My Vacation in Portugal

Written by Rolf

April 11

We left home early, and I mean early. The alarm went off at 3am. Not that it was needed for me; I lay awake, watching the time crawl by. At around half past 4 we got into the car to drive to Schiphol airport for our flight to the Algarve in Portugal.

After a useless scan of our hand luggage (we could easily swap items from our suitcase after) and a smooth flight, we arrived in Faro. As at most airports, everyone needs to be first in line at the luggage belt and so no one even budged when we tried to reach for our suitcase, not even when my ex knocked over an old man.

At half past eleven we arrive at the hotel, being delayed by an accident (not us) and road works. The apartment was awesome, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big kitchen, living room and a huge terrace / balcony. On top of that, the ocean view was great.

We ate some and went exploring the surroundings. The beach, Praia de Centianes, was already occupied by people in speedos and bikinis. It wasn't exactly warm, so we kept our coats on. The tiny shopping center didn't have an ATM and we had no cash so we couldn't buy anything.

Back in the hotel we relaxed a bit before dinner. Soup, pork, vegetables, potatoes and chocolate dessert. The dessert resembled chocolate paste, the kind you put on a sandwich.

April 12

After breakfast we went to meet Benny the Belgian, our travel agency person thingy. He was there just for us, so the least we could do is listen to his welcome speech. Apart from a map of the surroundings, he couldn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

We took a walk to Carvoeiro, about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 mile) from our hotel. We walked along the coast and reach the Algar Seco, meaning dry hole. This rock formation is one of the tourist attractions of the Algarve, but not many tourists were here now at this time in April. So we had no trouble enjoying ourselves with the view of the rocks and waves.

As we had been told the shops closed at 13:00 on Saturdays, we hurried along to Carvoeiro, a small town with 2000 inhabitants and used to tourists. The town center was very close to the beach, allowing for a romantic scenery. The first ATM we encountered was empty. Fortunately a local could tell us the way to another one, which was where we got some cash and bought ourselves each a pair of sunglasses. We did some more groceries and went back to the hotel, this time along the roadside. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a book on our terrace.

April 13

The day started out depressing: drizzling rain and a cloudy gray sky. So, back to reading. Around 4 in the afternoon it was still bad weather but we decided to go outside for a bit and admired the savage ocean. Photographing the wild waves turned out to be harder than expected. Back at the hotel's reception we arranged a rental car for the next three days.

April 14

The weather still wasn't great but considerably better, so off we went. Our first stop was Lagos, where we had planned to view a church, Igreja Santo Antonio, but unfortunately it was closed for public. A little later we sheltered from the rain in an other church, Igreja Santa Maria, which was extremely ugly, like many many other churches.

We continued past the fort and the old city wall to a rock formation of which we thought it was the Ponte da Piedade. We have been unable to confirm that. Through the town, back to the car we went and through the rain onwards to Sagres, because we were anxious to see the world's end.

Suddenly a great fort appeared out of nowhere and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be quite a letdown. Other than the tall wall, there was hardly anything left. The seafarer's school (?) and wind compass had deteriorated and left to rot and all buildings that had been there, were destroyed by the english in the 16th century. A couple of canons and a nice view was all we got for our money. And a free rain shower of course.

The wind enthusiastically dried us again and we arrived at Cabo São Vicente, which was quite a deal more entertaining. In the old days, they used to believe that the world ended here. The waves thrashed against the rocks down as the cape. After having devoured a bratwurst, we went back to our hotel.

For the third night in a row we were served brussels sprouts. I don't really mind sprouts and eat the same food for days on end at home as well, but my ex was less easily pleased and opted to only take the salad. For dessert, we had vanilla pudding with a skin.

April 15

The weather was much better today and we departed eastwards. First to the Roman settlement Milreu in Estoi. They assume it was the estate of a rich Roman centurion or lord. There are ruins of a temple, a bath house and gymnasium. So it might also be possible that Milreu used to be a spa, the museum-worthy mosaics were appropriate enough.

In the little town of Estoi is also a palace, the gardens of which are open to the public on some days. Lucky for us, we could enter them this day. It was an 18th century palace of the counts of Cardenal. It hadn't been maintained for quite a while so everything looked somewhat deteriorated. The palace was built in Rococo style.

