The Algarve region, Portugal

Another holiday weekend! This time we are taking a long trip because Der Junge's brother and sister-in-law will be in Salamanca, Spain and we will be meeting up with them! Der Junge's sister-in-law is a Spanish teacher and she is chaperoning a class of high school students for a month in Salamanca.

Spain is not a driveable distance so we must fly and we decide to try out the budget airline Ryanair.  Unfortunately this means that we will be flying into smaller airports that are not so close to our intended destination.  However, what a perfect opportunity to see Portugal!  So the itinerary is:

* * *

1) fly into Faro at the southern coast of Portugal in the Algarve region, arrive at 11pm, spend the night
2) drive to Porches to see the famous pottery artisans, have lunch

3) continue on to Lagos, spend the night

4) drive to Evora, in the heartland of Portugal, spend the night
5) cross the border to stop in Caceres, Spain for lunch
6) spend two nights in Salamanca, Spain
7) drive back in to Portugal and catch a flight home out of Porto! 

In 6 days!

Great... except for one thing... der Junge's driver's licence had inconveniently expired on his birthday so it turns out that I will be doing ALL of the driving.  One may think this would not be so bad but those who know me well know that I am not the avid driver.  Quite the opposite, I try to drive as LITTLE as possible and AVOID highways like the plague.  Case in point,  I have always lived near my work -- to walk or take a shuttle to commute to work.  So... had I realized his license expired, this trip would have been planned VERY differently!  Top that off with the information that Portuguese drivers have a bad reputation with the highest accident rate in the EU.  Suffice to say, we may be in for a rough trip...

So our flight arrives in Faro at 11 pm and we collect the car. No major issues, except we learn from the car rental agency that Portugal has a pretty confusing and complicated toll collection system.  So, we decide to program the GPS to avoid tolls... Ok, not so terrible.  (haha, well... see der Junge's post later on about driving in Portugal.)

We arrive at the hotel at midnight!  It is a really nice hotel with a comfy bed that has four pillows (a novelty from our experience thus far in Europe!) and we settle in for much appreciated sleep.

1st hotel

lovely room, 4 pillows!!!

The next morning is gorgeous and sunny.  We wake up to a delicious breakfast at our hotel (the jams for the breads are all locally made!).  Then we drive on to Porches, Portugal, famous for it's pottery.  

lucky passenger, don't get used to it!

view along the drive

The famous Porches, Pottery

Porches pottery

Porches Pottery restaurant

lunch on the "porch"

another pottery maker

And another, ceramic bulls on the roof

Ceramic sculptures of giant red dancing women in the yard

I bought a beautiful hand-crafted necklace at this pottery artisan's shop

Lunch was perfect and after having explored the many pottery shops, we could check Porches off and continue on to Lagos. 

Hotel in Lagos

our room, again 4 pillows on the bed!

yikes, we have a bidet!

balcony, best feature!

view of pool below

view of the back of the hotel, our room has the middle balcony on the 2nd floor

der Junge exiting the back of the hotel

Lagos, one of the most visited cities in Portugal, is an ancient maritime town with over 2000 years of history. Some history on the names: 

Lagos comes from the Celtic Lacobriga, which means"lake." When they arrived in the 8th century from North Africa, the Moors renamed it Zawaia (also meaning lake). Under Moorish rule, it became part of the coastal region of al-Gharb, which is now known as the Algarve. And at some point the name Lagos came back... You can still see the Moorish influence in much of the architecture.

Lagos was also a major player in the Portuguese Age of Discovery. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese sailors "discovered" and mapped the coasts of Africa, Asia and Brazil.  Lagos was the frequent home of Prince Henry the Navigator, who is credited with leading the charge for Portuguese maritime exploration. He opened a naval school in nearby Sagres and built his famous caravels in Lagos making Lagos a hub for shipping. Prince Henry wanted to learn the extent of the Muslim territories in Africa and to find a sea route to Asia, both to reach the source of the lucrative spice trade and also to search for the long-lost kingdom of Prester John (see below).

"The legend of Prester John was popular in Europe from the 12th through 17th centuries. Prester John was said to rule over a Christian nation lost amongst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient.  Believed to be a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John presided over a realm of riches and strange creatures. His kingdom was said to contain the Gates of Alexander, a legendary barrier built by Alexander the Great to keep the uncivilized barbarians of the north from invading the land to the south. Also his kingdom was reported to contain the Garden of Eden and the Fountain of Youth, a legendary spring that restores the youth of anyone who drinks from its waters. His kingdom therefore, was the object of many quests, sparking the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but yet remaining out of reach."

view of Lagos (google picture)

Lagos old town square, Igreja (church) de Santo António, (1715)

Igreja de Santo António

Lagos pedestrian retail zone

patio garden for dinner

Saturday morning we headed down to the beach to spend the morning in the warm sun and see the beautiful and famous cliff formations along the southern Portuguese coast...

Lagos coast

Praia (Beach) da Dona Ana

Praia da Dona Ana

Yikes, beach hair! This is why I wear a hat. :)

view from our rented beach chairs

another view!

getting more crowed in the later morning hours

Just as the beach starts to become crowded with people, we must go. We head off to find lunch and to continue on with our journey...

steep stairs take you down to the small beach coves

Lunch is at a restaurant perched high on the cliff with a spectacular view of the water below.

view from the restaurant, these colors are amazing!

view from my seat :)

next stop Evora...