Day 3 Lisbon with Holz

Lovely meal and cocktails at the funky Pharmacia restaurant last night - I drank a Placebo, which was a misnomer, to say the least, and Holly had a Morphia. Then to a bar in Cais do Sodré called Pensoa Amor which used to be a brothel and is still decorated as such. Loved it. And the Long Island Iced Teas.

Today we got up early for a trip to Sintra, a National Park to the west of Lisbon. Got picked up at 9 by Marco and his van from the We Hate Tourism Tours company - he zoomed into the square beeping his horn and doing the peace sign at us as he whizzed around the roundabout and we knew it was going to be a good day. Marco is a photographer with manic enthusiasm and an endearing tic. He asked what I did for a job.
'Deesgusting! Deesgusting! Deesgusting! Deesgusting! DeesGUSTING!' he said. 'Hey! Lemmee ask you one question.. How crazy ARE you?!'
Not as crazy as your driving, mate, I thought.

We stopped in the village of Sintra - very pretty - and had a shot of ginginha (a cherry brandy) in a chocolate cup - then visited the Quinta Da Regaleira which is a magnificent estate tarted up by an eccentric millionaire. Reminded me of Port Meirion, a bit. The gardens are like something from Tolkein, with underground grottoes and waterfalls and a subterranean tower the size of the one in Pisa. Completely magical. Inside the house we climbed a very narrow stone spiral stairway to a tiny turret and at the top there were three members of a Lithuanian Chapter of the Hells Angels. THAT was a surprise. Turns out there's an international Harley Davidson convention at nearby Cascais and the area is TEEMING with fat hairy bikers with teeny weeny peenies. Yuck.

Had a picnic lunch under some trees at a waterfall - Marcos provided bread and chorizo and cheese and olives and wine and it was lovely.
At Cabo da Roca, which is the Western-most point of Europe, Holly and I climbed over a wall on the cliff and did a wee. Marking our European territory, like, innit.
Stopped at the beach at Praia do Guincho and watched the crazy surfers for a bit, then on to Cascais for 'zee best ice cream in zee WORLD!'. He was right - it was.

Back east through Estoril which has the most ENORMOUS casino, which was, apparently, the inspiration for Casino Royale, and then back along the coast to Belém where Marcos procured Pastel de Nata - a cinnamon flavoured custard tart for which Belém is famous.

Great day. Chilling tonight as we're off to Oporto tomorrow.