Leg 16 - Cascais - Sailing mecca of Portugal

andrewmorrisey
Jun 27, 2022
3 min read

April 12-21 Cascais is a town in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants. Cascais is a very popular tourist destination, especially for the Spaniards during Easter week. We anchored for a week and spent a couple of days at the marina which was super expensive at for $200/night which was four times what we normally pay. Many sailors would be familiar with the marina and area as it hosts events such as the America's Cup and is a lay-over stop for the Volvo Ocean Race (now called The Ocean Race). In the marina we saw the Austrian & Poland Volvo boats and one of the IMOCA 60’s getting ready for next year’s round the world ocean race.

Cascais's history as a popular seaside resort originated in the 1870s, when King Luís I of Portugal and the Portuguese royal family made the seaside town their residence every September, thus also attracting members of the Portuguese nobility, who established a summer community there. Cascais is known for the many members of royalty who have lived there, including King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, when he was the Duke of Windsor, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and King Umberto II of Italy. Exiled Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was also once a resident of the municipality. The Casino Estoril inspired Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel Casino Royale.

Cabo da Rocha - the most Western point of Europe.

Nicely anchored and an hour later we have become the turning mark for the sailing school. There were groups of all ages and we think sailing is part of the school curriculum.

The Cascais light house

The beaches were packed with Spaniards for the Easter week.

The cobble stone streets were mesmerizing.

View of the Count's of Castro Guimarães Palace with their own private beach.

Another gourmet and healthy meal from chef Janine. And some amazing Portuguese wines.

Palácio dos Duques de Palmela

This is EOS. She came in on our second day in port. She is a Bermuda rigged sailboat, 93 meters long with 200 foot masts.

This is the tender to EOS. I met James several times at the dock as he was shuttling the owner and guests back and forth. Pretty cool guy and he let me onboard the tender and suggested we add Setubal to our list of ports. Nice boat.

An IMOCA 60 class ocean racer on the left to compare mast heights of the two boats.

Busy streets and 50% wearing masks.

Mmmm - Gelato.

Love being on the water with a full moon casting its light on your trail.

A real shame that many of the historic buildings had been abandoned and damaged.

Forte da Cruz.

Cool looking gargoyles on the corners.

Being setup for a wedding. We saw many of the guests and crew walking the waterfront all afternoon.

Chickens and

... the rooster.

Outside the fort by the marina.

And inside the fort is the Cascais art district with several art galleries and pieces.

This used to be a convent for nuns.

Outdoor Sculpture by Rogerio Timoteo. Born in Sintra in 1967 his works have been displayed in 41 solo exhibitions with monumental scale sculptures in more than 300 collectives in Portugal and abroad. He has 35 sculptures like this placed in public spaces. We saw more of his work when we toured Sintra (see leg 17 post).

Indoor sculptures from the same artist. Amazing works of art in either Marble or bronze.

The embrace.

Portuguese Poutine. Bacon bits with melted cheddar cheese.

The Casa de Santa Maria was once a luxurious private residence in Cascais. It was acquired by the Cascais Municipality in October 2004 and is now a museum. It blends several different architectural styles and influences.

Red poppy (I think)

Supper out with our new friends Elaine and Duncan. Polaroid picture provided by the staff of this family run restaurant in Cascais. Nova Scotian's who decided to retire in Portugal without ever visiting the country. Good to meet up and share a couple of weeks with them.