Praia Oura Apartments Albufeira

16 Nov - "Back to Nature"
2 nights of urban living in Lagos and we decided it was time to head for the hills, which meant relocating to Luz on a rather more rural campsite in terms of its locale. Luz is a beautiful beach town with a beach circa one mile in length, a good deal of which has a backdrop of multi coloured rock face. Its a lot smaller than Lagos and out of season, certainly uncrowded. Having pitched our tent, we decided a lazy day ...

... have proved very difficult, hence we decided to move on. We continued to hug the coastline checking out the waves as we went. Nothing tempted us to jump in (the weather being poor also), however the coastline proved absolutely stunning between Odeceixe and our next destination Lagos. We were continually overwhelmed by the rugged beauty of the coastline coupled with the power of the ocean; we have some wonderful images which we will add to this blog ...

... demographic. As the kiwis marched forward I walked with Kirsten, a tall blond policewoman from Hanover. She laughed a lot, and spoke fluent Portuguese. I must admit I'm not the best traveler in the world, I often can't be bothered to learn the most basic of phrases in the local language; but I'm pretty darn good at traveling with good travelers.

We arrived at the hostel to find that it was A) 7 Euros more expensive than the ...

... arrives, probably in an hour or two.

Now I'm feeling a little remote. I'm pretty good at making the best of a situation, and dealing with the resources I have. As I haven't eaten yet today, I search a few of the nearby gardens for a bit of fruit to tide me over. Under the cover of early morning light I find a mature pomegranate tree loaded with fruit. I grab 5 of the plumpest fruits I can find and wander ...

... the kingdom of Dom Manuel I, the headland already had a beacon kept lit all night by the Capuchin friars. With a range of 95 kilometers, the present-day lighthouse is one of the most powerful in Europe. From the fortress of Sagres a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean is unforgettable.

Night show at Hotel Algarve Casino was spectacular. The dancers and the light show were truly unforgettable.

... it was pretty tame until one of the toreadors almost got trampled by one of the bulls, the dude was lucky they dulled the tip of the bulls horns.


http://picasaweb.google.com /Jonny.D.Lawrence/20091016Albufeira?aut hkey=Gv1sRgCImA4oCXitDO5AE&feat=dir ectlink

... there, he was hilarious and exactly like a euro version of an American beach bum.
We also went to check out the lagoon, I got out for a couple tacks, the wind was super light and I crashed my kite and it deflated... fun. I had to walk my kite back through shallow water ...

De ooievaars verzamelden zich, een paar honderd meter van onze boot, voor vertrek naar Afrika. Het waren er honderden. Nog wat ver weg voor de video, maar een prachtig gezicht door de verrekijker.
Weer een stukje film met dolfijnen rond de boot, op weg van Sines naar Lagos ...

The west and south coast of Portugal is pretty much a long stretch of beaches surrounded and separated by huge red cliffs and you can get from one beach to another by crawling through caves in the cliffs (I also think that's where the bums sleep at night...) We did some surfing at a small secluded beach that I had been to 4 years ago with my family. We’re ...

... Antonio then either bus or train to Albufeira via Faro. The terminal was very busy despite it being a Sunday morning and I was glad to get my ticket sorted out, as it even busier on the Monday. The mysterious sum of €10.61 got me a ticket for the 2 hour ride to Ayamonte. I spent the early part of the day just walking around. Almost everywhere was closed; Spanish people don't get up before noon on Sunday it seems. It was getting hotter and hotter! One of those digital ...