Casabela Lagos

... Portuguese and he wasn't going to learn any more for their convenience. He had originally gone there for the fishing but the lakes had dried up! Happy little soul.

The town had a castle, the only building of interest, but there was no sign of it being open to the public...ever. The campsite was very cheap, but like the rest of life you usually get what you pay for, so we left and headed for the Algarve. No photographs!!

... or scenery so beautiful. For two hours we sailed the coast of Portugal, sipped Sangria and swam in the ocean! Later that night we went and watched the sunset on the Southern most tip of Portugal, Sagres. After that we headed back to Lagos for dinner and another night of festivities. We had some authentic Portuguese food and then a few of us decided to skip the club scene for the evening and go ...

... shouldn't be allowed to happen again. But the pieces were coming together and so was my connection with Alex. When he asked me what was going on and I told him, he said don't waste you money, stay with me and my family. I felt sure now that he was on the level and agreed.

We went back to his and my word, their place is fantastic, set among cork 'forests', surrounded by rolling hills, chickens, dogs (sooo cute), a cat and goats. He kept on ...

... the nearest hotel was and bought me a coffee. I took some time chatting with him and his daughter. He said he had to go and see a friend and I could go with him and stay over at his. Now, all my instincts told me that he was a nice man, that it would be ok, but my faith in myself suddenly went. Looking back on it and as I described it to my friendly dutch-man when he said: you should have seen your face when I asked you home ...

... here on the verandah, snatching an hour in the late afternoon sunshine. It's quiet and peacefull, with the (temporary) sound of a tractor mowing Susan's fields down towards the river. They haven't been touched for over 5 years and a little man came and said he would clean them all up if he could use them for rice growing. Yes rice - the valley floor is flat and interconnected with narrow control channels that provide water from the river. The thermometer is reading 24deg.

As I ...

So Beja is not a tourist town really but I guess that´s the appeal of it. The original plan was to go from Lisboa to Evora but there are no hostels there so Anna, Alex, Jason and I took the bus to Beja where there is a hostel, an hour south of Evora. We were traveling for most of the day so we spent the night carving ...

... amazing artists from around the world and the best part is that it was free! It sounded really interesting, but unfortunately I do not yet have any camping gear and I was already on my way to Lagos. After waiting half an hour at the station, I caught my next bus. On the way out of Lisbon, my bus crossed over a bridge that seemed to be an exact replica of the golden gate bridge! Upon further inquiry, I was ...

... walls and then walked down the hill. This evening we did the touristy thing and went to see a bullfight. It was at a little arena and the audience were all tourists. At the start, all the sportsmen came into the arena, most walked and some on horses. I was feeling excited and looking forward to the bull fight. I had images of huge bulls with sharp horns charging at guys waving around a red cape.

... went out for the evening to celebrate Jack's birthday. We had a nice dinner and then ended up at an Irish pub. It was quite funny. We (Canadians) were in Portugal sitting in an Irish pub drinking Guinness, surrounded by groups of British people and listening to people sing Karaoke. What a mixture of cultures! We watched a tiny man get up to the microphone, he couldn't have been 5 feet tall. We weren't expecting much, then suddenly a voice comes out of this man that had our ...

... it was like being in the mosh pit of at Woodstock '99. Everyone was jumping up and down, screaming, chugging their drinks, etc. It was madness and it was really really fun. Kelly took roughly 120 pictures that night and they are hilarious. This guy proposed to his girlfriend and she said "No". There were big fat dudes dancing on the bar. Stranger after stranger wanted to get photographed with the birthday card Kelly made for young Tobin. It was a night ...