A delayed TAP flight saw us getting into Lisbon about an hour later than expected to pick up hire cars to take us around Portugal for the next eight days. We had tried to hire a van so that we could all be in one vehicle and the system hadn’t let that happen do we’d booked two cars however on arrival here in Lisbon they’d been happy to facilitate this, which is excellent and saves us about $900.

With Dave at the wheel and Steve navigating they expertly got us to our first stop Ribeira d’Ilhas a world famous surf spot located about 3 kms north of Ericeira. It is pretty incredible to see and well worth a look if you are in this part of Portugal.

We had a late lunch or early dinner at the well placed restaurant there, a nice spot for a drink or something to eat.

Then along windy roads stopping at times for flocks of sheep and goats to cross – I am completely serious, I promise, we finally arrived at Castle of Obidos which is perched right on top of a hill overlooking the city. I can’t believe our luck but tomorrow is the beginning of a chocolate festival being held in the grounds of the Castle, which is fantastic. The only down side of that that we were unable to park near the castle and so had to park down in the village, it was a bit of a walk . Not that I’m complaining chocolate remember.

The Castle dates back to Portugals Roman Empire and tomorrow hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to walk some of the 1.5 km battlements that encircle the town. These overlook the Old Arms Square where I am guessing the chocolate festival is being held.

Each of the rooms in the Castle has a different name and we are staying in the King D Alfonso Henriques Room.

King Alfonso was Portugal’s first king and is described as being one of the most legendary and influential figures of Portugal’s long and chequered history.

The story goes that he almost single-handedly, transformed the country from a dependent state into an independent kingdom that went on to change the world, an enormous achievement for a small place in a tucked away in a corner of Europe.

The people of Portugal still hold the man they call the Conqueror very close to their hearts and accounts of his gallantry and war-like heroics are taught in Portuguese schools today. I guess every war hero has his detractors and so the King was also known as Afonso the Terrible by the Arabs and I’m sure that his mum had a few words to say when he opposed her in the famous Battle of São Mamede, eventually taking her prisoner and exiling her to a monastery in León for the rest of her life. Yikes

This is a really beautiful place to stay I can’t wait to do some exploring tomorrow.