"Portugal's amazingly close island! " a Ilha da Berlenga Travel Page by Bwana_Brown

The Berlenga Islands were one of the highlights of our entire 2-week trip around Portugal (see my General tip for a map of their location and an overview of our travels around this magnificent country!). We arrived in the coastal town of Peniche in mid-afternoon of our second last day in the country, with a specific goal to try to get out to this small archipelago only 10 km (7 miles) off the coast. This rugged granite outcropping of three small island groups is less than a two-hour drive from Lisbon, and the high-rise buildings on the outskirts of town attest to the fact that this must be a busy spot in peak season! In our case, we were in the off-peak period and arrived on the waterfront just before 2 PM, after our mid-day tour of Obidos, and we had no idea at all of what, where or when tours to the islands could be had! By instinct and without a map of the town, I headed directly to what I assumed was the dock area to park our car. As soon as we emerged to begin our wanderings about town, we noticed a young lady standing beside a cubicle that said something about tours to the Berlenga's. She was very conversant in English (luckily for us!) and said that the next (and last) boat was leaving in just over 30 minutes. Right, that was it, we signed up on the spot and the adventure began! Since time was short, for lunch, we wolfed down the remnants of our previous day's bread, tomatoes and cheese while sitting in our car. Then it was a quick sprint to the wharf for our trip to these not so well known Portugese Islands (but definitely more affordable than the Azores or Madeiras!).

After arriving on the island and making the overland trek to the site of the old fort, we decended from the cliffs to have a closer look at it. As we approached it by crossing a small stone bridge, we were amazed at how clear the waters were. I could see a small school of very blue fish lazily swimming along just below us. I thought, 'gee, Kenmerk would like this place!'