Troia Peninsula

The Peninsula of Troia is one of the extremes of over 80kms of continuous beach. Usually the first beaches have people that live in Setubal, the city that is developed in the Sado estuary.

"The Future of the Sea"


the southern margin is tipically touristic with some tours built in the 1970s. We wanted to go further south where we could be more in nature, meaning with less people around. We passed some beaches, and we could only perceive that we were passing a beach because there were several cars parked on the side of the road - people would walk through the dunes to the beach. This makes me think how far we still are from any developed country in terms of effectively protecting our reserves. So close to Portugal in Spain, most of the parks have wooden walkways so that people can access places without disturbing the dunes and the vegetation. Here in Portugal there is no limit to the amount of improvised pathways that people build inoccently on their way to the beach, not being aware of the fragmentation they increase every day.

To the other side of the Peninsula there is the Sado estuary, with great areas of saltmarshes and traditionally exploited for rice production.




We went down to the Pego Beach, where there is a very well knowned restaurant called "Aqui Ha Peixe". The walked some miles past the crowd that accumulates close to the parking lot (yes this beach actually has infrastructures for accessing the beach - one of the few). It was a very relaxing afternoon and a good memory to take to the States and remember during the snowy days later in the year.







Having fun at the end of the day:

Goodbye Meco

Today we went to Meco for the last time this year. Our good friend Su spent the day with us. We had so much fun. Su and Andre played soccer for a long time ... the ocean was pushing a lot but we still managed to swim and enjoy this amazing blue for the last time.

We ended having dinner at the Meco Town, delicious octopus and squid salads...
When we got home Andre found something walking really fast in the living room, it was tiny and really cute:

Quinta de Catralvos, Gourmet Cuisine

Today we went south of Lisbon to have a very special eating experience. Our great friend Joana, my most creative portuguese friend, who worked as a landscape architect, but invested much of her free time to other creative experiences like cooking, told us to be prepared for what we were about to experience. We left home in Oeiras and headed south, crossing the 25th of April Bridge. At that time we were able to watch from the bridge the end of the "50th Anniversary Tall Ships’ Race":


I tried to take a few photos but most of them had the red structure of the bridge in the middle - this was the only pic that did not have the bridge. At this point though most of the tall ships were almost out of the estuary. In the previous pic we can also see the monument for the discoveries (that big ship) and a the tip of the narrow part of the estuary is the Tour of Belem, from where the ships departed during the Discoveries in late 1400s. Well, moving on ...

We met Joana, her parents and Paulo (her man), Jo's sister just returned from Brazil and her boyfriend, Jo's parents and some of their friends from the university (yes, huge coincidence, Joana's parents are both chemistry professors at the College where I did all my undergrad studies). So we met them all there, at the Quinta de Catralvos, a winnery south of Lisbon, where a very well-known chef (Luis Baena) runs a very exquisite restaurante, where now Jo is working. Jo is made a great turn in her life now, and now applies her huge creativeness to Molecular Gatronomy, along with a group of research at the Technical University of Lisbon. For the meantime she is applying her knowledge of molecular gastronomy at the restaurant.

The degustation was increadible with over 10 different experiences completely unique and that I had never even imagined possible. All this was accompanied with wine produced at that winery, compliments of the very friendly chef. We only talked with Joana after lunch because she was busy creating in the lab/kitchen. But here she is, beautiful as always:



The restaurant is really cosy and relaxing:



Before the end of this amazing experience Joana made a tour around the kitchen to see where everything was created, and to talk a bit with the creators of all we had tasted.


Playing with sugar:

Perspective of the kitchen:

On our way to get some bottles of the Quinta de Catralvos wine:


After we left this place we went down to the Sado estuary, where I would have field work 5 hours later with a team from the University of Lisbon. Unfortunately, due to some problem with the engine of the boat, it was cancelled. It was a good thing I did other things during the day :o)

Arrabida Park, Sado Estuary, and Troia Peninsula

After the amazing gourmet lunch experience we headed further south, where I was meeting a research team later in the day for a night sampling in the Tagus estuary. Since we had a couple of hours we decided to tour around a bit in the Arrabida National Park, where we had a great view to the estuary, and also the Troia Peninsula in the southern margin, where a stretch of over 80km of continuous beach start.



To the other side the view was amazing too. I remember hikes of 18+kms when I was an undergrad in college. We used to hike through the park and then down to the beach (Portinho da Arrabida).


Soon after we were almost at the marine where I was going to meet the biologists, but they called me canceling. Oh well ...

Oeiras, Andre's Home

Today we walked a bit close to home to a place where there is a great view of the BUGIO outside the Tagus estuary. We can also see the 25th of April Bridge and the other side of the Tagus estuary, where I did all my undergrad studies and where I spent lots of summers in a stretch of continuous beaches for dozens of kilometers.

Surf Lesson at Foz do Lizandro, Ericeira

Today we had the honnor to have a nice surf lesson from the professional Jony, my brother in law, my gorgeous sister's man. He has been practicing surf since he was a teenager, nearly 20 years ago (wow, am I telling his age?). He is a very Zen surfer with lots of experience. he was kind enough to give up a nice afternoon of great waves to stay with us in the foam, to teaches us a bit of balance.


So we met Jony, Patricia and their beautiful Fred at the beach (Foz do Lizandro) and jumped right into the water. Ericeira is one of the top places in Europe to surf, and that is where my sister and Jony have their home - though they have been living in Mozambique for over 2 1/2 years!
Later Carolina, my gorgeous niece, joined us and we stayed at the beach until after the sunset. Amazing family moments that I did not have for over 2 1/2 years. This summer in Portugal was totally worth it for the amazing moments I spent with my sister and her man and kids.

Praia do Malhão

We decided to have fun during our weekend and therefore we drove down the Portuguese coast to the Praia do Malhão where we camped for a night. It is an amazing place. The beaches are linked and therefore we had long walks by the ocean. We had several reasons for escaping Lisbon: we still hadn't had any vacations, and we were trying to enjoy the weekends and the summer, and most of all, Portugal was not going to play for the first place in the World Cup 2006, so what was the point of staying at home and watch a game against Germany just to get the 3rd place??

When we got there this is how it looked like:


We had to relax with such a beautiful setting. Watching the sunset it always a magic moment.


Sunday we woke up, and the temperatures were super high. The only way to be was by the ocean where we could dive every 5 minutes. This part of the southwestern Portuguese coast is a long belt of protected area, constituting a long National Park. Therefore construction near the ocean is forbidden and several projects are being developed to protect and recover the dunes.






This is a small freshwater ending at the beach. The wall at the end had hundreds of bird nests (wish André was here to tell me which species exactly)… it was beautiful!












Sand castles are so magical



It was almost full moon and it was coming up at that time in late afternoon:


The vegetation in this dune system is simply amazing and very diverse. There are several endemic species here that merely by chance are not run over by people on their way to the beach.










The day is almost over ... but we still get this amazing gift of a sunset in the ocean!


The Institute for Nature Conservation (ICN) has been increasing the efforts on Environmental Education, raising people's awareness on the importance of this system and what they are trying to protect and restore. I can't believe that I do not have the photo for the fish and birds poster they had there ... maybe I will have to go back :o)


A small map of where we were ... search for it on Google Earth!