for 4 !!  And...we could have had at least another couple or 3 join us and still had plenty!

It was a working fishing port and marina .... big nets drying in the sun...

That Maria ....she must have long arms....and a great aim..... she took lots of pics of the four of us...and somehow...got us in all the shots....
You can see I had no faith in the distance.... hahahha.....

Wandered around the area for a bit and then hopped back in the car and drove to some nearby cliffs for a different look at the ocean... it was a bit breezy  ...but definitely pleasant at  +19C...

sandy little trails between the vegetation...

Little masses of succulents of some sort...with beautiful yellows and pinks for flowers.  They looked much like "straw flowers" to me ...

We hung out just enjoying the many rock formations and trying for big wave spray pics.... there was a lot of crashing action for sure.... just beautiful to see....

                        
....we were pretty insignificant looking in relation to the area..... if you squint ...you can make out the guys down below..........