Riviera Hotel Carcavelos

C A R C A V E L O S

by Aurorae

Carcavelos is a wonderful long beach half way between Lisbon and Estoril. Evening walk on the enormous beach of Carcavelos was unforgettable! There was quite a bit of people, but yet it was not nearly as it can be in the summer and no crowded at all. Everybody could mind their own business without being disturbed by the others.
The scent of sea is blissful...

There were numerous seal-like surfers ;-), joggers and people with dogs who
love the sea.
There was one guy meditating on the sunset and then exercising tai chi.

The beach is sandy, and at the end there is a big castle, São Julião da Barra (there are oceanfront castles on beaches almost every few kilometers in that area!)

First Impressions of Portugal

by ymike2000

"Winter by the Sea"

My first stop on a winter tour in 2001 was Portugal. We stayed in Carcavelos, did a concert in Belem and a TV spot too.

Carcavelos is on the Estoril Coast, on the mouth of the Tagus River (Rio Tejo). It is about 15 km from Lisbon. The climate is not too hot in the summer and mild in the winter. The wide beaches have very fine white sand and surfing is very popular here.

I was tired from the trans-Atlantic flight, but I had never been to Portugal before, and of course I had to go for a walk! Our hotel was just across the road from the beach. There were crossings both over and under the road. It was high tide, so this is what the under road crossing looked like! Needless to say I went over the road to take my walk.

Had I been a VT member at the time, I might have known that VT Friend Loira (Monica) lived in this very town. But it was not until nearly a year later that I joined, and I met Loira for my first ever VT meeting the following spring when I came back to Portugal on vacation.