Laura.tagatac's travel blogs:
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Portugal!
Entry 25 of 26 | show all | print this entry |
Aug 4-6 Wolf and I took a road trip to Portugal as a farewell vacation. The drive wasn't too bad, only about 5 hours. I found out afterwards though that Wolf had only had his license for about a year. He did very well considering, but I could tell it made him really nervous since he doesn't usually need to drive anywhere. We left early Saturday morning and got to Faro, the capital of the southern province Algarve, mid-afternoon. After a quick siesta, we took a walk around the old town - the historic center of Faro. It's surround by really old walls that used to be part of a fortress or castle I think, very quaint. At the end of our walk along the port we stumbled upon a seafood festival that was amaaazing. All these local vendors had stands set up with really fresh seafood - clams, crabs, shrimp, everything. Very delicious and very cheap. We also tried some "vinho verde" or green wine, which apparently is very typical in Portugal and very tasty too. I realized after talking to some of the locals, that most people are more comfortable speaking English than Spanish. Wolf was kind of shocked, being their next door neighbor and all, and refused to believe that English was more universal haha.
The next day, Sunday, we got up early and drove some more to the western tip of Portugal - Sagres and Cabo de Sao Vicente. Sagres is the actual town, but Cabo de Sao Vicente is a cape a few miles outside of town that's actually the western-most point of Europe. We started in Sagres where we toured the big fortress there that's perched right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The views were gorgeous! We didn't go swimming, but the beaches were also beautiful with really white sand. We also saw a pod of dolphins swimming by a little ways off shore. The whole thing was very picturesque. After walking around the fortress we went over to Cabo de Sao Vicente, which didn't have much besides some souvenir stands and food vendors - my favorite was the Last Bratwurst Before America stand, written in German, of course, for all those German tourists. Aside from that, the big attraction was the lighthouse, which is the second largest in Europe with a beam of light that reaches up to 100km away. Unfortunately it was closed to visitors since we went on a Sunday. We got lunch afterwards at a little restaurant on the beach before making our way back to Faro.
Once in Faro again, we took a siesta (of course!) and then went for a walk again downtown to see if we could maybe catch the ferry to one of the little islands off the coast. We missed the last ferry, but surprise! The seafood festival was still in town so we stuffed our faces again with octopus salad, oysters, etc. Mmmmm. Much better than lounging on the beach.
The next day, Monday, we headed back to Spain. I wanted to stop in Tavira before crossing the border because I heard from other travelers that it was a fun place to visit. Unfortunately, all the roads were very tiny and winding, and Wolf had a really hard time maneuvering his big station wagon, and parking it was next to impossible. So after driving in a circle downtown we headed back out and kept going on our way to Spain.
All in all, a very successful trip, and a great way to top off my stay in Spain.
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