Sidewalk Skateboarding Landscape in Portugal - Sidewalk Skateboarding

Landscape in Portugal Landscape in Portugal

The original plan for this trip was when the onset of the winter weather had truly begun, the need to escape to the sunshine was growing equally with it. Though by the time this trip actually came around in April the plan had changed completely - destination and personnel swapping frequently - the only one constant being the need to get away to sunnier climates with crew to skate, drink and be happy while obviously smashing the arse end out of as many spots as possible!

I'd say the Gods conspired (though I might add in vain) to throw a proverbial spanner in the works at every opportunity, but even after pre-trip broken limbs, extortionate car hire ransoms, multiple apartment changes, freak monsoon weather patterns and a serious shortage of ‘cro’, the missions main objective was achieved in abundance, if not more than on any other trip I've ever been on.

The boys smashed it from start to finish and what you see here in this Sidewalk article is a mere fraction of the photos shot, footage captured and good times had. HOORAH!

Snowy

“Sonny, yesterday my life was filled with rain”.

This was pretty much the first spot we danced at in Porto and we must have danced here for a full day. This mini plaza had pretty much everything you would need for a productive day – perfect four and five sets with ledges off the stairs, a good bar with 1 Euro beers and a decent bite to eat, hash on the regs and a flat of beautiful chicas overlooking the spot. This was the best of introductions to Portugal for us as it set the tone for the rest of our time here perfectly.
Everyone smashed out several good tricks each p’on the stair ledge; Nicky boy coming up trumps with this a peach of Spanish grind.
Ooh aah Cantona!

Snowy stepped up to the challenge of skating this perilous bank on the very edge of Almada. A car had spontaneously fallen through the floor a few meters away from the run up a couple of days before, and the locals and had plenty of other tales of ruin and wreckage revolving around the waters below. Snowy unfazed moved a pensioner knobbing the spot with his fishing rod and performed this stunt! He came out victorious with this picturesque photo of both the beautiful neighbouring city of Lisbon and a very brave kickflip.

After the third consecutive play of Craig David’s hugely acclaimed second album ‘Slicker Than Your Average’ that day, Matlok got out of the van as the only guy not petrified of rails like this, with the responsibility of taming this long mellow beast firmly on his shoulders. And yeah, that’s a neck high drop out straight onto hundred-year-old Portuguese cobbles.
Matlok is one of the most ‘no hezz’ skaters that I know and wasted no time diving onto this unfavorable piece of kit! Without even a sign of sweat being broken he produced this gnarly Kirchart-esque 5050.

At the end of long day travelling to avoid monsoon season, Jed made good use of this absolutely perfect bank spot with track three from Craig’s conceptual masterpiece ‘Slicker Than Your Average’ blaring loudly in his boozy mind.

This back tail was made even harder by the fact he had to pop out to avoid his wheels getting caught, that and the fact the bar just out of shot had been supplying us with a steady flow of Super Bock since we’d arrived in the area a good few hours earlier.

Jed the 420 Jackass General getting tech on one of the many marble peng plazas that Portugal had to offer! This is pretty fucking dope, especially considering he’s been out of the game for a while due to a crook shove shoulder injury sustained a couple of months back.

Anyway, top bloke from Stoke, loves a smoke and makes that shit look dope!
Fakie fives flip out like its breakfast time. Wait, it was breakfast time…
Sonnerz!

Possibly one of the most perfect spots I’ve ever skated. Only a couple ledges seemed to be waxed but they went on and on and on, so there was no stopping you if you were keen.

There were also little gaps plus plenty of hidden gems all over the shop, which was perfect for ‘Maddog’ Matlok ‘cause he’s one of those little moshers who can skate anything and do it well! So just after filming an epic three-mile line he was first to step up, wax the second ledge and bang this tweaked as fuck backside smith pop out just before security arrived, getting this dope photo so you can all see the spot too!

So this spot is in the hood of Almada. A pretty sketchy place to set up camp for the day, shouting, boozing, mock fashion shooting and playing with expensive camera equipment, but that’s what we do as skateboarders innit? Basically have no regard for personal safety or dangerous situations, just get stuck in, lad.

Matlok is just pretty unreal in these situations and this backy board would have landed most people in hospital, or crying in a heap of pain on the floor, but hey…we don’t call him ‘Maddog for nothing!

Wow, where do I start with this one? We had spent the day shredding various spots in Almada just outside of Lisbon, plus having a blast finding leather jackets and sinking the occasional Bock or two. Whilst on our way to another spot we came across this crust diamond plate bump to bar with downhill run up/out – a proper Snowy spot.

This was for sure ina di ghetto and because the kicker was real shaky, the sound caught the attention of pretty much everyone in the area. There were people hanging off of rooftops watching all around us…
At first I thought they weren’t going be into it but of course they loved it, especially the guy taking the photo. Anyway, Snowy sent this ollie into the instant downhill rollout, bombing the hill after in celebration as the ghetto rang loud!
After a few spuds and some hood love we all got in the van and more Craig bangers ensued…

“Maddog, Maddog, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when he coming for you?”

This front blunt was deep; Matlok got stuck in right out the van, no laying about, going for it fully. I’ve never seen someone so confident going at a Hubba.

It’s so dope how Matlok is so keen for every spot, and in turn gets everyone hyped to skate everything with him. We’ve had good times shredding together from the birth of Maddog, this little kid having his first pint to now a fully – well nearly fully – grown man, skating like a beast…

This spot became a bit of a race against time as we’d already been kicked out by several people in the short space of time we’d been there. I hustled us some extra time by chatting to the security guard in pigeon English-Portuguese whilst Matlok took down the front blunt.

Stanners killed it all trip, inside and outside of the van! If he wasn’t singing man’s on a hype anthems over pop classics in the back, or smoking pizza crust bongs in the apartment, then he was p’on road, smashing it and keeping the vibe at a steady high!
In this photo Nick – pint in hand and cig in mouth – crooked this leccy box a good twenty times for LOLs without even spilling a drop of his delicious Super Bock.