We made a round trip from Cascais until Peniche on August 1, 2020 with friends and family with the aim of taking the boat trip to the islands Berlengas. They booked the 2:30pm tour in advance with the company Feeling Berlenga, so I only had time to get to Peniche, walk around the city center quickly, have lunch and go on the tour.
(If you want a complete guide of what to do in Peniche, I recommend this one here. This Portuguese couple has wonderful tips about the country!)
We parked the car at the marina (with a parking meter) and when we saw that it was cloudy, we were a little discouraged. We went straight to the company's kiosk to pay the rest of the reservation and get the vouchers, and fortunately the saleswoman assured us that the weather would improve by the time of the tour. She even said that it is It is very common for Peniche to have this bad weather in the morning and then improve in the afternoon, so stay tuned!
We continued walking through the city, stopping first at St. Peter's Beach, which is very small and is next to the Strength. This attraction was still closed with a notice on the door about opening hours from 2:30pm to 7pm, so we just walked past and kept walking.
Lunch in Peniche
We walked along the main street in the city center, which has several restaurants, and since it was already past noon, we decided to stop for lunch. We went into the Restaurant O Pedro, recommended by the blog I mentioned above, and we ordered the traditional fish stew. The restaurant itself is nothing special, but the food was very tasty and reasonably priced. 🙂
We left there and had time to walk along the breakwater to the Peniche Lighthouse, where you can have a really cool view of the city. The weather has really started to clear up (phew!) and just look at the color of the sea with the sun shining:
Exciting, right?
The boat trip
We returned just in time for our company's “call” and when they said our names, we headed to the indicated boat, the Port Batel. This boat takes 45 minutes to reach the island, but you can catch other boats from the same company or from others that make the same journey in less time. The company Berlengatur, for example, there is a catamaran that makes the journey in 30 minutes and our company has speedboats that make the journey in 20 minutes.
We bought the 37 euro tour which gave the right to tour to the island, visit to the caves in a small boat with glass on the bottom and also a guided walking tour of the island. If I were to go again, I would buy the speedboat option or the catamaran, because I thought our boat rocked a LOT on the way there and it took a long time to arrive. On the one hand, it was good because Paddy slept almost the entire way there and back and he was in a great mood, but on the other hand, some people got sick from the 2-meter waves. It's worth looking into the options offered by the companies before buying the tour, but be sure to include the walk around the island and the trip to the caves.
On the way to Berlenga Island we saw the Cape Cod – beautiful!!!! – but I imagine being on top of the rocks must be cooler, so one day we will drive up there to see the cliff from above.
As we started to get closer to the island, the views just got better… what excitement!
Arriving on the Island
When we stopped the boat to disembark on the island, my jaw was on the floor… what a SPECTACULAR place! Clear water, a perfect contrast with the reddish earth and the white boats, a breathtaking view. Just look:
We arrived there at 3:20 pm and the guide told us that the guided tour would leave at 4 pm, so we went straight to the beautiful little beach nearby. Because of Covid-19, it is not possible to lie on the sand and relax, so if you want to stay on the beach, you have to go into the water. Of course we did, right? We took a quick dip in the freezing water and then went to meet the guide at the indicated flags.
We took the backpack to carry the baby, but at the beginning of the trail he wanted to walk, so we ended up staying away from the group and missing the explanations...lol. We couldn't enjoy the trail at the beginning, because the fear of the little one falling, running, etc. was greater than everything, but luckily he said he was tired and agreed to stay in the backpack. Phew!
From what I've heard, no one is allowed to live on the island, only the local fishermen. The only buildings there are their houses, a restaurant, a camping site and a fortress on another part of the island, where there is currently a hostel. It's really cool to walk around there knowing that it's such a remote place, you know?
It took us about an hour to do the whole trail and when we arrived at the fortress, we took the glass-bottomed boat to see the caves nearby. The tour on this little boat was super quick (max 20 minutes) with unfriendly guides, but the caves are BEAUTIFUL and made it all worth it. We returned to the port around 5:30 pm and thought our boat to Peniche would leave there in 15 minutes, but later we found out that it would take another hour – we misread the paper – and we stayed there to rest.
The return
The boat ride back was calmer, with smaller waves and weaker winds. Fortunately, we didn't have any incidents with the passengers.
Having a snack in Peniche
When we arrived in Peniche, we stopped at a Food Truck Brazilian hot dog that had a huge line, but it was worth the wait, because they were delicious and only cost 3.80 euros! 🙂
Soon after, he began to Procession of Our Lady of Good Voyage and it was really cool to see the cars driving around with some saints on top. They explained to us that normally this party takes place with boats carrying the saints and people along the shore, but because of Covid-19, they thought it would be better to do it with cars driving around the city.
We left there around 10pm and arrived home exhausted with farofa an hour later. What a wonderful day!
