I Got Fined – And a Move to Costa da Caparica

After my last post a lot has happened even if it’s just been two days. On Tuesday while working the police came for a visit and decided that my parking was actually camping. I’ve been struggling with surfing and now I’m back close to Lisbon in Costa da Caparica.

Wild camping is illegal in Portugal – Meeting nice cops

The GNR came for a visit assisted by the local police force. They basically raided the place with five or six cars and at least ten people. They fined everyone at the hippie park who had stuff outside of their vans or something else suggested that they’re not just parking. The spot is not a campsite and the laws in Portugal are quite clear about this. Apparently this is something that happens about once a year, so I knew it could happen. The fine is quite big (150€), but if you divide it with the over five weeks I’ve parked there (so far) it’s not that much.

While still working, I heard a knock on my window. I asked if they could wait for 15 minutes and they said that it wouldn’t be a problem. After I was done with work, I gave the young police officer my ID and told him that I’m aware I’m doing something that’s not ok and that I’m not going to complain or argue with them. This apparently was surprising to them and they started acting even friendlier after that.

I wanted to pay straight away, but that wasn’t possible. An older officer said that they will send the bill to my Finnish address. The young officer came to me later and whispered that most likely they will never send it abroad anyway. He also said that now that he has my phone number he’s going to give me a call if he’s on duty when the next raid happens. His colleague also asked me a lot of questions about my way of life and my work and we also talked a while about how nice and easy going the Portuguese are. This whole ordeal is the best proof of that actually.

Surfing struggles

I went surfing after the cops left, but the conditions were simply too rough. I got one wave and just got thrown around a lot otherwise and may have had the single worst wipeout ever while ambitiously trying to get a wave way too big for me. Luckily nothing happened, but for a while I had to go to the beach and just let my pulse come down.

The forecast showed pretty much the same at least until the weekend. So even though I just returned from Lisbon I decided to head back that way for some days. Unfortunately the conditions here today were not really better for me. But we’ll see how that develops.

Costa da Caparica

I decided to head to a new place about 15 km south of Lisbon called Costa da Caparica. A friend of mine suggested the place and it turned out to have a reasonably priced campsite a walking distance from the surf spots.

I’m probably staying here until Sunday and just enjoying this place and trying to surf. I went to have a quick look at the town center here and it looked really nice. I also went for a sunset beer to the beach. This really is a pretty place too.