Dec 21, 2012 - Merry Christmas, Sunshine and fish & chips

We spent a week camped close to the capital of Portugal – Lisbon. This was an ideal base to visit the capital, other coastal towns and the World Heritage Site of Sintra in the hills. Lisbon was in many ways a little disappointing; maybe we had expected too much or maybe we are a bit “travelled out”. The old quarter, the Alfama, was fascinating with narrow and confusing lanes. Historic tram 28 was a riot as it climbed impossible hills and hurtled around blind corners, and Belem with all the maritime history and the Monastery of Saint Jerome...

Aug 27, 2012 - Rest & Recovery in Lagos

We rose to cloudy skies this morning - the first such morning since Porto two weeks ago, however, by the time we had breakfast they had evaporated and we have been treated to another sunny, hot day. Christine has had some problems over the past few days and we felt the need to take care of them, so we went for a walk through the market coming out high in the town beside St. Sebastian's Church. We walked down through areas we had not been in before then out to the fortress, only to discover it was closed on Mondays. I left Christine in the...

Aug 26, 2012 - Fountain Disappointment and Great Rock Formations

We had another lazy start to the day. While Christine got ready I checked the WiFi and was told it was not working, but...his colleague had managed to get on, so I should try and see... Well, it worked just fine and I did most of what I needed to do. Christine meanwhile had come down and started breakfast. I joined her and we had our meal. I wanted to use the hotel computer, but there was someone on it. We waited a while and I decided just to use mine and we got tickets for the Alhambra in Granada next Sunday morning. Christine realized she...

Aug 25, 2012 - Around Lagos

We had a leisurely start to the day and had breakfast downstairs. I tried to book tickets for the Alhambra in Granada, but needed information which I was unable to access on the hotel's computer and their WiFi was acting up. We left and walked along to catch the tourist train. It took us part of the route we went yesterday on the bus then stopped at a clifftop where we could look down on boats going through the "Blue Grotto". Not THE Blue Grotto, but Lagos's best imitation. We stopped at an hotel where there was access to a beach, then back...

Aug 24, 2012 - Another End of the World!

We were up earlier than we have been recently and went down for breakfast. We then packed away the last minute items and left our luggage which the hotel said they would transfer to our new room with a view. We crossed the parking lot and purchased tickets at the bus station for Cabo Sao Vicente - Cape St. Vincent. We waited for a while as other buses came and went and eventually ours arrived. We wound our way through the countryside to the cape - the most southwesterly point in Europe - also claiming to be "The End of the World" in days...

Aug 23, 2012 - Exploring Lagos

We got ready this morning and went downstairs for breakfast. The hotel puts on quite a spread with cereal, several types of bread, fruit, scrambled eggs, sausages, ham, cheese, yoghurt, several fruit juices, etc. We went up to the rooftop to explore the sun terrace and pool. We returned to our room and picked up cameras, etc. and set off for the marina across the street. We walked round part of it then went to the commercial harbour at the other side. We had anticipated being able to walk round it, but discovered one side of it was blocked...

Aug 22, 2012 - On to Lagos

We were up and getting ready early today. We packed the last items then went round to a pastry shop and got some items for breakfast, brought them back to the hotel and ate them. We then went and checked out. Got a cab and set off for the bus station. The bus came in and we got our luggage and ourselves loaded onto it. The drive was uneventful, over low rolling hills, passing, we learned later, stands of cork trees. These may be what we thought were small olive trees, though, compared to the ones we saw in Greece a few years ago, they were...

Mar 18, 2012 - Portugal - Faro to Vila Real de Santo Antonio

18 March: An early start in order to get out of the lagoon before the tide flooded in and to arrive at our next destination (Vila Real de Santo Antonio) at high tide/slack water as it’s hard to get into the marina mid tide. So, we set off at 6am (once again had more wind than forecast – at times up to 18 knots instead of 9 knots) and had a very straightforward sail along the coast. It’s really cold out on the water though – we were wearing about four layers of clothing including thermals and were only just warm enough – roll on the Med….!...

Mar 16, 2012 - A bit of British in Gibraltar

As we were driving through the mountains to the coast suddenly the land levelled out to a flat brown plain and in the distance at the edge of this flat landscape the green and white Rock of Gibraltar stretched 426 metres up to the sky. It’s quite a sight. The Spanish had possession of the Rock from 1462 but the Anglo-Dutch invasion in 1704 changed Gibraltar to British control in perpetuity. We walked into Gibraltar, through passport control and then had to run the gauntlet of walking across the airport runway between landings and take offs...

Mar 15, 2012 - Portugal - Portimao to Faro/Olhao

14 March: We went for a test sail to make sure everything was working OK and to remind ourselves how to sail! The plan was to move out of our very tight berth and onto the visitor’s pontoon in the marina before the wind got up for the day so that we could do last minute shopping, etc. before going out for our test sail. Unfortunately we were too late, the wind blew up very quickly and so we had a rather fraught move onto the pontoon! Our test sail went OK, but needless to say, we were very rusty – definitely need more practice to get back...

Mar 8, 2012 - BLOG PART 2 - back in Portimao

We had a great time in London over the winter, making the most of being in the capital, visiting museums and catching up with friends (apologies to those we didn’t manage to see). Jane completed the first part of her ‘Designing with Plants’ open learning course and after 6 weeks of intensive swotting, she also took the RHS Horticulture Level 2 exam in mid-February (results not due till May or June) so it was quite a busy few months. We flew back out to Portugal on 3 March after spending a couple of nights with Jane’s Mum & Dad. It’s...

Oct 30, 2011 - Azenha do Mar

This was our lunch stop and we managed to find a tackle word just across the street....... GREAT......... This tiny bistro was full of portugese families and a big tank with lots of crabs. The staff did not understand any english so we used a lot of sign language and took a punt on ordering what seemed to be the most popular dish - Grilled prawns and crab. The view was awesome and definitely a great Sunday lunch destination. What a amazing feast. the food was delicious and plentiful. We had a lovely bottle of white to go with the food and...