Thoughts: Walid and I picked up the van and drove out to the coast today.  We chose to visit the Atlantic coast west of Lisbon, which is sort of the Palm Beach or Beverly Hills of Portugal.  The Royal family’s winter palace is there and so are many other palaces from Royal family members.  It is a spectacular place and worth a visit on another trip.  The coastline in this area was formed by the “Sintra Massif,” a large piece of glacial ice from prehistoric times that has since retracted to the Arctic.  The ice left sheer limestone and granite cliffs that fall 200 fete or so firectly into the ocean.  The Atlantic is quite turbulent, green, and loud, so the whole place makes for an impressive site.  We first traveled to the Costa de Roca, the western-most point of Portugal and then south to the resort town of ?.  The palaces and houses of the resort town were immense and ornate. There is also a thriving maritime industry in the area and the cuisine is largely sea-based.  We ate in a small restaurant in the town center and it was excellent.  Looking around, it seems there is also good shopping that a resort town would offer.

Pulling out of town we drove through an area that seemed like public housing Portuguese style.  Not much different than American style, really, with large monolithic concrete structures.  We found two walls with incredible artistry in the graffiti work and stopped to take pictures.  Truly amazing.