Hockley Heights Gazette

Sorry to leave you hanging, but I had to split this week up into more easily digestible chunks! So, continuing on...

Thursday - this was "my" day, as there were two things I wanted from Portugal; a nice new suit and a visit to the MotoGP circuit in Estoril (see pic). What I didn't realise was how nice Estoril is for the non-motorhead! When we arrived at the local station, it was adjacent to a magnificent beach, complete with sidewalk cafes and ultra chic tourist types. So we sat and had a coffee while the boys puddled around in the Atlantic. A bus to the circuit and some homage to the gods of motorcycling, then we returned to the beach for a few beers and to watch the sun swing low in the western sky - perfect! That night we hit the town and, after eating dinner at home, we went out for dessert, local red wine and Fado - local jazz (see Aunty Mary's comment in the last blog entry). We bought some Fado back with us in CD form - it is growing on us.

Friday - a late start due to last nights late finish, then off to one of Europe's largest aquariums - the Oceanário at Oriente. This whole area is a project of the 1998 World Expo and the 2004 European Football Championship. As you can see from the pic, it is gorgeous, and you can see Vasco de Gama tower in the background, as well as the longest bridge in Europe (at 17.2km). The boys loved the aquarium, and we were so inspired by our aquatic encounter we made our way back to the restaurant district of Lisbon for a fantastic fish dinner to celebrate!

Saturday was quite a weird day - we were told the cheapest and easiest way to Fatima was a bus, so of course we took a train well out of the way, then having to get taxis from Leiria to Fatima and back - all up we travelled for over 12 hours and were only at Fatima for a little over an hour. We did see the famous site of the apparitions of 1917 - it is quite a spectacle (see pic), but a wee bit too commercial for some. On the plus side, it was a relaxing day of train journeying and the scenery was amazing. We were staggered to see the number of eucalypt plantations - sometimes travelling through these forests we felt we were back in Oz.

Sunday - back to the UK after a return flight via Madrid - then picked up the car and drove "home". Quite an adventure - and I'm sure the odd story from this amazing country will seep into the blogs of the next few weeks! Kym is back at work now but the boys and I have until next Monday. We did pop into the Essex County Cricket Ground at Chelmsford yesterday for a few hours of local county cricket - very nice; we will probably return on Friday for another "hit".