Puzzle Suites and Figueira da Foz

Out of Lisbon on the train.  How I do love travel by train.  No fussing with loads of security and constantly pulling out ID and documents.  

Made my way to Figueira da Foz on Friday.  The original plan was to spend the weekend there and continue on to my meditation retreat and training.  Unfortunately, due to the huge fires in central Portugal, my retreat was cancelled.  This gives me additional time to wander in Portugal and surrounds.

the "puzzle" in my room at the Puzzle Suites, this one is 12300 pieces completed by the owner in 5 months

Unbelievably, all of these following pics are completed puzzles throughout the property.  The owner estimates the current count to be approximately 300K puzzle pieces.  His goal is to reach 1 mil pieces in the next 2 years.  He's been completing puzzles for 25 years.  

This is a lovely BnB a couple blocks from the beach and a couple blocks from the center of town.  The owner speaks excellent English (lucky for me) and had many helpful hints for restaurants and other info about Fig da Foz.  

the round puzzles, never seen one before 

The weather was lovely but VERY windy in the afternoon.  I didn't see any kite surfers but would think it's perfect for that...or perhaps too windy.  The readily available beach wind breaks are great.  The bnb also had free bikes which I enjoyed.  It wasn't a Townie but was nice for several buzzes around town.  

brave souls in the ocean

inside the wind break in the evening waiting to enjoy the sunset 

sunset on the north Atlantic with the umbrellas all ready for the next day 

I didn't realize bull fighting was also in Portugal, then again, it's right next to Spain.  It's not something I care to watch but there was a bullfight on Sat evening that seemed quite popular. 

The casino is one of the main attractions in the town.  It used to be that casinos didn't exist in many other European countries, so the one in Fig da Foz drew visitors from all over Europe.  Now there are lots of casinos.  

It looked to be quite crowded so I skipped it, but those in and around the casino seemed to be enjoying themselves.  

Had several nice meals with my favorite being at Poquete http://www.restaurante-paquete.com/

Next stop Furadouro, a small beach town further up the coast towards Porto.