My dad came to Portugal for 3 weeks and his only weekend out of quarantine was celebrated with a trip to visit a friend in Fig Tree of the Foz and also Obidos, Buddha Eden and the Dino Park. The route we took from our house in Cascais was as follows:

Now let's get to the details! 🙂

Day 1 – Saturday (08/14/2021)

We left Cascais around 10am and arrived in Fig Tree of the Foz just before the 1:30pm reservation we had at the restaurant Mensa. My father's friend reserved a table at this restaurant without knowing that we would be staying at the hotel where he is staying, Malibu Foz Hotel. What a coincidence, right? We sat at a table outside the restaurant and had a view of the pool, which is really nice. The menu left a little to be desired, but he said that the restaurant usually has a different menu for summer weekends, so I think it's worth going on other days.

We spent a few hours catching up and watching Patrick have fun in the pool, and when it started to get late, we went to check in. (Yes, we let him go to the pool before check in…oops!)

Since Celo and I hadn't completed the 14 days of 2 doses of the vaccine, we took the rapid tests we had bought at the supermarket and when the negative results came back, we went to our rooms. My father presented the digital vaccination certificate from Brazil and they accepted it without any problems.

Now let's get to the point: The hotel is lovely! I absolutely loved everything about the decor in the lobby and the rooms, which are modern, clean, with several freebies in the bathroom and very spacious. We had an extra bed for Paddy and didn't even ask for a crib for Jubs, because she would sleep in the Moses basket in the stroller. I thought it was interesting how they listed the prices of everything in the room in case we decided to take it home or break it, I imagine.

Waiting to enter the rooms

Our room

We left our things in the room and went to enjoy the rest of the day in the pool. I thought it was amazing that half of it is very shallow (like 50 cm) and perfect for little ones and the other half is good for adults. Patrick was in heaven running around and playing in the waterfall and he barely felt cold 🙂

Then we got ready and went for a drive with my dad's friends. They showed us the city from inside the car (after all, the two little packages flipped over on the way) and we ended the night having a delicious pizza dinner at their house. A happy day!

Day 2 – Sunday (08/15/2021)

We paid for a great breakfast at the hotel and checked out without any problems. We left our things in the car and stayed by the pool enjoying the sun until we got tired. We took advantage of the bar in the restaurant and ordered sandwiches, beers, juices and then we just got ready in the bathrooms outside the restaurant and hit the road towards the Buddha Eden.

We arrived at the famous garden after 1 hour and found ourselves in a huge parking lot that was practically full and the sun was blazing... it was a bit discouraging. When we bought our tickets, the lady told us that they would close in 1:30 (and not 3 hours, as the website said), so we would have to run a bit to see everything since at the normal pace it would take about 2-3 hours. Since we were with a baby in a stroller and a toddler walking, we thought it best to return the next day.

Our accommodation

We then went to our accommodation which was very close to the garden, Valley of the Natura Crane. The road to the house is full of pear and apple trees and the house is very spacious and cozy, with a lovely garden at the entrance. It is run by a very friendly elderly couple, who welcomed us very well and recommended a place to have dinner without being too touristy.

We left our things in the rooms, took a shower and then went out to explore Obidos, since Dad hadn't been to this cute little town yet. It was a quick trip, because it was almost 7pm and we had booked a table at the recommended restaurant for 8:30pm, but it was really nice. We parked the car in the parking lot outside the town and walked along the main street to the castle, passing by the Livraria do Mercado and climbing up a bit to the wall to see the view. Celo and Dad had the famous Ginja de Óbidos and we walked around a bit more until the entrance to the town. Here are some photos, but I'll write a post about it later. post more complete about Óbidos, bringing together our tips from there:

Then we drove to the restaurant recommended by the owner of our accommodation, “The Bread”, which is located in the village of Bombarral. It is very simple and takes a loooooong time, but the food was delicious, super homemade, you know? The beans we ordered for Patrick were well seasoned and even reminded me of the beans in Brazilian restaurants, but we confirmed that the cook was Portuguese… lol.

Oh, my phone ran out of battery and I don't have any photos. We slept like logs afterwards!

Day 3 – Monday (08/16/2021)

We had a very tasty breakfast with everything we chose at check-in, but unfortunately because of DGS rules, they made slots 30-45 minutes for each family to eat and not crowd the café space. I found it very rushed, especially because Patrick talks a lot while eating, so it is something they can improve.

Meeting Buddha Eden

We checked out and went straight to the Codfish Buddha Eden, arriving there around 10am. The parking lot was much emptier than the day before and we didn't even have to wait in line to buy tickets (5 euros per person, Paddy also paying). I'll leave some photos here, but this place is so incredible that it deserves a post separate that I will publish soon!

Getting to know Dino Park

After a 3 hour tour, we left the garden exhausted and drove for about 30 minutes to the Dino Park:

We had lunch there and then walked around the whole place with the kids and with the grandparents from Cascais, who drove there to meet us. I'm going to make a post I also have a separate article about this park, but I can already say that for the price we paid, I imagined something else, with much more interaction and such. Like Disney, you know? But even so, even though it is basically a sculpture park, it was worth visiting because the little one was completely excited about the gigantic animals.

We left the park at the end of the day, exhausted and headed straight home to Cascais. Of course, more than half of the passengers in the car fell asleep, right?

This was our long weekend with the family. Delicious memories with my dad… I’m already thinking about the next one. 🙂