Nova Apartments Carvoeiro

... 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 ...

... br>"How was that for you James?"
She's serious. Apparently she thinks I should be excited about my upcoming two weeks with them. I tell her what I'm thinking about their whole little scheme. I wouldn't say that I sugar coated it for her. She's surprised, and I demand to talk to Frank. Frank sees this whole volunteer program as a great source of free labour, its just unfortunate that we like to eat three times a day.
"This is the way we've always done it. If you don't like ...

... 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 ...

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.

http://picasaweb.googl e.com/Jonny.D.Lawrence/20091012Alvor?au thkey=Gv1sRgCN_Jy47QxsiTwAE&feat=di rectlink

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 ...

... romantic and scenic. We ate breakfast here every morning, in fact it was included with the accommodation. Breakfast consisted of pastries, cereal, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and sometimes cod in a tomato sauce. Cod is the most popular fish in Portugal specifically salted cod in Portuguese it is called "bacalhau" and you will see it on almost every menu. Be careful when eating lunch and dinner ...