This summer it is the first time that Cinta is at home. I was always here to keep Casa da Lima up and running. With the long summer holiday of Cinta, from July until mid September we now went for a few weekends out. We wanted to go to Sintra and just go towards the border Elvas and cross to Badajoz in Spain. I already booked some places. Until Karen my friend visited Sintra in June, and complained that it was so busy. Well, if it is busy and warm in June, it will be more so in July and August. And during my caminho with Willeke I thought of cancel the inland locations and exchange it for a beach as destination. With the summer heat and Cinta who melts already by only seeing sun rays, it was a better idea. Sintra Palaces have to wait…
Ovar Harbour and Beach Furadouro
Of course I have a walking route in mind. Although my 10-year old is always complaining when we walk long distances, more than 9-10 km, I wanted to go for 4 nights, including 3 days of short walks of 6-12 km combining with the beach and water fun. In the summer it is better to combine it with the ocean. Not only my daughter likes the swim but I need to cool down too. I have walked the caminho here a few years ago and there were board walks all the way to Porto. It was very nice to walk here close to the ocean.
We started with the Beach Furadouro, the closest beach I think, from Ovar. Ovar is famous for its wet humid cake Pao de Lo (de Ovar).
After this nice beach we went to the Yacht harbour in Ovar. We will check-in a boat and sleep two days on the water! But not before, we have a lunch. And what a lunch it was. Jaap-Willem did some research and found a nice seafood restaurant…
Fire works at Oxala
Well, we just go, unaware that it is said to be the most posh place in the area, and may be the most over the top one of Portugal? I told someone about Oxala at a grape harvest, and he knew it! It is famous, and he told me this: “Everyone needs to go there once to experience it, the food and atmosphere are splendid, but one thing is sure your wallet will be empty.”
Also he said they would open the bottles of bubbles with a hammer… Well we didn’t see this, but may be it’s getting more posh in the evening.
We entered and we wanted to go again because the entrance looked like it was decorated for a private party. There were bubbles with and without alcohol and nice raw ham, cheeses and nice snacks. A woman approached us and said we could enter and enjoy the starters!
Afterwards we went up and there we could eat seafood served beautifully. The view at the harbour was excellent and we could see our boat! After the tigre prawns, pulpo, and ice cream bowl we went out and there was a large bowl with candies, it was Cinta’s lucky day for sure!
Later, around 23:00 we heard a lot of fireworks noise. Obviously they have fireworks every night.
The boat was lovely, small and cozy. There was a cano for three as well, so we went canoeing every day on the Ribeiro Ovar. On this harbour there is a really nice cafe, no, I must say: a cerveiceria, a beer cafe. With lots of special beers, we could drink here before going to bed.
The water came so high that it was flooded at the harbour when we went back at night. We had to jump over pools of water. And the following late morning, there was little water, so our boat and the cano didn’t move anymore, it touched the bottom…
