Leaving Parque de Nacoes

Our home for over 6 months the Marina Parque de Nacoes at Lisbon. it was time to leave, the weather forcast was not great so I had decided on a small trip down and across the Tagus to Seixal, a small town up a winding but well bouyed creek.

I had been reading a History of the Jews by Simon Schama, a history incidentally where Lisbon features prominently and not always favourably, in fact its difficult to find anywhere on earth where Jews have not found discrimination and persecution.

I mention this because we anchored just off Seixal in the Canal do Judeu, (channel of the Jews )
I never did find out how it got its name. However a pretty place and a different feel to Lisbon even though it was only  a few miles away.

The tide started to fall and after the first night at anchor we awoke at low water to see men in the water by the boat up to their waists in the middle of the creek! Only a few metres away from us. We were afloat but the channel was narrow so to be on the safe side we picked up a vacant visitors mooring to assure ourselves we would not ground or scrape off our new antifouling paint.

The forecast winds would keep us here nearly a week, but it was a pleasant enough place and we were eager to explore, we blew up our dinghy and our outboard started first pull and we went ashore briefly that evening.

 There had been some redevelopment on the seafront and although this was definitely not a tourist place it was friendly and lively with a great deal of restaurants and other places to eat, seafood obviously.....

The buildings were old and slightly flaky but had a lot of charm. The local church was almost entirely tiled on its fascade and the bells on the quarter would be our constant companion for the next few days.

One of the marineros at the marina at Parque de Nascoes lived in Seixal and was most put out when we said we were only staying for two days, as it turned out we stayed longer and we are glad we did.

There was a pontoon which was full of large multihulls which did leave after a few days but we never felt it necessary to leave our mooring in the river. Dark Tarn can be seen in the distance in this photo from the town quay.

The tide fairly rattled through our moorings and we got used to the sight of the local fishermen walking past us riddling for cockles and other shellfish. The wind also continued to blow.