Part 2
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Part 2
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PORTUGAL, CASCAIS AND LISBON: Unfortunately, the delay we accumulated at the departure is forcing us to hurry-up: we set sail again towards the south and run along most of Portugal down to Cascais, often motoring on a zig-zag route to skip the incredible number of fishing boats and their thousands of buoyed (but unlit) pots! We reach Cascais early in the morning, and have to wait until someone arrives to open the Marina office to get a place.
The town is very pleasant, although obviously crowded with tourists (mostly foreign). We book a car, planning to visit Lisbon and maybe the interior.
Next day we collect the car and off we go to nearby Lisbon: the town is simply huge, so we just go to the centre and walk around the most obvious places.
Unfortunately there is no time to have a ride in the typical trams (booking is required!).
LAGOS: Still in a hurry, off again in the general direction of Gibraltar we make our last Portuguese stop-over in Lagos; the marina is at the end of a long and narrow channel, and one must call on VHF to get the bridge opened.
What we see from the marina looks disappointing, but when we walk to the town we change our minds, and a dinner in one of the many street-restaurants full of tourists is an apt conclusion to our visit in Portugal!
GIBRALTAR: Off again, still with light and mostly adverse winds, and following two stopovers in Spain (ROTA, in the gulf of Cadiz, and TARIFA, at the entrance of the Straits), we finally reach our half-way mark, Gibraltar!!
We had pre-booked a mooring at MARINA BAY, temporarily the only working marina, as the other two are closed for major reworks.
Probably we were expecting too much from this "mythical" landmark, and initially we were disappointed by Gibraltar. Then, slowly, the "old colonial" atmosphere shows here and there, redeeming to some extent the initial feeling.
The obligatory trip up the Rock is an opportunity to meet the ubiquitous Monkeys (macaques, to be precise!) whose presence is tied, according to the legend, to the British rule on this location.
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