MAY 31, 2018
30 May was a travel day and we had a great train ride from Barcelona to Seville. Seems you can’t take a train from Spain to southern Portugal so we caught a bus in Seville and traveled on to Lagos, with a brief stop in Faro. Glad we decided to stay in Lagos.
Portugal is beautiful!!! I think I’ll be saying that a lot. We stayed in a very nice flat above the small downtown area of Lagos, where we could see the sea from our terrace. The flat was part of a family compound that rambled on and on, with the first 1 room built about 70 years ago. Now there is Carlos and is wife in one unit, Carlos’ sister in another, Carlos’ daughter Carla (our host) in another…. We had the end where a 1BR apartment had been added. Behind us was more house, and there was a single bedroom unit (no kitchen) also listed on Airbnb. There were 3 cute and friendly dogs and we caught an occasional sighting of a handsome cat that had no time for us. The dogs would make their rounds several times a day, and one in particular would investigate at the patio door to make sure we were doing OK.
Once again we are located above the town and it’s a 15 minute walk up hill to get to the flat. I like it better when we’re at sea level but that isn’t always what we get!
We were directed to an obscure path to the beach from our flat. What was supposed to take 10 min took longer so I think we found a different path. It was fun though to be walking along and to see up ahead a small herd of cows crossing the dirt road. Thom wanted to stay back when he saw the bulls. But they were gently hobbled so they couldn’t have made a charge if they wanted to!!!
The beach is broad and bright with various locations claiming life guards and food concessions with loungers to rent. We walked along, the long way round, to the pedestrian drawbridge into town. We wandered some to get the lay of the land, find the MEO store for a cheap data sim (15euros, 15gb, 15 days) and walked back by the big grocery store. I didn’t notice at first but it was so fun to see the aisle marking signs in Portuguese and English!!
We have a great view of the ocean and outside of the channel and marina area. There are several boats anchored out here. One in particular is quite something – Adastra, apparently 42 meters or so long, is a trimaran motor yacht the is very energy efficient and has a cruising range of over 4000 miles.
JUNE 1, 2018
Today we took the bus to Sagres and looked out to the lighthouse marking the southwest corner of Portugal. The town of Sagres has some beautiful views along the walking trail and a pretty little village where there are some boats and fishing boats. Had a nice lunch with our first (don’t ask why) carafe of sangria. Better than what I’ve had in the US!
We continued our walk and went to the fort that looked so imposing from our initial view. It too had a great walk and great views and some explanatory boards explaining the flora and fauna. Lovely day to explore!
JUNE 2, 2018
Today was just a walk into town day. We watched the activities at the yacht club as a bunch of kids got all the laser stuff out. We didn’t see them actually launch but it was fun watching them get ready. During part of our viewing a young boy, maybe 8 or 9, who had been out sailing far off shore in his Opti, came in. He then took his boat apart, put all the bits away in the shed and then got the hose out for the final washdown. Shows how sailing can give a kid a great deal of experience in independence and responsibility! He seemed so confident!