Nikki Beach Resort Algarve Portimão

... Luz for the last 40 years! Dinner is grilled sardines, garlic bread, calamari and BBQed pork steaks and chicken drumsticks. All washed down with some fine vinho verde.

18 Nov
Our last day on the Algarve B4 we head for a couple of nights in Granada, which was the last bastion of Islam in Spain. As part of our visit there, we hope to see the Alhambra and some of the Sierra Nevada. Then itºll be onwards to hook up with Annabelleºs folks ...

... since we left the UK). We learn that there is a campsite in the town centre. Initially we viewed this with some trepidation and indeed it was less than rural surrounded by apartment blocks, however, cheap (euro 10 a night) clean and run by a very friendly Dutch lady; ideal for a couple of nights of cosmopolitan living (Lym gets to put his jeans on for the first time since leaving the uk).

so Saturday night on the town... for starters we had a ...

Another typical Porto Covo morning: bright, blue and upon inspection, very large swell; too large for us. Decision time - do we stay or move on? It was easy and unanimous, time to break camp and hit the road once again heading south. We looked at a couple of likely surf / camp destinations, until opting for Odeceixe, a town which straddles both the Alentejo and the Algarve ...

... 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 ...

... in a country just over twice the size of Vancouver Island with a population of 11 million. Remote is relative I suppose.

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 ...

... of Lagos, and many beautiful beaches of Barlavento of Algarve as Meia Praia, Praia D. Ana, Porto de Mós, Praia D. Maria, Burgau, Solária, Batata, beach of Estudantes, Pinhão, Camilo, Canavial, etc….

Head on to the Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St. Vincent - the southwestern tip of Europe, and considered to be the “world’s end” in the Middle Ages), the trip continues towards Sagres ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... the road again. It's kind of addicting to walk. Day 6 - São Miguel - Alentejo A short walk this day, although I found out I can walk almost 50 km in one day (over 14 hours), it is something to do only in case of dire need. Such need shouldn't even be allowed to arise in the first place. I crossed today, towards the end of the march, the river that separates the Algarve from the Alentejo, which should be the most complicated part of the trip. We will see...