Fri 23 May Parque do Monteiro-Mor in Lumiar & Quinta do Azulejo

Fri 23 May- raining again! after breakfast we decided to visit the Parque do Monteiro-Mor in Lumiar, a few km from Queluz. The GPS took us the shortest way, through winding narrow streets and alleys, but got us to Lumiar eventually. Actually we parked just a few meters from the park to ask directions to it. It's a large park, begun in the 18th century, so the many trees are large and mature, some quite huge. A variety of flowers were blooming, and the many water fetures added interest. It started to rain, so we sheltered under a huge Araucaria Columnaris, which provided a dry area around its base. After the shower, we had a cafe until things cleared up, then continued walking around the garden. It was really nice, cool but not cold, and everything was freshened by the rain, which eventually stopped.

We then went to the 'Quinta do Azulejo', a school that used to be a mansion, which is famous for its tiles. We were amazed at the extent and beauty of the tiles at the school (which was in session), and wandered around taking photos and video in amazement of the beauty, wondering whether the students appreciated the art with which they were surrounded.

We had lunch at the local 'Restaurante Aguia', which had a limited 5-item menu of the day, but we had the 'robalo grelhado' (sea bass) E8.50 and the 'Carne Estufada' E5.50, a bottle of 'Tinto da Talha 2005 Requevale-Alentejanol' red wine E5.90 (a whole bottle of red wine), and 'arroz doce' (rice pudding) E1.50, so the total at E19.40 was a good value, because the fish was deliciously fresh and nicely grilled, and the beef was plentiful and tasty, served with french fries and rice, plus there was a salad served with the sea bass.

We then walked off the wine by going down a street of old deserted mansions, wondering why they would have been deserted and what was going to be done with them. After wandering around a while, we headed back to the car and returned to our pousada in Quelez the fast way by GPS, and it was certainly different from the way we came!