Geoff and Rita's Trip to Portugal

Time to get into our car and explore some other towns in the Algarve.  We headed eastwards towards Spain to go and check out two places that are very different from each other.  The harbor city of Faro has been the capital of the Algarve since 1756 and Tavira a charming little fishing town. Tavira is a pretty little town of 26,000 inhabitants that straddles the Gilao River with its historic old town on the south side and the more local-feeling district on its north bank.  The town was once a Moorish stronghold located two miles inland from the Atlantic. We parked on the north side and headed for the old town. The Roman Bridge, which connects both parts of Tavira, may not be Roman but was here when the Moors came.  The current structure is from 1657, with parts rebuilt after the 1989 flood. The Church of Santa Maria and part of the medieval wall.  The Church was originally a Mosque until is was transformed in the 13th century.  It was rebui...

The beaches near Lagos are famed for their dramatic scenery.  Some, like the one we checked out a couple of days ago are endlessly long and sweeping while the ones we checked out today are small and surrounded by steep cliffs.  These beaches were created by the pounding surf crashing into the soft, sandstone cliffs creating these wondrously small little bays.   We walked through a hole in the sandstone cliff to access a small beach called Praia Dona Ana  At the end of Praia Dona Ana beach we followed a trail up the sandstone cliff and looked back from where we came at this spectacular view.  Looking down from the top of the cliff at Praia do Camilo beach before making our way down Looking back from where we climbed down from at Praia do Camilo beach   Almost at the end of Praia do Camilo beach.  We made it to the end of the beach before heading up a set of stairs that takes us to the top of the cliffs and the tra...

Lagos is an ancient maritime town with over 2,000 years of history.  Celts, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Byzantines all settled here before the Moors from North Africa conquered the area in the 8th century, naming the town Zawaia (meaning lago or lake).  The Moors were driven out of the Algarve by the Christian King Afonso 111 of Portugal in 1241.  During the 13th and 14th centuries Lagos became very prosperous and powerful as the capitol of the Algarve Region.  The first great Portuguese maritime explorations embarked from here to discover "new worlds".  In the early days of exploration the King made a rule that ships needed to bring back dirt, plants and people from "discovered" lands.  In 1444 the first slave market in Europe was created here and it lasted until the mid 1700's selling over 100,000 people into slavery.  Today, Lagos (population 27,000) is a lot more laid back and democratic with tourism and fishing being its main sources of ...

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and wanted to get out and explore.  Our lovely apartment is located across the street from Praia da Batata (Potato Beach) and just outside of old town Lagos (pronounced LAH-goosh).  Today Lagos is known as a beach party town and is heaving with tourists during its high season (May - October).  Thankfully, it is relatively quiet now during its low season. Rita looking out our window in the morning enjoying the sunny view of the Atlantic Ocean The view from our balcony looking at Praia da Batata (Potato Beach) and Fort Ponta da Bandeira which was built in the 17th century to protect Lagos against pirates and Spaniards. Local fishing boats anchored in Fishing Boat Harbor supply the towns restaurants, markets and grocery stores with a plentiful supply of fish and seafood on a daily basis. Meia Piraia Beach is the largest beach around Lagos at 4km long.  We walked part of it at low tide. We saw lots of baby starfi...

After spending a very relaxing week with Rita's parents in Kassel, which allowed us to get over our jet lag and enjoy some very tasty German food and beverages, we were excited to start our Portugal adventure.  We left behind the rainy, overcast and cool (8c) weather in Germany and traded it for the warm (22) and sunny skies of Lagos.  We flew from Frankfurt to Lisbon, picked up our rental car and drove the 2.5hrs to Lagos.  We arrived in the dark at 8:30pm and were welcomed by our landlord who showed us around the apartment.  After getting the keys we headed out to old town Lagos in search of a restaurant.  We are here during the off-season and so a lot of the restaurants were not open and most of the ones that were were closing up.  We were very fortunate to stumble into an excellent seafood restaurant and headed home with full and happy tummy's.    Rita all bundled up at Frankfurt Airport waiting to board our flight to Lisbon.  ...