The Waves of Azenhas do Mar and the Goat Meal

The Waves of Azenhas do Mar and the Goat Meal

[ Feb.2019 ] During our private tour from Lisbon in Portugal, after walking in the old town of Sintra, we visited a place called Azenhas do Mar, on the sea.

The sea here is the Atlantic Ocean.

The waves hit the land with full force.

According to our guide, Jasper, the waves in Nazare, which is about 130km north of here, are the highest in the world.

The waves here in Azenhas do Mar are powerful enough.

Apparently, because of these waves, the land of Portugal is being reduced by 1 inch every year.

From the place we were standing we could see the picturesque scene of the sea and the town on the cliff.

We could see a restaurant below this town.

Jasper told us that this restaurant has been damaged many times by the strong waves when the weather was bad and they repair the walls and windows every time they got broken.

That is apparently a seafood restaurant.

It must be nice to have a meal looking over the sea from the window.

It was lunch time, so we went to a restaurant inland called Curral dos Caprinos, which was recommended by Jasper.

It is located in the village called Cabriz, which is about a 12 minute drive from the old town of Sintra.

The restaurant was quite large, but the local people were waiting for tables to be free.

The same family has been running it since 1974 and they serve traditional Portuguese foods.

Because Jasper said that the goat meat and duck are good here, we ordered the roast goat meat as the main dish to share.

It was simply cooked and very tender and had no strong smell.

I liked it very much, but because they served it so generously, we could not finish it.

The starter was served without any choice and included 4 different kinds of deep-fried food and some cheese.

Because the cheese was in a cup, I scooped it out to eat it, but later I saw the people at the next table were eating it by turning the cup upside down so that the cheese came out on the plate, cutting it to small pieces and adding some salt and pepper.

The main customers here were the local people, but it seemed that many tourists come here, too.

The friendly waiter spoke good English and seemed to be used to the foreign tourists.

We asked for the house wine, but it was not local wine but was in fact from Douro, in the north of Portugal.

The waiter told us that the local wine has to be decanted and left for 2 hours before it is perfect for drinking.

I would like to try that one time.

Jasper was saying earlier that Portugal is a great wine producing country, using more than 200 kinds of grapes, though Portuguese wine is not that famous, with the exception of Port.

This house wine was pretty good.

The people at the next table, who seemed to be an old mother and a middle-aged daughter, emptied a bottle, too.

We sometimes see older women who have a big appetite in southern Europe.

This satisfactory lunch cost €64, which was very reasonable.