Hotel Sol Peniche

... bride. A beautiful place of tiny streets and houses, nine churches, a castle, an aquaduct, lots of plants and flowers and wonderful views over the surrounding farmland.<br><br>We spent many hours walking, drinking beer and watching the surfers. The weather is amazing - temperatures about 25c during the day but it gets dark around 5.30 to 6'oclock and the humidity is around 80%. Tomorrow we move on.

... pictures, and headed to the souvenir shops for some shopping. I bought a few things, including... chicken? OH right, we are in Portugal!<br><br>So this castle was King Afonso's gift to his wife. <br><br>It was a little disappointing to not getta see much here.. beside shopping for souvenirs...<br>

... 8211; Obidos being the highlight. Obidos is an incredibly well preserved medieval walled village full of character. Definitely worth a visit if you&#8217;re in the area.<br><br>And while Lisbon was one of the nicest surprises of our travels yet, the enjoyment from the rest and relaxation along the coast was not far behind. Yes, even I was able to sit and enjoy the sun and quiet.<br><br>For more photos check out Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086162@N 04/sets/72157621594823972/ <br>

... corner with one side facing the beach across the main street &amp; other side facing the well-lit Sitio hill. There was a lively square just on the doorstep of the hotel lined with resturants having sitting tables on the square itself.<br><br>We searched for an Indian restaurant as directed by the hotel receptionist but found none. Therefore, we retired to our room &amp; had some lovely bhel with sandwiches.

... the afternoon walking around the old fort near the sea and noticed how perfect the diving conditions were around the bay (also noting how poor the surf conditions were at the same time). As the sun went down we headed back to the hostel and had a chilled out night filled with jamming out on the back patio. Two memorable songs infusions were "Pigeon in the tower" and "The Sex Panther." The next day ...

... fixed and Miffy is sewn up too. Repairs and maintenance time. The camping park is getting strange. There is a man in his brown and beige stripey dressing gown and Crocs who dyes his facial hair a different colour everyday then runs around like a werewolf at night making noises in the trees. Freaky! There is also a Japanese boy here who sleeps on the sand in the cold instead of putting his tent up. What does he do all day? Not sure but we think he watches his washing dry ...

... For those of you that know some of the scientists I am with, lets just say that Tom Shenk got the dancing going-it was hilarious! Everyone had a great time and its always nice to see people letting loose after a week of scientific arguments and intense schedules. On a semi scary side note, while we were sitting outside with a number of people from the conference after dinner two nights ago, we saw many fire trucks, emergency vehicles, and ...

For our last day in Portugal, our group headed off to two medieval towns - Obidos is a nice little city, famous for producing tiles (also part of the Moorish legacy) they are particularly known for a type of cherry liquor that they produce - the special thing is that they serve it in chocolate cups! delicious. At our second stop (ughh for the life of me can't remember the name ...

... against the Atlantic ocean.  Lots of sand, sun and shopping - kind of like Whiterock B.C.  In Lisbon our accommodations were a 75 stair climb up to our noisy, cramped,  but clean hostel room.  Unsure of what Nazare had to offer we went on line and booked a room in the vicinity.  Upon arrival in Nazare at the bus depot an older lady came up to us offering us a room.  We said No - but upon realizing that our booking was 12km out of Nazare we took a ...

... to give us an excellent berth for the boat and, when we offered to pay just said "later". Terribly un British what! It is an arrestable offence if you don't pay up in a UK marina within milli-seconds of arrival!! I like Portugal! Peniche is the largest fishing harbour in Portugal and has a multitude of seafood restaurants of all kinds to suit all pockets. It is a walled city which has extended beyond the walls and is crowded out every weekend with daytrippers ...