Quinta Do Paraiso Carvoeiro

... douche! Compensation however was provided in the form of left over indian coupled with homemade garlic bread; a fitting end to yet another wonderful day under the sun.

17 Nov
I ho I ho, itºs off to Praia Mos(pronounced Mosh) we go... itºs another beautifully warm day in surfville, Lym and Annabelle all tooled up with picnic, drinks, waxed boards and a whole load of optimism as we arrive at the mosh pit. Lymºs in first, Annabelle ...

... of "pints" in a sports bar and watched the Brazil v England match. Luckily we were the only couple in there! We wandered around the walled town of Lagos utterly impressed by the consisten beauty and well kept buildings. Lots of tiling and prettily painted doors and window frames on top of the whitewashed buildings everywhere. We decided to eat takeaway pizza, washed down with more beer and a game of pool.

15 Nov
after a relatively ...

... above the river Odeceixe which runs out to the Atlantic. This was an idyllic location and though the tide was all wrong to surf, we parked up on the river bank within sight of the ocean: an absolutely fantastic location which was all ours complete with open fire. We commented on how different the Portuguese attitude is to free camping; its almost part of their constitution!

... Imposing cliffs drop into the sea, and it has an "end of the world" feel to it. I forgot my camera, so you should just google some photos.

I returned to the hostel to check my emails. Good news for a change! I have a host in Seville through couch surfing, and a host in Badajoz willing to take me on for a couple weeks of olive picking. Life is good. I joined Kirsten for a celebratory beer, and a wander through the streets of Lagos.

... though a little salty. She's visibly proud of it. As she prepares potatoes for roasting we talk about food. Its certainly not her passion, but somebody has to do it. I can see why they were so eager to have me in the kitchen for a couple weeks.

Daniella asks me why I decided to volunteer my time with them. I explain to her that I wanted to work with them because their website says that all of the meals are prepared by a chef, and I was hoping to learn about Portuguese ...

... 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 ...

... to Arabs (mostly before 1776). Jewish settlers in Portugal also became victims to the slave trade as they were criticized for there faith and were ordered to become Christians or face slavery. All of this information and more is posted in and around the castles of Lagos. The beaches in Portugal are gorgeous littered with huge rock formations. Upon closer investigation the rock formations were made ...