Sol Nascente Lagos

... 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 ...

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 ...

The kiting in Alvor is supposedly one of the best spots in Portugal, because of a huge shallow lagoon, however the wind was in the opposite direction so we ended up kiting on the sea side in the waves. Exhausting, but very fun to launch off the waves. We met a wicked ...

... 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

... was like we were locals "ola to all my lagos friends". we then headed home as we were so buggered... town was pumping though damn...<br><br>sunday we woke up at 11am so we had a pretty good sleep... of course we headed straight to the beach! every day we were there we brought watermelon from a little man that put the prices up and walked around selling stuff... he was kinda funny. we ended up seeing the french boys there and played ping pong/table tennis ...

... we had dinner in a place called Imperado do Mar. There were great cocktails and an excellent chicken soup for just 1 euro. It seemed to me that this was a real back packer kind of place and I wondered if maybe Jean had been there the previous year. After two cocktails each Jess and I were ready to roll under the table. It was a combination of quite alcoholic drinks and quite cheap drunks. We staggered home to catch up on the latest instalment of 'baby borrowers'.

Tent - check Practice setting up the tent - check Hiking shoes - check Detailed map of Portugal - check Detailed plans for the route - I'll pass Enough time for the crossing - hope so, check Possible temporary companion - surprising but yes, check Flashlight - forgotten Sleeping bag - check Fleeting visit to Galiza - excellent, check Meeting with relatives - cancelled ...

... and lots of rocks jutting out in the water that had to be avoided when one surfed. The conditions were beautiful though, and big too, although I wasn't quite up to dropping in on 6 foot barrels just yet. There wasn't a cloud in the sky which was a nice contrast to the last 5 or 6 days of rain in Portugal we'd experienced. The next spot we went to was a little tamer but a whole lot more crowded and I could see why. It was ...

... of it). June 11 - Lagos We got up late, because we could. Here in Lagos there are lots of tour companies doing trips to the grottos (not interested after doing Capri), game fishing, regular fishing and dolphin watching. The dolphins come right up to the boat and while you can't touch them, you can watch them playing. I was very interested in this as I haven't seen dolphins in the wild (at least not up close) and I wanted some dolphin pictures to match my sea otter ...