Two Days on the Beach, Four Days on the Road
We're back! We had quite the adventure. For Joy's birthday I rented a car
so we could explore the Greater Setubal Area. From the harbor in town we
can see great cargo cranes off to the east, and so we got an (the) AirBnB
out there and explored the town of Faralhao, and the Mourisca Tide Mill.
We found the truly stinky paper mill, and took a really nice boat tour
of the estuary with a guide so knowledgeable that he could tell us when
individual birds were born and what countries they came from. He had a
500mm Canon lens and could read the tags on the legs of flamingos from 
100 meters away. It was a family business - his father captained the 
boat, and his wife and his mother served oysters, chicken, shrimp, cheese, 
wine, lemonade, and an almond tart while he told us about bird migration
and the local tradition of farming "blood worms." Positively Klingon!

We also took a day to drive west and explored the area around Sesimbra.
There's usually supposed to be a bus that runs up the coast from Setubal
to Sesimbra, but the road got washed out a couple of years ago and repairs
are moving at a Portugal pace, so this was our first chance to visit. 
We spent a day at Praia do Meco, a beach on the Atlantic, and enjoyed the
very energetic surf. Then we drove through Sesimbra which turned out to
be a bit of an adventure. Tourist season is waning, which is the only reason
we got through, because the road that parallels the beach is more like
a pedestrian plaza that allows cars. We went down the hill, along the
beach road, thru the crowd, and up and out of Sesimbra. Don't need to
do that again!

We took the car ferry over to the Troia peninsula and spent another day 
beachside at Praia do Comporta, which was a very nice beach, smaller and 
more quiet than others we have visted. We could only stay an hour because
we had to ferry back and take our boat tour, but we'll visit there again
if we can figure out how to get there without a car.

All in all a wonderful four days exploring the local area.