Lisbon & Loule

Good Friday March 21 & Saturday March 22, 2008

Good Friday started off being a lot more promising weather-wise, with brilliant blue skies and moderating temperatures. We boarded the tour bus for Lisbon at the ungodly hour of 5:30 and five hours later, we arrive in Lisbon. This was a much longer trip than we had been led to believe, due to numerous hotel pickups on the way. The trip north took us through savanna-like terrain, with lots of umbrella pines and cork oaks stripped up to the first major branches. It takes a cork tree 27 years before it can produce bark and then it is only harvested every 9 years, but we learned that Portugal produces 30% of the world’s cork, so they’ve got a lot of cork oaks.


At Lisbon the terrain got hilly and in fact Lisbon was built on 9 hills, just like Rome. We entered Lisbon across a Golden Gate type bridge called the Bridge of the 25th of April and our first stop was at a very unique fortification on the Tagus River called the tower of Belem. Because it was Good Friday, it was pretty crazy with tourists, especially Spaniards.

We visited a large church & monastery and then toured the heart of the old city. Since most of the city was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755, a lot of the Moorish influence was lost, but there were still remnants of the ancient city found throughout the downtown. We walked about some of the town’s more picturesque squares and then we took a tram to the top of one of the hills for some great views and a visit to another old church called simply Se. Metropolitan Lisbon is only 2+ million people, but that apparently makes up 20% of Portugal’s population.

After another 5+ hours to get home we found this to a very long day, but were glad that we got to Lisbon.

On Saturday morning we were on the tour bus again but only for 1 ½ hours this time, as we headed off to the inland town of Loule that had a market including a gypsy market on Saturdays. This former Moorish town was quite interesting and both markets allowed us ample opportunity to stock up.


When we could finally carry no more, we returned to Portimao where we had lunch and then got in the car and of to Continente to stock up the larder. Our little fridge now looks just like the one at home – packed. The weather today was mainly sunny but still at little cool, but they are promising better for the next few days. But it’s better than Canada, right?

Golf & Albufeira

Thursday March 20, 2008

This morning, Jim & Bill went to the nearby Alto County Club to play golf. This of course meant no golf shoes, rental clubs and most important, a limited stock of golf balls. While the boys were golfing, the girls spent some time a Jardim’s indoor pool working on laps. The boys were paired up with a Scot father and son from Perth who were down for a week of golfing. It was a amiable foursome as we hacked our way around the links – well, at least I hacked. The course could be compared to Rockway except in length, as the longest par 5 was 605 metres. By the back nine the skies threatened and by the end of 16 the skies opened up and we retreated fairly sodden to our car and back to the apartment, not finishing the 18 holes. It was good exercise anyway and fun to meet the two Scottish gentlemen.


After lunch at the restaurant on the beach below Jardim do Vau, we headed off to Albufeira, the largest resort town on the Algarve. This was a very bustling place, considering it was off-season – one has to wonder what it would be like in the summer. It was also obvious that this is where the young people come. So…we were feeling that we chose the right location in Portimao. The rain left us alone in Albufeira but returned once back at Jardim do Vau. We went to another beach restaurant to finish the day – Il Timone – with a craving for something other than fish and that was our Thursday.

Inland and the Western Algarve

Wednesday March 19, 2008

Some observations on Portugal so far:
The people seem very friendly and speak a lot of English.
The wine is good and cheap.
Our accommodations are perfectly located and well appointed.
The roads are good and not crazy busy and free.
The food is cheap and the seafood is a good bet.
The beaches are unbelievably beautiful.



So, today we headed inland up into the highlands above Portimao to a place called Monchique. The downtown could be quite nice but presently there is a tonne of construction going on so it is not all that inviting. We found the most interesting thing was to drive right to the top of the mountain, where there are telecommunications towers in abundance, planted on barren rocky land. The views of the Algarve coast were outstanding from here. The temperature was only 11˚ and with the wind you didn’t hang around for a long time, but it was worth the drive. By the way, note the lemons on the tree in the pic above. Lots of laden orange and lemon trees everywhere.



Leaving Monchique, we headed across the rolling hills to the wild west coast of the Algarve. On the way we found a very nice picnic area and had lunch. While there we were visited by a very friendly old man, who tried to talk with us to no avail since this language is like nothing we’ve experienced before and we didn’t understand him nor he us. Alas, the folly of being language stunted! The view above is Portimao and the Atlantic from Monchique.




At the coast, we went to two small beach towns as the skies were threatening and the seas were smashing into the shore. The temperature hit 20˚ here for the first time in our stay in Portugal and with the March sun, it encouraged many to actually venture out into the ocean and the great waves. We were not equally tempted, however, and watching them was sufficient. In the second beach town, we discovered an amazing bay dotted with wet-suited surfers, none of whom were very successful. On the way back to Jardim do Vau, we ran into rain, which kept up for the remainder of the afternoon. That was fine, since we were forced to slow down. Dawn & Bill prepared dinner tonight for the crew – cooked chicken with piri piri sauce from the Continente grocery store , boiled potatoes, brocolli and crème brulee for dessert. I wonder how you say “Life is Good” in Portuguese?

