Apartments Alvaflor Vilamoura

A silent drive to the train station. Frank drops me off, and I don't say a word as I grab my bag and close the car door. Now what? North or South? I could likely stay with Luis again in Lisbon, but I hate backtracking. Its 6:30 in the morning, and the first train arrives at 7:00, heading North. I ponder for the 30 minutes, then when the train does arrive, I let it pass. I'll head South, to Faro. I'm not sure when this ...

An excursion to Lagos’s Marina followed by a boat trip to Ponta de Sagres (The most western point of Europe, from where the Portuguese sailors started the discovery of new worlds) will allow to enjoy the
natural beauty of the rocks, especially the famous and most impressive caves of Ponta da Piedade, wild beaches and the sea waves on the cliffs along the coast and also some of the ‘highlights ...

... 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 ...

... not "surfers" but we we’re much less scared of getting tossed by the big waves this time. We also came to the conclusion that it maybe wasn’t us that, but that it’s the size of the board that was hindering our performance....

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jonny.D .Lawrence/20091011Sagres?authkey=Gv1sRg CMmMtI7egbGKvAE&feat=directlink

Well it's been almost 28 hours since we left a cold, wet and windy Melbourne on Monday and we are here at last! The flights were generally OK with no major issues, aside from a plane load of children on the BA flight from London to Faro (we were prepared for this since July/Aug is the summer holiday season in Europe) and BA deciding to split us apart in the seating but were not able to seat us together cos the plane was full - very odd).

The flight connections were ...

... Faro. "More expensive because they make you sick" isn't the slogan that Portuguese Rail use to advertise the appropriately named Alfa Pendular trains but it could be. These trains, provide a motion-sickness effect quite unlike any other train I've ever travelled on. Virg only just about lasted without keeling over. At Faro we opted for a connection to Tavira, where rumour had it it was quieter than much of the Algarve.

Seemingly always ...

... discovering a gem of a local restuarant with amazing bbq chicken. 6 euro for dinner!!

The next day to fill in time before departing we looked at the Chapel of Bones, which was built from the bones of the monks from the local cemetary. Over 1200 skulls. Definite goosebumps eh!

... br>




an einem tag machten wir mit fähre einen ausflug auf eine insel vor faro. wunderschön alles dort. herzige ferien-häuschen (oder wohnen die dort? keine ahnung), azur-blaues wasser etc.







am 4.juli flog dann die ganze familie zurück in die schweiz, nur cousin thomas bleibt noch für eine woche hier in portugal, sodas'es wir zusammen weiterreisen.

... Olhão in Olhão and Kevin made a dinner of Mexican rice, green pepper, onions, and chorizo on buns. And we each had a truffle for dessert.  The campsite was pretty good except for it being a little large for my taste and it had gravel pitches, which have a lot of dust and aren't as comfortable.  It also didn't have any dividers between pitches.  We were the only tent in a site that could have easily accommodated 12, so it was nice and roomy.