Seixal

Seixal (pronounced seyshall ) was our home for 5 days as we waited for the weather forecast to be favourable to head south out of the Tagus river. for a couple of days we were really confined to the boat due to high winds, but once ashore we established contact with the tourist information and obtained our map of the town. The first nice day we decided to walk along the riverfront promenade. This is a popular area for locals and is very attractive having a floating restaurant visible from Dark Tarn.

A little further along the promenade we were intrigued to find a walled garden and country house.
The Fidalga Estate. We were beckoned inside by a helpful old gentlemen (seen in the bottom left of picture) The house was very attractive, unfortunately not open to view, but the real joys were the gardens.

Initially we discovered  formal geometric box hedges which could be viewed from the top of the wall.

The gardens were obviously far more extensive than was indicated from outside.

Although well tended they had a slightly wild feel, like the setting for a Victorian novel. the heady perfume of lilacs and the steady hum of bees was delightful after being cabin bound.

Lynne had the strange idea that there was an art gallery in the grounds so we set of in search.

There were delightful ponds and yet more arches of lilacs buzzing with insects.

From the last of these was visible a strange set of blank cube shaped buildings which turned out to be the mysterious exhibition space dedicated to a famous Portuguese tile artist  Manuel Cargaliero.
We had actually turned away from the hidden entrance when one of the curators chased after us and waved us in to have a look around.

We had been to the tile museum and were immediately familiar with some of the rich patterns of tiles. Also we were familiar with many from the various stations on the Metro which had been decorated individually by various artists (no two stations have the same decoration or architectural style )

The exhibition space could fairly be described as "minimalist " and being hidden within something which was itself slightly obscure seemed to me typically Portuguese! Having said that, it was splendid, and the staff were very helpful giving us full colour handouts about all the exhibits (only in Portuguese, but we managed ) and as it was all free we have no complaints at all...

Most tiles were arranged on free standing plinths with enough tiles to get an idea of the effect of a wall for example.

 Here Lynne is pointing out the particular tile set used in the Lisbon Metro Station, Collegia Militar.
(or is it just" L" for Lynne?)

Here they are in situ......The Portuguese take tiles seriously...

After an art injection we were looking forward to continuing our exploration of the gardens.

Past the formal box hedges the focal points seemed to be fountains, constructed from concrete coral and shells.

There also appeared to be a theme (the man riding a fish was part of it ) but the overall story was I am afraid lost on us but the artistry was very evident.

Nowhere more so than this small chapel type structure hidden in the citrus groves, the shell artist had excelled himself within.

I was particularly taken with the flowers represented by shells, quite lovely.....

The gardens had a definite garden feel as opposed to strictly formal although elements of the latter were evident.

We continued to discover quirky fountains and grottos and in some respects it was reminiscent of Port Merrion in Wales.

An absolute delight on a sunny day.

The gardens were mature and obviously a labour of love for someone, unfortunately we were never to discover the whole story. I am guessing that one local well to do family created them purely for their own enjoyment.

I thank them for a lovely afternoon. even though it was the beginning of April the scent of orange citrus was heavy in the air.

We were sad to leave.

We carried on walking to the head of the creek,

The promenade continued with small beaches and bays, a lot of the small cafes were not yet open but in high summer this would be a lovely spot to walk and sit.

Even the wrecked boats looked romantic.

 We decided to have a look at the church on the hill which had been suggested was a viewpoint.

Like seemingly everywhere in Portugal it was up a steep hill but viewpoint it turned out to be.

The church itself wasn't open but there was a shady terrace where you could sit and look back down the creek, over towards the Tagus boatyard where we had thought to have Dark Tarn lifted out and unbeknownst to us our friends on the schooner Soteria had wintered, knowing this very church.

In the far distance is the "25th April"  bridge over the Tagus, we headed back to dark Tarn looking forward to exploring more of this fascinating country.