In the gardens were statues of Venus and Diana, as well as former duchesses and countesses. The stairs were full of azulejos and there was an artificial cave with statues and drawings. Furthermore in the garden was a pond with large gold fishes.

After a visit to the church, which had a portrait of saint Martin (we think it was) made of azulejos, we had a coffee at a little cafe run by a little old drunk chap, and we continued to Faro. In our rental Clio we drove straight through Faro town center looking for a parking space. It turned out to be quite an adventure in an old town like that with a 60,000 population.

We went into the old town and to avoid yet another rain shower went to the archaeological museum. The museum wasn't impressive at all. There was a mosaic from Milreu and some oil lamps and urns. The museum was in a former nun's convent, which was more interesting than the museum itself. We didn't enter the cathedral but the orange trees in front of it made it a lovely view. Over the entrance gate, Arco da Villa, was a large nest with storks. And I always thought that storks existed only in myths!

Being a tourist makes one hungry, so we scored a pizza. It was almost three o'clock when we continued to the Igreja do Carmo (we had passed this place before in our car), mostly known because of the Capela dos Ossos behind it. The interior of this chapel is made entirely of human bones and skulls. The bishop who had this chapel made in 1816, wanted to confront people with their mortality, but another theory is that he did it simply because it was cheaper. Official reports claim there are approximately 1200 bones in the little chapel, but we had the impression it were many many more.

Back in the car we spent some time looking for the Ria Formosa. Faro is the start of the socalled Sand-Algarves and at the coast is a big national park. Apparently we had driven past the entrance thrice and parked the car for a little walk.

In this park they had brought together different parts from the Ria Formosa. You could see how they cultivated fish, what the swamp looked like and how they ground grain by making clever use of the movement of the tides. There are also many birds to be seen if you're in luck. We observed jumping fish, a bird that resembled a spoonbill and of course storks.

After having walked another three hours, we decided we had seen enough, went to the hotel, didn't have sprouts but enjoyed the rice pudding we had for dessert.

April 16

Nice weather for a change. We drove to Silves where we soon got lost in narrow streets and alleys. Eventually we just parked in front of the local cathedral, a 13th century gothic building that replaced the mosque that used to be there. Next to the cathedral was the most important attraction of the town, a fort. The Phoenicians started building a fort on this hill BC (before counting), the Romans and Moors expanded it later. Now it's mostly the walls that are still standing, and archaelogists are still digging up artifacts. The Moors also brought citrus trees, which are now scattered throughout the Algarve.

From Silves we went further inland, looking for the highest spot of the Algarve. On our way there, we stopped several times to admire the view. On one of the parking lots, a hunchbacked man with a donkey (or mule) came walking. My ex encouraged me to take a few pictures, so I encouraged her to mount the donkey, so she did and I did.

At last we arrived at Fóia and we climbed among all the germans to the top. On the other side of the mountain we climbed down and then we were lost. After a couple of kilometers fortunately we encounted some road signs again which allowed us to get undisoriented. Back to our coast then.

Since we found out that we still hadn't seen the Ponte da Piedade, we drove back to Lagos. After too much searching we finally reached our goal. Of course we were just in time to see two tourbusses full of dutch tourists being unloaded but we didn't let that spoil our good mood. We walked for a while and decided against the little boat tour that would set us back 20 euro. The lighthouse was a bit odd, covered on the outside with little tiles.

Back in the car, toward the highway, but we suddenly ended up in the middle of town on narrow streets. Surprisingly we made it back out again on the other side and went back to the hotel, had dinner and had an early night.

April 17

It was actually hot on our last full day in Portugal. We did nothing at all and enjoyed every minute of it. We spent the day reading in the sun on our terrace and got a professional sunburn. At night we observed once more a perfect sunset.

April 18

Not as early as the start of our vacation but still earlier than I ever want to get up, we were out of bed at a quarter past five. At six we were picked up and on the bus they told us our plane would be departing an hour sooner (!) than planned. We had a cappuccino at the airport before proceeding to the gate. We had liftoff at half past eight and touchdown around noon on Schiphol airport. The dutch weather was nice but not as nice as the day before in Portugal. At two o'clock we were home to read our mail and do groceries for Easter.

Páscoa Feliz!