Dom Pedro Golf Hotel Quarteira

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 ...

<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 ...

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

... not "surfers" but we we&#8217;re much less scared of getting tossed by the big waves this time. We also came to the conclusion that it maybe wasn&#8217;t us that, but that it&#8217;s the size of the board that was hindering our performance....<br> <br>http://picasaweb.google.com/Jonny.D .Lawrence/20091011Sagres?authkey=Gv1sRg CMmMtI7egbGKvAE&amp;feat=directlink

... to sit with them. <br><br>That's all behind us now (including being last through customs in Faro - but we got plenty of travel advice and tips). The hotel we are calling home in teh Algarve over the next 5 days is called Monte do Casal and it is fabulous! Notwithstanding that they upgraded us to a Suite with our own private terrace with views to the ocean. Will upload some photos of the hotel (where no kids are allowed), but before we do that, some welcomed sleep is needed.

... to arrive in hot places at midday carrying rucksacks and looking lost, we arrived in Tavira at around 1230 the mercury hitting 35 degrees, laden down and looking lost. Our hotel, booked online, for its proximity to the town centre could be seen high on a hill overlooking the town, perched in such a way as to be visible but seemingly disconnected from the narrow twisty streets. After a few wrong turns and a scare from a little but vicious dog, we ...

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

... ferien zusammen mit christophs frau mischa, deren 1jährigem Ivan und dessen Grossmutter Dana.<br>Ist fast ein bisschen ein Kulturschock von den Hostals in Tarifa mit den travellers nun hier zu sein und die Gäste zu sehen,welche bei sonnenschein drinnen tv gucken oder im internet surfen, am flipper spielen oder im hallenbad (also indoor) schwimmen :-) <br><br><br><br> dabei hat es enorm schöne strände ...

... They inspired some typical "dad jokes" - is a baby stork called a twig? And if the stork brings human babies, does a flying human bring baby storks?! We saw all sorts of unusual flowers, too, including Lusitanian fritillary, birds' nest orchid and tongue orchid. It was time to move on, but we would like to return to El Rocio in the future. After spending more than three months in Spain and getting used ...