Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Zambujeira do Mar

So, in the end, we had to leave Lisbon too. It was very hard, and to pass the bridge on the Tejo filled us with a melancholic mood and the wish to come back soon.

But our bus was taking us on the way to a new, very exciting experience: to finally meet the Atlantic Ocean. Ilaria already came across its breeze and waves some years ago, in Senegal, while Om Sharan never saw it before.

The first sight of the shore in Zambujeira do Mar was amazing, just before the sunset.

Om Sharan felt like a child who discovers Nature for the first time...

...and the day after he wrote a song, called "Ocean for Two".

We found a very nice beach nearby the town of Zambujeira do Mar, called Alteirinhos, where we could finally get sunburnt like any other respectable tourist :)

Here, the breeze first sang the notes of "Ocean for Two".

Ilaria had her inspiration too, and her feelings took the form of a fish, which promptly swam to the Flying Sketchbook!

We also forgot to show you a picture of another sketch, which is still unfinished: Om Sharan drew it on the bus from Serra da Estrela to Lisbon...colors will come, sooner or later, to complete the picture.

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Serra da Estrela and Lisbon

When we left Coimbra, we really wanted to get in touch with a more rural, naturalistic part of Portugal. We were reasonably close to the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela:

 The weather was hot and we walked a lot! We didn't have energies to dedicate to the sketchbook, but Nature painted for us some very nice works :)

When we left the Parque, we took a bus to the next, fundamental step of our trip: Lisbon! We had the chance to get in touch before with a wonderful person who hosted us in Lisboa: Sofia!

We got in touch through the Couchsurfing community, and when we met her we found out that she was a multi-talented, explosive and super-hospitable host! Her house is colored and her flatmates are furry! They're two dogs - Ibisco and Shaun - and three cats, of which the little cappuccino-colored Guinjo made us fall crazy in love at the very first sight.
We spent three days with her and her pets. On one evening we shared with Sofia the Flying Sketchbook idea and we jammed together on two pages:

Sofia put on an album by Ravi Shankar as a perfect accompanyment to this jam. We're sure it had a good influence :)

Lisboa won our hearts with its characteristic neighborhoods, with its tiny vintage trams that climb the slopes of the city...

...with its Fado culture...

...with its river, the Tejo...

...and with its nice flea market, the Feira da Ladra.

After visiting the Museu Coleção Berardo in the Belém neighborhood (the museum was much bigger than we expected, the entrance was for free and the works inside were very interesting!), we found a small churrasqueira where we had time to rest, eat something and to find the right inspiration for a small present to give to our wonderful host, Sofia: