Spain Road Trip - Portugal Part 2

Day 51

We woke to blue skies today. Little did we know that it wouldn’t last! The apartment was proving to be quite dodgy, not a sponge to wash dishes, let alone a kettle to make coffee! I guess this is Portuguese self-catered apartment. Bring it all yourself!

We had our breakfast in room before heading in to town. We found out that the local swimming pool has free wifi! Our hotel charges a ridiculous price to use their computers, they don’t have wifi here. So we sat in a cafe outside the local pool for a couple of hours, enjoying a few drinks and catching up on emails. A very relaxing afternoon! We went back to our apartment and Nat spent a few hours catching up on the blog while Cam sat by the pool for a while!

Cam cooked up a lovely snapper on our ‘throw away’ BBQ. A bit of a hitch, cause the BBQ only lasted 10 mins, enough time to cook half the fish! Poor Cam had to cook the rest in the frypan! The fish tasted lovely, just not the way the chef would have been happy with. We then watched a DVD before crawling in to bed.

Day 52 – Sunday 18 May 2008

We woke to another windy day. Today being a special day, because it marks 7 years since we met! Wow!! Time flies! We had our breakfast before heading to the local pool to use their internet. Nat called home and we caught up on some more emails. We went to Lagos, checked out the marina, but got scared off by the many tourists down there. We aren’t used to being in such busy tourist towns, we have been so lucky to spend most of our holiday being the only tourists and hanging out with the locals! We found a nice cafe/restaurant right near the beach. Sat in the outdoor patio area and enjoyed the views of the beach and a nice burger with a local glass of wine. A nice relaxing lunch.

We then drove out to ‘Cape Sao Vicente’ the most southwestern point of mainland Europe. The point is known to ancient mariners as the "End of the World," where it was believed the sun sank into the ocean every night. It was a pretty impressive sight, standing on the 60 metre high cliffs looking out to the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse doesn’t look that special, but it has a 95km range, the most powerful in Europe!

We stopped off for an icecream enroute to the next beach. We laid on the beach for a while, but the weather got the better of us when the sun was completely hidden by thick grey clouds. Boooo! We drove in to the village near where we are staying, we were so surprised to find it so densely populated with not only resorts, but so many restaurants! We had no idea our little village could be so big! It has an awesome beach with huge cliffs, it looked quite nice in the moonlight, can’t wait to go down there and lie on the beach! We had dinner in a seafood restaurant that was packed with tourists. Oh well, if its packed the food can’t be too bad. The prices were very reasonable too. We indulged in a prawn flambé for entre and we both had fish for mains. Nat’s sea bass was so tasty, Cam’s mixed grill got mixed reviews! Finished off with dessert and coffee with a complimentary aperitif. We left feeling very satisfied!

Day 53 – Monday 19 May 2008

Oh come on, another windy cloudy day, this just isn’t fair! We woke late today, had breakfast and headed back to our favourite local swimming pool carpark! Cam called his parents and spoke for quite a while. We had a quick coffee before finally getting on the road mid afternoon! Bugger! Nat drove today! We went to Albufeira and Nat got really freaked out driving through the narrow little roads. Cam had to take over. We finally found a beach, São Rafael’, after driving for ages trying to find some signs! The water didn’t look very nice, but once we were on the beach, it was quite protected from the wind. We had our picnic on the beach and lazed for the afternoon. Nat beat Cam at beach tennis and Cam had a swim that lasted no more than 10 seconds! He reckons its too cold! Bah! After a nice afternoon lazing on the beach we headed back to our room and we cooked up a tasty stirfry for dinner and watched a DVD. So nice to be able to cook in our place. Tonight would be our last night in Portugal as we move on to the last leg of our journey, Andlucia, Spain. Stay tuned for the next leg.

Today would be our last day in Portugal. It was a lazy day, looking around our local area. After a slow start packing and stuff, we went to the local beach to see out the day. Here is a couple of pics from our local beach:

It was a lovely way to finish our time in Portugal. We have mixed feelings about this country. There is lovely parts, away from the tourists and lovely beaches. And then around the bend it will be a massive resort town, full of english tourists and english food in the shops! The food is a bit mixed with some Spanish influences but after Spain it was not quite what we expected. So to finish our trip we stopped at a bar near the beach to watch the sunset and relax!This is what nearly two months travel will do to you!

Well the last stop was Andulcia, Spain to see out our holiday. Check it out!

Cam & Nat