Portugal is famous for having some of the best beaches in Europe, and our main activity of the day was to seek out a beach that Travel and Leisure recently named one of twelve of Europe's best secret beaches. We drove about an hour and fifteen minutes South of Lisbon to check out Praia da Comporta. And this beach was INCREDIBLE. An enormous, virtually untouched beach of beautiful sand, stretching for miles in either direction. The Atlantic Ocean was calm as a lake and Caribbean-blue. There is a lovely beachside restaurant where we enjoyed picture perfect cockles in a lemon butter sauce and fried squid. We had seen a couple of beaches in Portugal so far, but they were nothing compared to this gem. Really one of the best beaches we've ever been to -- and that's saying a lot!
We returned to Lisbon in the late afternoon and headed out for a happy hour cocktail to another hidden gem -- the rooftop bar on the 7th floor of the Hotel do Chiado. Stunning views of the city of Lisbon and a perfect place to sip a cocktail as the sun is setting, and the light on the Lisbon rooftops is particularly beautiful.
Near the hotel was a restaurant at the top of my list -- Cantillho Do Avillez, a trendy "foodie" restaurant run by famous local chef Jose Avillez. Unfortunately we did not have a reservation and we were turned away (we will be returning tomorrow for our final lunch in Portugal), but luckily for us the same chef had recently opened a pizza restaurant only a few doors down. Pizzaria Lisboa served up some excellent pies, with very fresh quality ingredients. If you like meat, I highly recommend going with Matt's selection of the pizza with smoky chorizo, peppers and onion.
I think i should note that after dinner we returned to Santini for some more ice cream. And well, I guess I'll confess that we have been back there every day since the first time we first discovered that magical, magical place.