A Brief Round-up

Sunday, 31st July - Tuesday, 2nd August.

Right, the weather's taken a bit of a turn in the last few days and the food hasn't really been up to much either but we have found other stuff to occupy us though.

First, Sunday. The weather here in São Martinho was pretty rubbish so we headed off to Lisbon Zoo. The weather was unexpectedly fabulous in the capital and we had a great day. It's a nice zoo but, as is often the case, the food was nothing to shout about although it was nice to see McDonalds are branching out.

I didn't try the crocodile burgers though. I'm joking, of course but the sight of crocs basking beneath the Golden Arches did make me wonder.

Monday saw the weather worsen and, buoyed by finding better weather on our travels the day before, we headed out along the coast to nearby Foz do Arelho. Last time we visited Foz it was the middle of winter and the place was deserted. Turned out the weather was actually even worse in August so, after a (very) brief walk, we promptly got back in the car and headed back to São Martinho, only to find the weather had brightened up a little.

Still not nice enough to head to the beach (although it didn't deter some people), we took a walk along the prom, over the boardwalk that spans the sand dunes from São Martinho to neighbouring Salir do Porto and up the huge sand dune at the mouth of the Rio Alfeizerão.

It started raining on the way back and was still raining later on when we headed out for dinner at Restaurante Carvalho - a place Pooky had chosen after we'd had lunch at a place next door earlier in the holiday.

There we shared another enormous sea bass which, as with the one we'd had on our first night out, was butterflied and grilled, dressed with olive oil and capers and served with the usual boiled potatoes and vegetables. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It certainly wasn't as bad as the review I read on Foursquare, which I only read after we'd eaten and I realised that I had a wi-fi signal.

So on to Tuesday. I opened the curtains to see yet another overcast sky. We'd already decided the day before that, if the weather hadn't improved, we'd head back in the direction of Lisbon in search of a bit of sun. Not finding any en route, we continued on to the capital and to the Oceanario de Lisboa.

This is a great aquarium situated on the quayside and houses an impressive central tank containing an array of sharks, tuna, rays and the bizarre sun fish.

We also visited the temporary turtle exhibition which was a little disappointing, if not admirable in it's intentions.

We emerged from the aquarium into bright sunlight so quickly headed back north in the hope that the weather in São Martinho had improved too. It had so we grabbed a few hours on our terrace before heading along the promenade for dinner.

This time we checked out the restaurant we thought we were going to a few days ago when we mistook two restaurants for one - Grelhados No Carvão, beneath the O Farol on the prom. Still wanting to try the cutlass fish, I spotted scabbard fish on the menu and thought it must be the same thing - lost in translation, if you like.

I was wrong and what arrived was actually (and fortunately) a very good piece of grilled swordfish served, as usual, with the ever-present boiled potatoes and veg. The Missus had the grilled sea bream which was on par with others we've had thus far. The service wasn't up to much but the food, wine and view all made up for that.

Well there you have the last few days in a nutshell. The weather's been hit and miss but we've been out and about and tried a few more restaurants of varying quality. Certainly not a culinary wonder but we've made the most of a couple of cloudy days.

The Bloke.