December 2016: Portugal (9th-11th)
Lisbon (Estoril, & Loures)
Not only did Nath and I needed to be in Lisbon for a certain time, but also now Hannah has to be in the city area to meet her Father who has flown in to see her for her birthday. Lisbon was solely Bmx/skate now so our last surf session for Nath and I will be in Santander, Spain when we wait for our ferry on the 12th.
Estoril was our first stop in Lisbon, with an old iconic snake run, which has further development surrounding it. The run was fun but the park was more a skate plaza, which became annoying as riding became difficult trying to dodge everyone being a skater ha-ha.
Baring in mind we still haven’t got a location to sleep, being in the city we need to be more strategic with our camp location. The guys said staying near the coast will be our best bet and yeah I agree to that, no way do you want to even consider parking up in the city itself, we’d stick out like a sore thumb.
Before we go to the sleep spot, we convoyed to a shopping centre, which we all Nath and I still managed to take the wrong turn off and got lost in a network of highway exits and tollbooths even with the location pin and satnav, what a pain in the ass. Eventually we managed to get to the mall, use the toilet facilities and indulged KFC for the first time in a long time.
Now the challenge of a quiet location to camp, inevitably we collectively found a spot near the docks where other campers were parked up in a car park/road called “Rua Rocha Conde de Óbidos” it stank of urine and was near what I can only describe as a 24 hour legal rave, but who the hell cares? It’s a decent location for us for skate parks. It’s something you learn to accept and actually ignore, being picky will eventually mean paying to park in a campsite or use a hotel, which will bleed your finances.
Our (Nath & I) agenda was to spend the next day riding the at the famous under Bridge Park Loures as well as the other park newly built Rock in Rio, but we spent ages in Loures as it was so sketchy and fun. Being to drained to ride Rock in Rio park, we still went to check it out and take photos to show the guys for when they go and where would be best to park as we ended up miles from the park when we first arrived.
Though were out riding, the guys ventured into Lisbon, Hannah and Luke split off with George and Joe to meet up with Hannah’s Father. They absorbed the city culture and also watching a street art show which involved a guy we had met a parked near at the car park, something Nath and I couldn’t do with our time restrictions.
With it being our last official day on the trip we found a Mr Pizza (a franchise), which we previously went to in Nazaré. The pizzas were fresh huge and tasty as hell, Nath dropped Joe a text asking if he wanted one also, which the reply was obvious. Well it’s our last night with the crew and we got an early start tomorrow so means to hit the sack early unfortunately, I’m stoked we got to ride Loures and I do regret not having more time to spend in Lisbon, but that’s a good reason to revist.
