On Thursday morning we said goodbye to Tavira and prepared for our trek across the southern Algarve coast, a 1 1/2 hour drive to the southwestern corner town of Salema. This sleepy coastal town is off the beaten path and is described by Rick Steves as a small fishing and beach village. It is a fairly quiet, unassuming, small town right on the beach of the Atlantic ocean. About 45 seconds after arrival, Mike proclaimed that this is where he wanted to retire. Katie is taking a much more patient approach. I suppose that we have about 10 years to figure that out, but I think this town will be on the list of possible options.
After checking into our hotel and taking in the amazing view the town and ocean from our patio, we decided to stroll down to the downtown area and check out what the town had to offer. It literally took us about one minute to get there. There are a few nice restaurants and a few shops, but it's pretty low-key. Most people are interested in hanging out and relaxing or playing on the beach, or sitting at a local restaurant and have a glass of their favorite beverage. After participating in a traditional late Portuguese lunch (see picture of us drinking wine), we kicked around town a bit and found a nice place for dinner that evening.
On Friday morning after our required coffee/tea intake, we decided to walk through a more residential part of town and follow a narrow street up a hill towards the outskirts of town. At the top of the hill, we discovered a walking path cutting through the landscape towards the ocean. We decided to take the trail for about 15 minutes and it led us to some amazing views of the coastal cliffs and the ocean. What a find! After returning from our hike, we decided to drive to Portimao (45 minutes away) and take a boat tour of the caves along the southern Algarve coast. We lucked out and boarded a small boat with only 6 other passengers. Once we departed, we exited the harbor between two lighthouse capped jetties and headed along the coast, checking out the interesting and unique rock formations and dozens of caves. The highlight of the trip was sailing into the world famous Benagil Cave and experiencing the immense stone walls encircling us as we gazed up towards the daylight entering through the dome's oculus. Another cool experience!! We returned back to the harbor after about 1 1/2 hours and proceeded to drive back to our hotel room to rest and recharge. For dinner that evening we dined at a local Indian Restaurant. Two conclusions were drawn at that point. One, our Washington wine is MUCH better than Portuguese wine. Two, for some reason, Indian food is better in the states as well :-)
On Saturday, we began the day with our morning hike that we had discovered the previous day. This time however we continued following the path (because we had forgone our sandals for more appropriate walking/hiking shoes!) which looped around the top of the coastal cliffs overlooking the ocean and town and brought us back to the narrow street and led us back to Salema. What incredible views! After returning, we decided that Saturday will be a beach day, similar to the days we enjoy when we travel to Cabo. So we packed a beachbag with towels, sunblock and books and enjoyed a nice day relaxing, reading and napping under the comfort of a beach umbrella. Before leaving the room for the beach, Mike decided to make some homemade wine spritzers and pour them in convenient empty water bottles. For some reason, this helped Mike with his beach napping for the day. For lunch, we walked across the road about 30 seconds away and ate at a local sushi restaurant. Katie was happy to get her sushi on, and Mike was estatic that they had sweet and sour pork/chicken and fried rice on the menu! After returning to the beach, we spent a few more hours there, returned to the hotel room, and decided to later pick up a couple of individual pizzas for dinner and watch Olympic swimming on the local Portuguese TV station.
Sunday morning finds us packing up and preparing to take the car to our final stop on our Portuguese odyssey, Lisbon. That's all for now. Until next time, adeus!!
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