Almond Blossom, Albufeira Beach, Always Beautiful

Trip Start Jan 01, 1972
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Trip End Jul 08, 2007


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Flag of Portugal  ,
Saturday, January 15, 1972

As we rented 2 cars, one  for the 4 Soldainis and one for the 4 of us(my mom, dad, sister and myself), the long and winding road from Lisbon to the Algarve and the town of Albufeira became an adventure on its own, in part because even then I remember that neither my dad nor Silvano were willing to ask for directions. What should have been a 3-4 hour ride, ended up taking us 7 hours, bringing us into the hilly roads of the Algarve coast in the dark. With signage and lighting to a minimum it would take us another desperate hour to find the Villa management company in Portimao and subsequently the house we had rented for the week in Albufeira.
This is the beachside town that received  frequent visits from our family through the 60's and 70's,  from Jose Luis and I in the 80's and 90's and always remained a small thought in a drawer in the back of our mind for eventual retirement , but prices have gone through the roof and now the Algarve has become one of those "if only..." we had been smart enough to invest in property there 30 odd years ago. Our huge villa accommodated our 2 families like glove in hand and a live-in couple was at our beck and call to shop for us, prepare meals, clean and point out the best beaches and other attractions. 
Due to the Algarve's popularity with northern Europeans, many restaurants  focused on the cuisines appealing to the majority of the tourists, and although our friends were German and Italian and our heritage Dutch, there was no way that our families would have even considered non-Portuguese food for vacation, was not that in part why were visiting a foreign country. I could have french fries with mayonaise or croquets back home.  One dinner stays in my mind not only as a fond memory, but for its longevity as it was still there, atop the rocks 20 years later when Jose Luis and I visited with my dad . A Ruinas, a seafood restaurant with a view and a working formula- choose your fish from a huge display, have the chef prepare it on the grill with the simplest of ingredients, and enjoy your sardines or dorado on the rocky deck overlooking one of Albufeira's popular white sand beaches. Most beaches were a little more intricate to get to and some rock climbing skills often came in handy. We have not been back to the Algarve in almost 16 years, not because it does not beckon us back, but because there are still so many other undiscovered places to visit.
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