First Full Day in the Algarve

Tuesday March 18, 2008

With a full night’s sleep, we woke up today ready to bid adieu to jet lag. The skies were overcast, but in maritime locales like this, we weren’t too worried about it. After breakfast, Bill went down to the restaurant - la Jacaranda- next to the apartment, where we ate last night and got his internet hookup to post the first blog. Following that, the four of us set out on foot to explore the Vau beach on which our apartment is located.

We walked towards the next big beach, closer to Portimao and found excellent, protected walking trails along the cliffs. With the good wood fencing even Dawn felt totally safe next to the cliff edges. The views were spectacular! We found it strange that two restaurants along this cliff edge had been abandoned. They appeared to have excellent locations, so perhaps either the threat of collapsing cliffs, which they appear to do regularly, or some attempt to preserve the cliff edge for the public, closed them down. Maybe, however, we have found a restaurant opportunity for Dawn. The skies got bluer and bluer.

On our cliff walk, we came upon a few stairs down to the very secluded beaches. We decided to head down one set and walk back to the apartment along the beach. It was a beautiful walk, but as we got closer to home, the tide was coming in and in several spots along the beach one had to time the waves to run around rock points that got inundated when the waves crashed on shore. Jim claims the only bragging rights for getting around a final point with only minor water damage, where Dawn & Bill with slightly more water damage, were forced back to the stairs with Marjolein as the tide continued to come in and the waves and water got higher and higher. Another day!

At noon we met our tour representative and booked the tour we wanted for Seville, Tangiers and Gibraltar for next week and a day trip to Lisbon for this Good Friday. We also made plans to attend a gypsy market on Saturday in Loule – Dawn! Hold on to your purse - and a flower parade in Sao Bras de Alportel on Easter Sunday.

For the afternoon we headed to the end of the earth – as Henry the Navigator knew it anyway. Sagres and Cabo de Sao Vicente are at the most south-westerly tip of Europe. It was a beautiful sunny day by now and we found both the Forteleza Sangres and Cabo de Sao Vicente very stark and beautiful with 60 metre cliffs. The landscape, mostly devoid of trees, was brimming with various yellow, pink and white spring flowers. All along these cliffs were fishermen, hanging perilously over the edge fishing. They appeared to be catching small rock bass type fish. They had to reel and reel to get their tiny fish to the top of the cliffs. It hardly seemed worth the trouble.

On our way back to Jardim do Vau, we stopped at a few pottery stores looking for just the right plate for Bill. No luck yet! We also made a grocery stop at an Intermarche in Alvor for dinner stuff for tomorrow night. For tonight we ate at a cliff top restaurant between our beach and the next – da Rocha. We finished off our first full day with a rousing game of hearts and some more excellent Portuguese wine.

The beach is a spectacular sandy one, lined with imposing ochre cliffs. The water was not a bad temperature, but no swim today. For swimming options we have an unheated outdoor pool – not likely - and a huge indoor pool – much more likely.

Once we got into our rooms, we expected to crash for a few hours, but found sleep impossible. So we went to the apartment’s little store and stocked up on a few essentials and then sunbathed on our wonderful balcony. Then we met Jim & Marjolein for a drink and headed out to tour nearby villages of Alvor and Lagos. Both had their charm with predominantly white buildings and clay tile roofs. We also discovered many buildings with tile-covered facades, some simple and some very ornate. We are finding the people so far very friendly and English speaking thank goodness.

We finished of a very long day with dinner at one of the many restaurants adjacent to the hotel. We all had seafood of some kind with a nice dry Dao white to accompany. The day finally ended at around 8:00, which was probably pretty amazing considering the length of this day.

Arrival in the Algarve

Monday March 17, 2008
I suppose if you were ideally entering some country on March 17, it should be Ireland, but for us it was Portugal. We flew directly from Toronto to Faro in the Algarve in around 7 hours. Since Europe’s time has not yet sprung forward, we only lost 4 hours. With very little difficulty, we picked up our luggage and procured our rental car – this time a Renault Clio – and with Jim and Marjolein following us in their Seat, we headed out to Portimao. We got on the A-22 expecting it to be a toll highway only to discover that it’s not – bonus! By late morning we were at Jardim do Vau, our apartment complex for the next 2 weeks, give or take a few days. Since we couldn’t yet get into our rooms, we toured the site and had lunch in a beautiful sun at a restaurant close by on the beach.

Travels in 2008

This is my first entry for 2008. It's been a very snowy, but not too cold February, but right now I'm anticipating our first visit to Portugal and specifically the Algarve region. This time we will be traveling with Marjolein and Jim Hicks. This is our first trip with them in 22 years - the last one to Disney in Florida when Aaron was 2 months old. We leave for Portugal on March 16 - the end of March break in Ontario - and will be away for 2 weeks. While there we are planning an excursion to Gibraltar, including a stop in Seville and a sortie to Tangiers Morocco. The weather at this time should be pleasant but not exactly beaching weather which is fine with us.
We are tentatively heading back to France in September. More about that much later.