Our babysitter recently moved to Peniche, so she hasn’t come to our house to watch the kids for a while. She has been missing the kids and they have been missing her. She texted to see if we wanted to drop the kids off with her for a few hours in Peniche. Peniche has been on our list of places to visit and somehow we just hadn’t made it over there yet, so we agreed.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and when I first moved out on my own I moved to Santa Cruz, CA. Peniche brought back some memories of Santa Cruz. Driving around Peniche we saw tons of people in wetsuits carrying surf boards and the main beach seemed really popular. You can’t see it from the road because there are steps leading up to it, but the street lining that beach was the only time we ran into traffic.

We dropped the kids off and headed to the restaraunt that Kyle had picked. It’s called Profresco and he chose it because it’s seafood and has tons of reviews. We decided to splurge since we haven’t gone out in a long time and we got the lobster and prawn rice pot. It was amazing! The restaraunt also has a small seafood market that you see when you first walk in. Everything seems really fresh. The decor was nice but casual. Some people were there in swimsuits, towels, and sandals. I really liked the beach town casual vibe.

After lunch we headed downtown. On the way there we drove through the city walls. I only know Obidos is walled, I didn’t know that Peniche is too! At least some of it. Most of what we did was outside of the city walls, but some of it was inside. We went to a cafe downtown and it had the best cake we have had since moving to Portugal. Actually some of the best cake we have had ever, anywhere in the world. I am very much a pie and cake girl. Pie is my love language 😂

We both love carrot cake and this one came with a cream cheese frosting, which we haven’t had since the US. It was amazing. The second peice we chose because of all the caramel on top. I already love caramel more than chocolate, but caramel in Portugal is one of the best things I have ever tasted. You really can’t go wrong with caramel. It ended up being a Snickers Pie and it was also amazing. I can’t wait to go back there. There was another cake with caramel and chocolate on top and that’s the one I’m going to try next time!

There is a fort in Peniche and we made our way that way, passing lots of restaurants along the way. Most of the them have their menus on display. There is an Italian place with pesto gnocchi and there was another place with California Rolls. I haven’t seen California Rolls since we were in the US. The fort had some beautiful views.

Lastly, we walked along some of the cliffs. The views are amazing. I’m terrified of heights, so I didn’t get very close to the edge. There was a really cool ladder that lets you climb down into the rocks a bit, but I was too scared to even get to it. To get to the ladder you have to walk across a couple of the rocks. It’s near the edge. Obviously you can make it to the ladder without falling off of the rocks, but when I’m really high up I tend to freeze, so my body physically wouldn’t even let me make it to that ladder. Kyle made it there, but he was too tired to climb down it. We found an area that felt a bit safer for me, with some bridges to cross. I loved walking along all of the cliffs and it’s definitely a non kid-friendly activity, so it was time well spent without the kids.

The babysitter took the kids to two different beaches and they had a blast. We are heading back to Peniche in two weeks to do it all again, although maybe with some variations. We will try one of the restaraunts downtown, although I want to go back to the same cafe. Peniche is known for an island off the coast, but I’m not sure if we will have time to go there. I’m excited to go back. Obviously I know that we’re in Portugal and I love Portugal, but something about Peniche reminded me of some of the things I loved about growing up in California. The surfers, wetsuits, rocky beaches, fresh seafood, sandals…I just really loved it.

This week I am taking the kids to a resort in Nazare for two nights. The summer gets harder the longer it goes on, so we’re trying to make it through without completely losing our sanity. Leo is going through something and tells us he hates us every single day when he gets angry. I’m hoping that we can have some fun at the resort. Kyle will stay home and get the house to himself. Then when I get back a day later Kyle is going to take the kids to Aveiro and I will get the house to myself!