Marateca to Setubal (34.3 km) – Monday 08.04.2024
On the hill there was little of the road to hear during the night, so I could sleep well. I got up early in the morning, packed up my tent and set off again to complete the remaining kilometers on the road to the next town.
Since I was well rested, I quickly walked around and was able to leave the unsightly section behind me soon. Just as I entered the next village, it started raining heavily. By the time I found my rain jacket and put it on, I was already completely soaked. So I ran the last few meters with wet clothes to a cafe. There I treated myself to a warm coffee and waited until the rain stopped. A few minutes later I was on the road again in good weather and my clothes dried up pretty quickly in the warm morning sun.
The path now led me through vineyards for a long time and further back I could see the first mountains in the region.
At first I thought about walking straight ahead, but then spontaneously decided to turn around and changed course to Setubal to also take the city and the nature reserve next to it. So I took a small detour to the south, but that should fit my plan in terms of time.
The landscape itself today remained similar for long stretches and was therefore not particularly exciting. Since I also felt the exhaustion of the last longer stages, I decided to spend the night in Setubal. After I booked a room there, I made my way there. On the way I stopped in one of the many bars and treated myself to a piece of cake and an iced tea. With the warm sun, which was quite exhausting at lunchtime, the cold iced tea tasted particularly good.
Later we continued through vineyards before I had to go through an industrial area for a few kilometers through an industrial area shortly before Setubal before I reached the accommodation, which was still on the outskirts of the city.
After a long shower I went to the only restaurant in the area for dinner. Apparently there were no other tourists here, but the boss could at least speak English and even explained to me why there were currently no sardines. Apparently the small fish are only available seasonally and outside of the summer you can’t get fresh fish anywhere. The few restaurants that still offer sardines use frozen fish for this, so he’s not sure to order the typical food somewhere at the moment. Instead, there was fried squid, which seems to be a typical meal in town and I really liked it.
Then we went back to the accommodation and to bed.
Setub to Vila Nogueira de Azeitão (31.3 km) – Tuesday 09.04.2024
After leaving the accommodation, I went through a small park for some time. So I didn’t have to walk any further through the industrial area and could instead enjoy beautiful flowers along the way.
Soon I reached the first houses and I continued to the city center. The city looked very busy and in a square in front of a church a group of people were dancing while the other people from the many cafes watched them.
But since I still had a few kilometers ahead of me, I don’t sit down, but walked on again to leave the city on the other side. It went straight uphill and soon I got a nice view of the city and the surrounding area. Further back I could also see the sea with a sandy beach.
As I could see from a sign, I was now also in the Arrabida area, a landscape conservation area with hills, on its way. Here it went up and down for me. The landscape was very nice and between the many green hills, I also saw some old wind turbines, which were obviously no longer used.
After a last climb up a mountain, I was able to recognize the city of Lisbon for the first time in front of me and was happy that I would probably really make it to that point. Since it was just lunchtime, I sit down and paused while enjoying the view of the city.
After that I slowly descended on the other side of the mountain. Again and again I found nice places with a good view of the surroundings, which would also be suitable for camping.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any more water and had to continue walking to the next town. The route then dragged on a bit and by the time I discovered the nearest supermarket, I was almost back to the bottom. Everything was already built here again and since I didn’t want to sleep in an accommodation or a boring meadow after the many beautiful places I had seen today, I made my way back after shopping.
I walked back up the mountain for a few kilometers. When I found a suitable place, I quickly turned off and set up my tent in the middle of the meadow. From here I had a beautiful view.
First I cooked my dinner and then watched the sunset here one last time.
After that I went to sleep early to be rested for my possibly last tour tomorrow.
Vila Nogueira de Azeitão to Lisbon (31.5 km) – Wednesday 10.04.2024
Today was actually the last day on my trip to Lisbon. In the morning, I packed everything up and had breakfast on a wall above the meadow. Since it was very cold this morning, I was all the more happy about the warm coffee.
Then we went back down to the village. From here I first walked through the city’s park and then it went on smaller paths from town to town.
Later I walked for a long time through the first foothills of Lisbon and in between through vegetable beds. Otherwise, most of the time today we went through the suburbs of Lisbon along the street. Overall, it was not very spectacular, but not really bad either.
Around 3 p.m. I finally reached the river that separated me from the old town of Lisbon.
I cross the ferry in a few minutes and already arrived in Lisbon on the other side. So I had actually managed to walk over 640 km from the border with Spain to Lisbon in 22 days, which made me very happy.
In a bar right on the water, I treated myself to a beer that tasted particularly good given the heated temperatures. I looked for accommodation for the night. Since my return flight should only be on April 13th, I still had a few days in the city. I had been here a few years ago and so I decided against the typical sightseeing and wanted to relax here instead for a few days.
I booked a room in a nearby hostel and made my way there. As it turned out, there were a German from Cologne in my room and an Indian who was currently living in Frankfurt. After a short shower I made my way through the streets of the city with them.
Later we returned to the hostel, using the free sangria in the evening and chatting with other people here. Around half past 11, I let myself be persuaded for a pub crawl and walked through the city for a few more kilometers from pub to pub. The evening with the group consisting of an Irishman, two Canadians and a Canadian, one from Pakistan, a Scot and me, became very funny.
Around half past two I went back to the hostel and I went to sleep exhausted. In the meantime I felt the 30 km I had covered a day.
Here is a picture of me on the river.
Lisbon (0 km) – Thursday 10.04.2024
For today resting on my plan. After breakfast, I talked for a while with my roommate, who works in a healthcare IT startup. When he then had to fly, I sat down in the hostel and wrote a diary and to my blog.
Later I walked the streets of the city for some time to take a few drone shots. I also sit comfortably in a cafe and enjoy the relaxing time in the sun. Again and again I met football fans from Marseille who had a European Cup game here against Sporting Lisbon today.
In the evening I wanted to watch the game in the hostel. But since I was talking to the other people in the hostel, I didn’t really get much from the game. After all, the talks were very interesting again and I actually met an older man who, like me, started from Vila Real de Santo Antonio on the border with Spain, but then walked the Way of St. James to Lisbon and now on to Santiago wanted.
Around 11 p.m. I made my way to a pub with a small group to play a bit of billiards there. After a few laps, where I didn’t look that bad at least, I went back to bed late today.
P.S.:
In the next few days I’ll probably take a quick look back at the route, which will be the last post about Portugal, because I’m going home now. After that, hopefully the PCT will continue 😉
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