Month: October 2016

Bob and I left Olhao, Portugal for Seville, Spain on Wednesday Oct 5 on a 4:00 pm bus from Faro. It was a quick and lovely approximately 2 hour trip on a nice new bus with no stops.  We lost an hour en route and arrived at 7:00 pm Seville time.

We began the day at the Sea View Guest House so that our home owner could sleep in her own bed on her first night back after having traveled from Los Angeles to London Heathrow and then London Gatwick to Faro and then a train to Olhao. Whew! The Sea View Guest House provided a lovely end to our whole Portugal experience with a large room, including our own balcony where we ate our dinner while taking in the neighborhood sounds (which included the neighing of horses along with the usual dogs and residential people noise).

A couple of views from the top of our guest house —

Our last few days in Olhao were taken up with long walks and prepping for our departure. On Sunday, we walked approximately 2 hours to the town of Moncarapacho, a small community a bit northeast of Olhao. I was really just wanting a long walk, but we happily stumbled on a very large market which we enjoyed poking around. It had everything from produce to crafts to clothing to household goods as well as prepared foods. TMI Alert — I even bought 4 new pair of underwear for 5 euro!  This was great for me, as I have always felt that life should just come with underwear as it isn’t something I ever get thrilled about spending money on.

Scenes from walk to and in Moncarapacho —

Scenes from the market —

On Monday, we walked to the community of Estoi, also about 2 hours one-way, but this time a bit northwest of Olhao. On both walks we passed various orchards, although the walk to Estoi was along more rural roads. The goal for this walk was to see a former palace that has been converted into a pousada (usually a building of historic significance that has been converted into a government-owned inn). As with the pousada we visited in Tavira, we were able to walk through the lovely main rooms of the building and enjoy the view out back (although we couldn’t get down by the pool). It was another lovely outing.

The outside of the palace (now pousada) —

Some of the main rooms that anyone can tour -–

The lovely gardens and pool —

On Wednesday, after our free breakfast at the Sea View Guest House (for a $45 a night room), we had a great post-house sit transition with our home owner. We learned a lot about her visit to the States and realize, yet again, that the world is so big and there is much we have left to explore — even in our own backyard. She made the house sit very easy with her detailed instructions, and we feel like we have gained another friend through our house sitting adventures.

One of our main resources for our travels in Portugal has been Rick Steves’ Portugal book (Eighth edition). In this book, he describes the Algarve section of Portugal as stretching for some 100 miles along Portugal’s southern coast with beaches along the water’s edge and rolling green hills with orchards farther inland.  The actual coastline varies from lagoon estuaries in the east (like Olhao and Tavira) to sandy beach resorts in the center (Faro to Lagos) to rugged cliffs in the west (Sagres).  Based on this, he provides a map of the Algarve which divides and categorizes it into three areas — Worst (central section from Portimao, which is just west of Lagos to Faro), Better (Faro west to the Spanish border, including Olhao and Tavira), and Best (from Lagos to the western edge of Portugal).  We are not sure we would agree with this rating system, and haven’t had enough exposure throughout the area to say, but it made us curious to visit at least one town in his Best section.

With Lagos (LAH-goosh) being the town in the Best section that is closest to Olhao, we decided to head out for a visit.  This would be a quick visit, as travel time one-way is about 2 hours by train (actually 1.5 hours by train with about a 30 min layover in Faro).  It was worth the trip, as Lagos was a fun, active town to stroll around and we got a glimpse of some of the craggier coastline that marks the western shores.  The train trip itself was fun, as we got to glimpse other lovely  towns along the way (such as Portimao with its beautiful bridge) as well as a number of attractive golf courses.

See the photos below for some highlights of our quick 4 hours in Lagos.

Pedestrian bridge being lifted to allow a boat to pass through

The harbor

Colorful buildings in Gil Eanes Plaza

Playful statue — truly — of the beloved King Sebastian.

Water fountain in Prince Henry the Navigator Plaza

Bob in front of Moorish gate in the Lagos walls

View 2

View 3

There are two barrier islands off the coast of Olhao; although they get referenced as three.  Armona, where Bob had the grilled sardines last week, stands alone.  Then there is one island that is discussed as two islands — Culatra and Farol.  You can take a ferry to either one.  Culatra is on on the northern end of the island and Farol is on the south.  It costs a bit more for the ferry to Farol (though the same ferry stops at both places), so we have always (the 2 times that we’ve gone) purchased the round trip ticket to Culatra and then walked the beach to Farol.  The first time we went we didn’t spend anytime in Farol after we got there as we were trying to catch a 1 pm ferry back (didn’t happen), so we got to explore Culatra.  This week we went back to check out Farol.

The walk to Farol from the Culatra boat dock took us about 50 minutes.  You walk through town (village?), then along a boardwalk to the beach,and then a shoeless walk along the beach for some free exfoliating (sorry for that mental picture).  Neither of us really have swimsuits with us, and we prefer the walking to the lying out (or getting into the cold water).  Once in Farol, we checked out the lighthouse, walked out along the pier where there were people fishing, and then walked by the local restaurant and inns.

While the ferries have always been pretty full on our trips to the islands, the beaches have not been crowded.  Part of that is likely due to the time of the year and part to the fact that some of the ferry traffic is locals going about their daily business that takes them back and forth to the island and mainland.

It was another lovely walkabout on Farol.  See highlights below.

Two views of people enjoying different parts of the beach —

The pier

Barriers along the pier — shaped like big jacks

Clear water!

We spent a lovely day Monday in Tavira, Portugal, a 25 minute (or so) train ride out of Olhaio along the Atlantic Coast towards Spain.  Rick Steves described it as a “sleepy town,” but we were charmed and found it to be in the midst of some refurbishment/construction.  We again were aided in our town walk about by the map left by our home owner along with Rick Steves 2 page write up.

After walking into town from the train station, an easy 5-10 minute walk, we started our tour of Tavira at the castle.  The base of the castle walls are supposedly Neolithic (ending about 4,500 – 2,000 BC!) with Phoenicians, Moors, and Portugese adding their own layers as time progressed.  What remains of the castle are portions of the wall that enclose a lovely garden.  From the top of the walls, you can also get great views of the town.

Entrance to the Castle Garden

View of town from top of Castle Walls

View of Castle Garden from above

After the Castle, we walked to the nearby old water tower to view the camera obscura.  This was an impressive presentation using a mirror and 2 lenses to show you a real-time view of the city.  We liked the thought that by walking around town, we might be part of the next show.  We were also I,pressed with our young presenter’s ability to talk through what we were seeing in three different languages — English, French, and German for our group.

Other town sites that we enjoyed were the Church of Santa Maria and its bell tower, the former convent which is now a pousada (government-run inn), the Church of the Misercordia, and the bridges and promenades along the Rio Gilao.

Church of Santa Maria and Santiago

Bell Tower

The Posada

Courtyard hallway

Swimming Pool

Stairs and altar in Church of Misericordia

Portion of tiled wall inside church

View Across the River

Cute House

Bob admiring the view

Street Muscian serenade

The other activity we really enjoyed was walking out along the river to the marina.  It appears to be a newly developed area, and we had a lovely picnic lunch overlooking the water.