Follow the light

Cascais
An absolutely must-do day out from any visit to Lisbon is to catch the train from the main Lisbon station of Cais do Sodre to Cascais, which is a a beautiful Portuguese fishing town just an hour west down the coast. Cascais is home to a lovely marina and some nice beaches if beach-life is your thing. But more interestingly for us is it's also the gateway to the wonderful Atlantic coastline of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park that has a few lighthouses to explore.

As a rather bizarre aside, when we arrived in Cascias, whilst enjoying a coffee in a quiet square we found ourselves serenaded by an elderly local busker singing 'Why does it always rain on me' in a manner that could only be described as enthusiastic but atonal.
The sun was beating down so I hope he wasn't singing about his life, but he made us smile and so did did our day in Cascais.

Santa Marta Lighthouse, Cascais, Portugal

The marina at Cascais is a nice place to explore and has the added highlight of the distinctive blue and white tiled Santa Marta Lighthouse. The lighthouse is home to a small museum offering a history of the site and Portuguese lighthouses in general. It's open regularly so there's a good chance if you visit you'll get to the opportunity to see the museum and ascend the tower to enjoy the views of the harbour and the ocean.

Santa Marta Lighthouse, Cascais, Portugal

Around the marina there are several places where you can hire bikes for a few hours, and the coastal road/path west of Cascais heading into the national Park is very conducive for cycling. In fact, the coastal cycle path is a joy and a great way to spend a couple of hours in the sunshine.
Just keep the magnificent Atlantic Ocean on your left (you don't have much choice!) and the views are incredible. The first lighthouse you'll come across, not far from the centre of Cascais is Farol da Guia.

Farol da Guia, Cascais, Portugal

But the real fun begins as you leave civilisation behind and start to cycle through the southern most part of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. After approximately 6 kilometers of you and just the Atlantic for company and you'll arrive at the more remote lighthouse of  Farol do Cabo Raso. It's a nice breezy spot to enjoy a packed lunch.

Farol do Cabo Raso, Portugal

We didn't cycle much further along the coast than Farol do Cabo Raso. We'd cycled far enough in one day to deserve a cold beer back in Cascais.

Another lighthouse of note is the Farol da Gilbalta, which we spotted in a fleeting glance from the train between Lisbon and Cascais near Oeiras. It is an incredible looking lighthouse, which may remind you of the robot character 'Bender' from Will Goering's Futurama show (I don't watch it).

Farol da Gilbalta, Lisbon, Portugal

The white cylindrical tower with dome and red vertical stripes made it so distinctive and unusual we decided to try and find it on another day trip from Lisbon. The nearest station is at Caxais, and from there we navigated our way over a major road and across train tracks to eventually find the lighthouse. It was well worth it, the views of the Tagus river were fabulous and the train line in front of the lighthouse offered a completely different perspective.
Definitely one for the lighthouse purists!

Farol da Gilbalta, Lisbon, Portugal

I'll chat about a couple of other day trips from Lisbon next time.