Hello folks!
Hope you are doing well and enjoying Summer time!
Whoever follows me on Instagram / FB might have realized that I am in Portugal now
It has been almost 3 weeks now, since I arrived in Lisbon.
This is not my first time here,
I have been here 2 years ago, exactly the same time in July. You can read the posts from that period here.
Between castings, jobs and running (of course 😉 ). I had a little bit of free time when I could explore beaches nearby Lisbon and I want to share with you this experience.
If you look, at the map, you can see that Lisbon is not located at the ocean, as some people thinks wrongly, the water you can see on pictures from Lisbon is Tagus River. Luckily, city is located very close to the real beaches and Ocean.
Have you heard that Portuguese beaches have been awarded for being the best ones in Europe?! 🙂
Let me tell you about the seaside villages I have explored so far:
1) Cascais
This is a little gem located 30 kms away from Western Lisbon. It is very easy to get there – all you need is to take a train from Cais de Sodre to Cascais. I bet you will not miss a correct platform as there are always so many tourists around
*** My advice is to buy the ticket, either the day before or upload your ticket/metro card before you go to Cascais, as the line to the ticket machine can be very long! Very first time I was going to Cascais, I did not know about it and I spent almost an hour at Cais de Sodre :O ***
Ticket is 2.50 euro per person (if you buy a ticket card, or if you have it you can upload it for 2.25 euro per trip)
Once you have your ticket, you can travel straight to Cascais. The train stops locally on every little village on its way. So you can choose and get off a bit earlier if you want to explore another places. This map below shows you a route of the train.
If you head directly to Cascais, you can explore there its local beaches. I always end up at Praia Rainha. This is one of the smallest beaches, located literally 3 minutes’ walk from the train station ;).
Obviously, it is little packed (now in the high season), but it is a little beach, with calm corners and rocks where you can lay down/hide.
The other beach is Praia da Conceição which is much bigger but also much more commercialized (with bars/beach beds/umbrellas). So, you can choose what you like more.
If you get hungry I can recommend you a lovely cafeteria – Restaurante Paixao. In my opinion Portugal serves one of the best coffee in Europe and this place ain’t any different. I can bet that you will love coffee latte (Galão) the same as I did over there!
After afternoon drink/snack it is a good idea as well to walk along the seaside through the sidewalk and enjoy the view.
I highly recommend the stroll towards Lisbon, from Cascais to Monte Estoril, Estoril and even further, especially during ‘golden hour’ when you can feel a lovely breeze and take fantastic pictures!
2) Costa de Caparica
Located across the riverside from Lisbon, Costa de Caparica, maybe is not the most beautiful seaside resort but it is a good start point to touch an Ocean and move to the South toward Paisagem Protegida da Arriba Fóssil da Costa de Caparica (Nature Reserve).
To get to Costa de Caparica, you can take local bus TST from Lisbon that goes frequently now in July and August. (you can check their timetable and the most suitable busstop for you at movitapp. ) it takes around 30 minutes to get there and you can be just at the Ocean and ready to dive into water… surf… or… rent a bike! That is what I did 😉
I rent a bike at local rental store. (It costed me 9 euro for all day… not the cheapest, especially that my bike was not in good condition at all… rusty and making funny noise from the very beginning of my trip. ) But I really wanted to make a bike tour that day so I was ready for an adventure!
From Costa de Caparica, first 3-4 kilometers you can enjoy riding through a promenade and enjoying a lovely Ocean view to your right. 
After a sidewalk is finished, you need to turn a bit towards the main road and cycle through the outskirts of Caparica. I did not notice many cyclist on my route that day, in fact maybe just a few… then at around 6th-7th kilometer of your ride you will notice a slight uphill (odcinek) [that I honestly I walked with my bike on the side as I did not want to break a chain…] after that you should turn right into dirt road.
Do not worry, this is an absolutely safe and actually a good quality road! Perfect for cycling (with a proper bike I guess it would be even better 😊).
From there you will have around another 3 kilometers that goes slightly down towards little fisherman/hippie village called Aroeira.
Once you cycle through this laid back town you can feel that the time has (almost) stopped there.
I has my lunch stop at place called Petite Miramar that was recommended to me by the owner of small coffee place (Le Petit Prince – I will write about it in the next post) I had been 2 days before my cycling trip. He told me that friend of his, Polish girl, runs Miramar and I should definitely check it out. 
Which was a indirect/ reason and goal of my cycle trip.
Joja (chef of Miramar) served me really yummy and fresh lunch, with a local fish for the main course, which are very easy to get as most of the locals there are fishermen!
What would this cycle trip be without a dive into the Ocean?!
The water around there is absolutely fantastic! It is not warm but very refreshing and surrounded with super wide beach with almost no people!
I would recommend you to check this route and villages below Costa de Caparica whenever you have a possibility!
After this beautiful afternoon, I needed to cycle back to Costa de Caparica. I needed to walk again my bike for a few times when I felt that sand and hill might be too hardcore for my “too cool for school” bike but overall I was extremely proud and happy when I arrived back to the rental shop. ith I would not expect from my ferrari these a little bit more than 20kms at the beginning of the day 😎
Hope you will find this post useful and you will be able to get to one if this places once you are in Lisbon. There is no doubt you will like them! Sandy, clean, wide with lots of sunshine!
