Paraiso Balaia Aparthotel Albufeira

... 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). <br><br>so Saturday night on the town... for starters we had a ...

... hostel in town, and B) located next door to the other hostel. The choice was obvious, and I quickly ditched the kiwis to join Kirsten next door.<br><br>By another random coincidence, I ran into an older American traveler who was staying at the hostel in Faro with us, and who I had talked to earlier that morning. Over breakfast I had made an effort to score a free ride with him to Lagos, but had been unsuccessful. He was just ...

... arrives, probably in an hour or two. <br><br>Now I'm feeling a little remote. I'm pretty good at making the best of a situation, and dealing with the resources I have. As I haven't eaten yet today, I search a few of the nearby gardens for a bit of fruit to tide me over. Under the cover of early morning light I find a mature pomegranate tree loaded with fruit. I grab 5 of the plumpest fruits I can find and wander ...

... the kingdom of Dom Manuel I, the headland already had a beacon kept lit all night by the Capuchin friars. With a range of 95 kilometers, the present-day lighthouse is one of the most powerful in Europe. From the fortress of Sagres a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean is unforgettable.<br><br>Night show at Hotel Algarve Casino was spectacular. The dancers and the light show were truly unforgettable.<br><br><br>

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

De ooievaars verzamelden zich, een paar honderd meter van onze boot, voor vertrek naar Afrika. Het waren er honderden. Nog wat ver weg voor de video, maar een prachtig gezicht door de verrekijker.<br>Weer een stukje film met dolfijnen rond de boot, op weg van Sines naar Lagos ...

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 ...

I made it to Lagos yesterday. Its basically a beach/party town. The second place that I walked into turned out to be a really great room for 25 euros a night complete with my first english language tv of the trip. Today I spent part of the day in Sagres, the southwestern most point in europe. Good for pictures and walking really really far. Tomorrow I´m going to attempt to get to Seville.<br>

... run from Metz or somewhere up north and smells of feet. There were plenty of seats so on I got. No-one came to check my ticket (unlike all the other trains I have ever been in France!) and half an hour later we were through the tunnel and into Spain. The track gauge of Spanish lines is wider than the rest of Europe (so is Portugal) so French trains have two dedicated platforms. There was a bloke trying to check passports but he gave up and went inside. The next train ...