Algarve, Portugal

In many ways this was a different holiday from what O and I normally take. We were travelling with others, we were in a house instead of a hotel, we had a rental car, we weren't concentrating on one or two cities... In some ways these things made me feel more distanced from where I was. I felt like I wasn't really seeing Portugal, but just bits of it. But if I let all that go and just enjoyed the sun and the lack of pressure to do anything, it was a great time.

We were a group fo five: O, O's mom, O's brother and his girlfriend, and me. We stayed in a posh resort area about 20 km west of Faro called Quinta do Lago, not far from a small town called Almancil. In reality the resort wasn't as snobbish as I'd imagined it'd be, though some parts were dripping with rich people, particularly the areas filled with big villas. Our area was fine though. We were in a smallish, but comfortable, house that had a nice patio and was very near the pool. The area was all very green and shaded, and the house, made of tiles and stucco, stayed a constant 20 degrees C. There was a bar/restaurant nearby and the pool had a cafe. There were days we'd go out seeing other towns, together or in separate groups (we had two cars), but there were many days or afternoons when we'd mostly be sitting on the patio or by the pool reading, going swimming, or playing pool. We played a lot of pool. I don't want to know how much money we spent on playing pool. At least we were old enough to be able to drive away. There were many British teenagers stuck there with their parents and there wasn't much to do but hang around, drink beers and... play pool. I was bored after awhile, I can't imagine what they were going through.

The first town we visited was Tavira, to the east. A nice place to wander around, it had a bit of old castle that was on a hill above the town which provided good views, and you could take a boat (only 1.50 euro return) to islands that had beaches. We didn't go all the way to the beach, but it was nice to tour around on the boat.

One thing that I found strange in the Algarve was that the ocean always seemed rather far away. Few towns are truly on the water, and the main highway and freeway are miles away from the coastline. To get to the house we stayed at, you had to go quite a bit south from Almancil, but you were still about a 5 minute drive from the beach - and even then, once you parked at the beach, you had to walk on a very long bridge across a river/marsh and cross some dunes before you even saw the water. It was days before I saw the ocean and then it was still far in the distance. Much different than going to the Oregon Coast and driving most of the time near the ocean.

Just outside of Almancil was a karting track, so we went there - twice. First it was just O and I, then the rest joined us a couple of days later. I was not so good - I got lapped twice the first time I went - but it was still really fun. But so much work! My arms hardly made it through the 10 minutes they give you, and then they were soooo sore the next day. My butt too, from being thrown around in the hard plastic seat. It was a good track, some nice sharp corners and quite long. We saw some spinouts when we were watching some other groups go.

A unique thing that we visited was a festival of sand sculpture held near a town called Pera. The sculptures had been there since May and are there til the end of this month. In looking online, it seems this is the 3rd year they've done this, and the theme this year was Lost Worlds. Mostly this meant lost civilizations - Roman, Greek, Aztec, Sumarian, Mayan - but there were also dinosaurs and depictions of early man. It was quite an impressive show of work, done by people from all over the world. Many a photo was taken, which can do more justice to the whole thing than me trying to describe it, so you'll have to wait for those. We timed it just right, going on the first sunny day after we'd had a couple of days of cloud. I felt like I was in the Sahara, surrounded by all that sand (which incidentally was nowhere near the beach, it was all trucked in).

The favourite town of mine that we visited was Lagos, quite a bit to the west of where we were staying. It wasn't too long of a drive though via the freeway (which is scary to drive on; the Portuguese like to drive fast and with a limited thought to the rules of the road). Lagos is mostly on a river that heads out into the ocean, but it is quite near the ocean as well, so there were some lovely views of blue water. The town was nice to wander through, we headed off on some little side streets that climbed uphill to a church. It was always fun to head up one of the side streets and see what sort of houses or people you'd come across. I always found it a bit weird too that you'd be on this tiny, quiet street but still find businesses tucked in there as well. I guess it makes sense, but in my mind I wonder how anyone finds these shops and other businesses we came across. I think it's just a different way there, that you live somewhere long enough to know where things are or you find it out from your neighbours.

Near Lagos there are many small beaches, small because this is the "rocky Algarve" where cliffs of rock come down to the water, instead of the east half where there are your normal long sandy beaches. So hidden along the rocky stretch are all sorts of caves and small bits of beach. Some are fairly accessible, like the one we saw that had stairs going down to it, but others I think you can only get to by boat. I just like the whole idea, being on a little beach all tucked in between rocks that you could go exploring in and on. It'd be great to have a boat there.

Unfortunately I didn't get to try much traditional Portuguese food, mainly because we didn't eat that much. Also one traditional dish, seafood cooked in a cataplana, a metal pan that closes like a clam and seals shut, is for two people and O doesn't like seafood. So I didn't get to try it, though I have a cataplana of my own that O's mom bought for me the last time she went to Portugal. We did however have some Portuguese pastries, brought out to go with the drinks we ordered at a pastry shop. One very typical one is called pasteis de nata, a little custard tart which was really yummy. It's too bad that the most memorable meal I had in Portugal was actually at an Indian restuarant, which was one of the best Indian meals I've had. With all the British tourists in the area there's quite a proliferation of Indian places.

I hope to post a video or two soon, and maybe some photos. I'm sure O will put up a photo or two in the next few days as well.