Almada is just across the Tagus River from Lisbon. We initially planned on spending more time in the Algarve, however the rental costs get so high in July and August that we opted for Almada. We are a few blocks from an area called Cacilhas, which is a ferry town. People come over from Lisbon to dine at the streetside cafes and visit the tourist sites on this side. Many people on this side use the ferry to commute to Lisbon. The water taxi ride is only 1.30€ or $1.43 USD. We purchased a Zapping card, which allows you to reload and is valid for the water taxi, the trains, the Metro and the bus. The transportation is very centralized. All the stations are in the same vicinity making the use of multiple forms of transit easily accessible.
Our Airbnb is smaller than the one we had in Lagos, but we have a spectacular view from the 13th floor balcony, which we call our office 😀. There are multiple markets and cafes, all within short walking distance and even a laundromat down the block.
Our office view from the 13th floor balcony overlooking the Tagus River and Lisbon.
Our day and night views (above), our unit marked in red (below).
View from our 13th floor window shows the convenient location. We have stayed in many Airbnb’s, but we lucked out with this location.
🟣 On left- ATM
🤍- bus stop
🔵-pastry shop
💚- garbage drop
🟡- tram- light rail stop
♥️- mini market
🟣 Arrow – street with 35 cafes, pastry shops, and gelato stores- below
Cacilhas, with its oodles of sidewalk cafes with grilled sardines, pizza, pasta, steaks, salads, Indian food and more.
A glorious seawall walk along the river with the April 25 bridge in the background. It was originally the Salazar Bridge, but renamed after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
The map shows our loop, as we walk Casilhas to the waterfront, then the seawall, take the elevator (above left) back up to town and then down back to home.
We actually found live music in Almada at Cine Incrível where we saw the Samuel Lercher Trio. Samuel was amazing on piano and Bruno Pedroso awesome on drums.
Our local eateries include Restaurarante Marisqueira “Valle do Rio” and Valdo Gatti. Robin loved the mushroom ravioli at Valdo.
Church of Our Lady of the Good Success is just a short walk down the main street in Cascilhas.
Grilled sardines are everywhere and very tasty.
Beautiful beaches at Praia da Caparica, just 6 miles away.
We caught a rare opportunity to walk by an archeological dig (left) and a myriad of sailboats on the Tagus River (above).
We saw this restaurant owner several times and finally had to stop and tell him he looked like Stanley Tucci. He said ” he’s my twin brother.”
Lam was our favorite waiter. He was always commending us on our passion for life, from dancing, to drinking wine while playing cards, to our kindness to each other. He said that he felt as though we were locals and he told his other customers about us and how “that’s the way it should be.” Once Randy did a few magic tricks Lam was sure that Randy was performing in Lisbon.
We met Eduardo (above left) who showed us his amazing world record mural (above).
Adventure in Cascais
A fortuitous encounter with a fellow American led us to Cascais. We met Kendall on a bench at our train layover in Tunes. We kept in touch and invited him to join us on a food tour to celebrate Robin’s birthday. He was not available, but said he had extra tickets to see the sold out Lionel Ritchie concert in Cascais. We took the water taxi to Lisbon, the train to Cascais and walked to the venue, the Hipódromo Manuel Possolo. A magical night, starting with Filipe Karlsson, a performer Randy enjoyed. Lionel rocked the house with all his best songs and All Night Long for the encore. The concert ran late and we did catch the train at 1am, but would not be able to catch the last water taxi. We hopped off in Belem and caught an Uber to take us over the April 25th Bridge back to Almada, arriving about 3am. Thanks a million to the wonderful kindness of Kendall.
Lisbon Day Trips
Pink Street near the city center
Food Tour with OhMyCod Tours
Our fun group above, minus our guide, Rodrigo. We met under the Arco da Rua Augusta, built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.
It was Robin’s birthday and she had a fantastic day. We went to 4 cafes and had 17 tastings including sardines, cod, Mozambican food, chorizo, octopus salad, green wine, Port wine, Ginjinha (sour cherry liquor), and more. At the last stop, the workers sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese, same tune, different lyrics 😀.
Christo Rei
The Christ the King monument here in Almada overlooks Lisbon and the April 25th Bridge. It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and completed in 1959.
Belém (just west of Lisbon)
Belém is near the mouth of the Tagus River, and is at the heart of Portuguese history. It was from here in the 15th century (Portugal’s Age of Discovery) that explorer Vasco da Gama set sail for India. It is also known as the home of the pastel de nata (custard tart), Portugal’s national dessert. Pastéis de Belém uses the original recipe first created by monks in the monastery next door (Jerónimos Monastery).
Jerónimos Monastery- construction begun in 1501 and completed over100 years later.
Monument to the Discoveries was built in 1940 and made permanent in 1960 to mark 500 years since Henry the Navigator’s death. It depicts Henry, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan and others, 33 in total.
The Belém Tower is a 16th century fortification that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers. It was competed in 1519 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Estoril and James Bond
Estoril, pronounced “shto ril” is a short train ride from Lisbon and is just before Cascais. The claim to fame is that Ian Fleming stayed in the Palacio Hotel and visited the neighboring casino in the 1940’s. There he found WWII spies and dignitaries and this prompted him to create James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale. The 1969 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with George Lazenby as Bond, was filmed at the Palácio Hotel and Casino Estoril.
James Bond leaving his Aston Martin in front of the Palácio Hotel
Our view in July 2023
Town of Sintra and the Peña Palace tour
We took a half day tour with Phillip from One Direction Tours. He met us off the water taxi by the Time Out Market and drove us to Sintra. He informed us about the history of the palace, the royalty, the 16th century and 19th century constructions, and more.
(above) a model of the palace and Phillip explaining the history.
Almada turned out to be a serendipitous blessing for us. We will definitely return to this location. The easy access to Lisbon, the public transportation, restaurant choices and entertainment all make for a wonderful lifestyle here. We found a small town feel in a big city.
Randy and Robin's Roving Retirement 