Setúbal is a city and a municipality in Portugal and a suburb of Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 121,185. The city is located on the northern bank of the Sado River estuary, approximately 30 kilometres south of Lisbon. In the beginning of the 20th century, Setúbal was the most important centre of Portugal's fishing industry, particularly sardines. None of these factories are now in operation!
Setúbal is close to the coast and the Serra da Arrábida natural park. A dolphin colony inhabits the Sado River and if you cross the river by boat for sure you will see them. The Castelo de São Filipe, is a 16th- and 17th-centuries fortress on the north bank of the Sado river, overseeing the city. The fortress is now a luxury hotel (pousada).
Setúbal was the place where the Tratado (treaty) de Tordesilhas was ratified in 5th September de 1494 by the king D. João II. The treaty was meant to stop the disputes between Portugal and Spain over the new discovered lands. The pope Alexandre VI was the referee in this dispute and drew a line dividing the then know world and called the meridian Tordesilhas. The treaty was issued in May 4th 1493 and stated that the land discovered west of Tordesilhas belonged to Spain and to the east to Portugal. D. João II did not accept the terms of the treaty most likely because the Portuguese already had a better knowledge of the world then and believed the treaty was unfavourable to them.
Tordesilhas meridian cut the South American continent in such way that Spain would have most of Brazil as we know it now. Later on the kings of Portugal and Spain agreed in a division that included Brazil in the Portuguese part of the world.
In Setubal live our cousins Aguiar and Mariazinha. We visited them and spent a great time reliving the good all days as young officers of the CCaç 305 in Angola. We also visited our good friends Céu and Normando Brás. Normando worked with me in the HEAC in Angola and later on in the CEM in Macau. We kept in touch all these years and never missed an opportunity to get together. Normando organised a reunion with two other colleagues from Angola, Andrade and Magalhães and we spent a day reminiscing about the old times at Lumaum, Alto Catumbela and Huambo.
Santo André, is a city located near the Atlantic Ocean and belonging to the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, Alentejo Litoral. It was built in the 1980s, to serve the region's oil industry.
A large number of the Costa family settled in Santo André when they arrived in Portugal as a result of the turmoil in Angola after the April 1974 revolution in Portugal. I always visit Santo André when in Portugal and my time there is solely occupied with lunches, dinners and parties with the family. This time we organised the visit of our newly found cousins from our uncle Zé which none of us knew.
With the chaos that resulted from the April revolution our family, like so many others, broke up and uncle Zé died in Portugal without further contact with family. His son José searched for the family that he knew existed and found me through this website and at last we reconnected this broken link in the family.
We visited Sintra twice this holidays. One just Filomena and I the other with Cláudia and Carlos. We travelled from Oeiras to Cascais, a coastal town 30 kilometres west of Lisbon. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of Lisbon and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal.
Cascais was a fishing village and gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal family in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Nowadays, it is a popular vacation spot for both Portuguese and foreign tourists. It is located in the Estoril Coast named after Estoril, a town in the municipality. One of the attractions is the Castle of Cascais constructed in the 1300’s and donated by King Ferdinand to Gomes Lourenço de Avelar.
From Cascais we visited the Boca do Inferno ( Hell's Mouth) a crevasse located in the seaside cliffs, 1.5km to the west of Cascais. Close to the Boca do Inferno there is a small market which sells traditional tourist gifts. After visiting the Boca do Inferno Filomena and I had lunch at a typical restaurant in Malveira da Serra. A beautiful meal but as usual in Portugal, massive meals.
In the second visit we visited Cabo da Roca with Cláudia and Carlos and had a coffee in a nice place nearby. Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca) is the westernmost point of mainland Portugal, continental Europe and the Eurasian land mass. The cape is located within the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, 42 kilometres west of the city of Lisbon . After lunch we headed to Sintra and spend the afternoon strolling through the village.
Sintra is known for its many 19th-century Romantic architectural monuments and is classified as a World Heritage Site. One cannot come to Sintra without visiting the Pena Castle and the Pena National Palace, summer residence of the monarchs of Portugal during the 18th-19th century. Another important place to visit in Sintra is the Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of Moors).
Sintra is famous for its cakes in particular the Queijadas and Travesseiros de Sintra. Obviously we finished our day with a visit to Piriquita, a famous cake shop in Sintra, for a coffee and a cake …or two.
After our Leal family reunion in Estremoz we headed to Spain to visit our friend Veiga in Cáceres, Spain. For us used to the distances in Angola and Australia, the trip end up being just a short drive away.
Cáceres is the capital of Cáceres province, in Extremadura, Spain. In 2014 its population was around 96,000 and the shire is the largest in Spain. The walled city has been declared World Heritage Site. The city was founded by the Romans in 25 BC. The first evidence of humans living in Cáceres is around 25,000 BC. Cáceres as a city was founded by the Romans around 25 BC. Some remains of the first city walls built by the Romans in the 3rd and 4th centuries still exist.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was occupied by the Visigoths, until the Arabs conquered Cáceres in the 8th century. Cáceres was reconquered by the Christians in the 13th century (1229). During this period the city had an important Jewish comunity but they were expelled by Queen Isabella and Ferdinand of Aragon in 1492.
Our old friend from our days in High School in Angola live now in Cáceres with his lovely wife Pilar and we decided to visit him, almost half a century since the last time we were together. We spend three days with Pilar and Veiga and loved every moment of it. Pilar a first class chef made us a real paella like we never had before.
I am sure we will meet again in our next holidays to Europe or “promises … promises”, in Australia.
