Club Alvorferias

... 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 ...

... in to the hostel, and then was planning to drive out to Sagres, the end of Europe. Kirsten and I decided to join him and away we went.<br><br>Alex liked to tell us that he wasn't a typical American. He spoke several languages, and had traveled the world. I found him vaguely annoying, but I was still happy to take a free ride from him. A 30 minute drive took us to Sagres. I don't want to bother trying to explain the beauty of Sagres ...

... in a country just over twice the size of Vancouver Island with a population of 11 million. Remote is relative I suppose.<br><br>Tonight, dinner is Daniella's gig. I'll help her out, but ultimately this is her opportunity to show me how things are done in her kitchen. She's frantic in the kitchen considering that she's only really cooking for 10 people. A beautiful kabocha pumpkin, my personal favourite, is blended with potatoes and an instant stock to create a basic soup. Its ...

... back home might even sell for 30 bucks. Dinner is finished and the plates come back half eaten. Fish is dissected though not eaten, the beans barely touched. Apparently these people hate big meaty delicious fish. A dessert of instant pudding pie is consumed in its entirety. <br><br>I will never understand what it is about a meal that makes people love it or hate it.

<br>An excursion to Lagos&#8217;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<br>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 &#8216;highlights ...

I arrived last night, under the mystery of darkness at the Quinta. My plan is to stay here for 2 weeks, working in the garden and cooking. Should be good. This morning I woke to experience the view concealed in last nights darkness. The house is perched on top of a large hillside, looking past palm, lemon, fig and pomegranate trees, out over a large lake. Absolutely stunning.<br><br>I met up with Matthias from Belgian and Melissa the States, two fellow ...

In Albufeira, we went to a Portugese bullfight, not the real deal as in they don't kill the bull, rather they stab them in the back with a bunch of arrows. I thought it was mean, especially the first bull because it was pretty much still a baby and looked scared instead of angry. Jon ...

... tons of mussels on the bottom, also not fun. The road to get to this lagoon was really sketchy, there's a video in the link below so you can see for yourself.<br><br>http://picasaweb.googl e.com/Jonny.D.Lawrence/20091012Alvor?au thkey=Gv1sRgCN_Jy47QxsiTwAE&amp;feat=di rectlink

... we een keer of 5 verblijd met een groepje rond de boot. Ze komen van ver naar je toe zwemmen. <br>Minder blij waren we met de duizenden vliegende mieren. De overlast viel uiteindelijk erg mee.<br>En nog wat beelden van rond Alvor, een heerlijk oord om voor anker te liggen.<br>

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&#8217;re ...