Lisbon - Cascais and the Lisbon coast Travel Guides | Lisbon | Sub Regions | Lisbon - Cascais and the Lisbon coast

Once upon a time sedate Cascais was a humble fishing village before becoming a royal retreat in the 19th-century and an enclave for a crop of exiled monarchs – the Duke of Windsor for one – in the 20th century. Easy on the eye, it’s a twee town, its traditional roots still gleaned along cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed houses and swaying to a southern Mediterranean rhythm. Satisfyingly, traditions still continue. Alongside the pistachio sea, where craggy rocks shelter colourful fishing boats moored in the shadows of sleek cruise liners, weather-beaten fishermen still hold lotas , auctioning off their daily catch. Today, Cascais smells of new money, drawing an international jet set possy of Prada-clad wannabees and a cluster of British expats. Despite the smattering of Anglophile attractions, the conspicuous golden arches and the odd chalk-boarded promise of tea like your mum makes, Cascais has more than its fair share of seaside charm.

Just down the road, or a pleasant meander along the coast, Estoril, immortalized in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale , was an enclave for spies and spooks, before drawing Testerosa playboys with fast cars and foxy chicks to its Grand Prix circuit, casino and Beverly Hills-style palm-lined promenade, earning it the sobriquet ‘Portuguese Riviera’.

Cascais tourist office is at Combatentes da Grande Guerra 25, Cascais, T 21 486 82 04. Mon-Sat 0930-1900, Sun 1000-1730 winter, Mon-Sat 0900-2000, Sun 1000-1800 summer. There are efficient, comfortable, air-conditioned trains approximately every 20 mins (0530-0230) from Cais do Sodré. E2.10. Information, T 21 888 40 25.

Sights

Exiting the train station, crossing straight over the mini roundabout, past Macdonald’s on your right, will bring you out onto the town’s main cobblestone street, Rua Frederico Arouca, a very bijou affair punctuated with prissy houses, sassy boutiques, generic restaurants, patisseries, sarong sellers and more than a whiff of ex pat living. Turning left is nightlife enclave Largo Camões, centred around the brash John Bull’s pub, replete with all the relevant brawn and bravado and a cluster of open-air over-priced cafés and restaurants.

Continuing in the direction of the sea, the town hall is just off Largo 5 de Octubre, alongside the small cove of Praia das Pescadores (Fishermen’s beach), where colourful boats bob in the harbour, the endearing legacy of Cascais’ fishing village roots. Climbing around the bay, past the fort, Avenida Dom Carlos leads to the sumptuous 19th-century mansion of the Count of Castro Guimarães, the Palácio de Conde de Castro Guimarães, Tue- Sun from 1000-1230, 1400-1700, E1.50. The museum exhibits the count’s extensive collection of antiques from the 17th and 18th centuries including porcelain, silverware, artwork and an immense collection of more that 25,000 books. The most important being a rare 16th-century illuminated manuscript of the Chronicle of Afonso Henríques by Duarte Galvão. There are also prehistoric finds from a network of underground caves, just outside of Cascais, the Grutas de Alapraia, discovered in the 19th century. The original features and decor of the house have been maintained, providing an intriguing insight into the life and times of a 19th-century count. The palace is set in the grounds of the Parque da Gandarinha, a lovely place to stroll with an array of 18th-century azulejo tile panels, attributed to Bartolomeu Antunes, peaceful eucaplytus-scented lanes, romantic rose gardens and pergolas draped with vines. There is Gaudi-esque play area for kids, a mini zoo (chinchillas and birds), picnic lawns, an estufa (hot house) and a café with an esplanade.

The best way to spend an afternoon in Cascais is to wander around its traditional backstreets of spruced whitewashed houses, splattered with bougainvillea, nudged up against rustic tascas and neighbourhood grocers, which, on a languid hot summer’s day, feel more reminiscent of an Andalucian pueblo blanco (white village).

On the leafy Largo da Assunção stands the 16th-century Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Assunção, T 21 484 74 80, daily from 0900-1300 and 1700-2000, which features 17th-century paintings by Josefa de Obidos (1634-84), revered for her tender religious paintings and portraits and one of the few female painters of the period to have achieved international recognition; more of her work can be seen at the Museu de Arte Antiga.

Just in front of Praia da Ribera, close to the town hall, free cycles are provided by the town council. A cycle lane runs parallel to the Guincho road, a windswept 7.5 km trail where waves crash thunderously across the rock face, spraying pearly mists upon you like icing sugar. Guincho, with some of the best rollers in Europe attracts dreadlocked dudes the world over to its surfing championships. The dramatically entitled Boca do Inferno (Mouth of Hell), just outside Cascais is named after its lashing waves. Over time, the elemental rage has been so intense that a gaping hole has been sculpted in the rock face.

A former spa town and fashionable seaside resort, Estoril had its glamorous heyday in the 1930s. Graced with a Grand Prix track, international casino and glitzy hotels, it lured the bold and the beautiful to its immaculate boulevards and glorious regal mansions. During the Second World War both Allied and Nazi spies pitched up at the rococo elegance of the Hotel Palácio, creating a hotbed of intelligence operations and sinister subpots. Ian Fleming set his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, amid the tacky glamour of Estoril’s casino. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was also filmed here and more recently it provided the backdrop for Richard Wilson’s novel A Small Death in Lisbon. Estoril also had its fair share of noble exiles: Spanish King Alfonso, Umberto II of Italy, Juan de Bourbon of Spain, Karl Hapsburg of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Carol of Romania.

Estoril has few sights of interest but it’s a pleasurable 20-minute walk along the coast from Cascais. In summer, the beaches, lined with friendly bars and fish restaurants, are mobbed with body borders, surfers and scantily-clad Lisboetas and tourists, bringing an infectious sense of modernity to Estoril’s faded grandeur.

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