Portugal February 2014

SW Storm over breakwater Portimao Harbour entrance

Another great week behind us and now we really have been here for a month and will renew for another month in the morning.  We won’t say there aren’t any challenges, but considering we virtually put a pin in the map and decided to stay here, we are pretty lucky with the way things have turned out. 

This week we take a 2 hour drive to Spain to get some more of Richard’s super-duper psoriasis pills, not available in Portugal.  

Sticking to the more coastal route of the N125, we stop at small fishing village of Olhao just past Faro around lunchtime.  

The waterfront café is Paris prices, so we wander back into the town and find a corner table in the sun and out of the chill wind and have a plate of Portugese vegetable soup (more like home-made pumpkin soup with vegies and fresh home-made bread) and coffee.  The bill is around Euro5 and there are plenty of tourists here basking in the sunshine and great prices.  We will be back in this region with SY Matelot this season.  

The island of Culatra not far from here is a favoured anchorage of many.

Once at the border we jump on a ferry with about two other people and cross the Guadiana River, finding ourselves alighting on the Spanish side in the very quiet old riverside town of Ayamonte, - we imagine it will be heaving with tourists in the summer - after a short 15 minute ride.  Pippy stocks up with Euro 500 out of the cash machine (maximum Euro 200 a time in Portugal) then we go shopping for the pills, finding them very quickly we catch the next ferry back across with plenty of time to spare.  Our thoughts are very much on the moment this coming summer when we hope to navigate up this river to around 20 miles inland.  It is one of the many ‘must do’ places to visit in the region.

A quick sprint is needed to get around the rocks

We are still loving the walking with Lagos Strollers every Wednesday, usually 12 -14 km - very pretty countryside, lovely company. Not sure which is nicest, chatting as we walk with others, or enjoying the changing vista of the riverside, bird life, almond trees in blossom, and avocado and orange trees loaded with fruit everywhere.  

We walk through wetlands unchanged and dotted with tumbled ruins of dwellings from hundreds of years ago as the sun alternates with showers of rain slipping in and out behind the moisture laden clouds.  

One day we stop for lunch at Fontes Estombar, a truly lovely picnic spot with warm springs pouring into the upper reaches of the river. While we are there a local brings his large water bottle down to the warm spring and fills it up.

It is a chilly day so it is a surprise to feel how warm the water is.  It must be coming out of the ground quite hot further up stream.

 An ancient monastery is a nice place to stop for a photoshoot.

A timely reminder comes our way during one of our walks, of the flares demonstration and tutorial happening at Lagos Marina the next day.  We carry flares on the boat to use in an emergency but it is imperative to practice actually letting one off and this is a golden opportunity.  People bring along their expired flares and there are plenty to go around.   They are let off under supervision from the Maritime Police from Lagos.  It is an invaluable experience. 

The cafe at the market does a great cafe con leche and cake and here you see Cap'n Buck in cake heaven.

Our rental car is to be returned empty of fuel and we still have half a tank to dispose of so after the flares practice, we are off to the West Coast to the Bordeira Peninsular beside the small coastal town of Carapateira. We are not really prepared for the sights we see here.  The massive breaking waves rolling in are relentless.  The newly installed walkway out to a lookout on a point 100 feet above the sea is broken and parts of it carried 100 meters away.  We suspect this happened during the south westerly storm which also moved the massive boulders on Portimao breakwater.  The power and fury of the sea mesmerises us as it collides repeatedly with the land then falls backwards, clinging to the rocks and gravels as it is sucked back out. 

As if in defiance, every so often there is a massive wave which smashes over the top of the next headland up the coast.  The biting cold wind clears our lungs and psyche ready for a fresh start. 

By 3 pm we are hungry and return to Carapateira to find food.  Walking past an old ruin, we joke to each other about it being a possible do up.  Suddenly we are joined by another who offers to sell it to us.

We accept and the deal is done on the spot.  Richard and our new friend shake hands and are invited inside to view the restaurant and see what can be achieved on the do up.... or what could be eaten instead!

Before we know it we are negotiating over the price of a plate of the local lamb and we are getting all the right messages to stay and soak up the atmosphere and the gravy.

What better thing to do than to rest one’s back against the glass window warmed by the sun and give free reign to the senses for the gastronomic experience which unfolds, not to mention a glass of local red wine.  We know the wind outside from the North East is cutting and icy.  The wine arrives in massive glasses accompanied by black olives sprinkled with large flakes of dried oregano imbued with the flavour of last season’s long hot dry summer.

Another plate arrives – unrecognisable to us – called Lingueiras in Portugal, Navalhas in Spain, these sea creatures are dug up out of the sand and are knife shaped.  Served on a bed of garlic rice and tomato they are delicious.

Then to the locally grown lamb – great tender chunks of it in a saucepan laid on the table and we dip in.  Delicious with potatoes and again that delicious tomato based sauce with garlic and seasonings.  We make short work of it, savouring the red wine as we go – one glass only.  Richard still has to drive us home.

Just when we think we are finished, our friend brings us a special local treat with the perfect black coffee made with a creamy cap on the top – a figo hollowed out and mixed with almonds, chocolate and brandy, then all stuffed back in again and rolled in sugar and cinnamon.  By now we are feeling very mellow.

The car is to be returned to Faro Airport on Saturday and do some last minute visits and checks of places to visit in SY Matelot when we are here in the summer.  Albufeira (old town and new town) and Vilamoura (new tourist town with flash hotels and golf course) both have good marinas and are interesting in their own way.

No blog about Portimao would be complete without a picture of the storks nesting on any available chimney top.  

After leaving the car we catch the train back to Portimao then do the walk to our apartment.  It is going to be a very interesting exercise not having a car.  We will have to walk everywhere and catch public transport.

Looking back over our photographs for the whole of February reveals walking, walking walking and how fit we do feel at the end of it all.  Not only this but we meet in the elevator and make friends with a lovely Danish couple Arne and Gretha, also staying in Portimao to get away from the darkness of their winter.  So many lovely places and so many lovely photos we cannot share them all here.  Rain hail or shine Arne and Gretha are there and we share the experience with them.  Thank you both for the company and the laughter.

The day of our seven (or was it nine?) river crossings dawns wet and it does not stop raining all day.  It does not stop us though and we cross them all, keeping dry with our new rain coats and leggings from Decathlon - what a great store that is.

The gypsy encampment across the road from our apartment provides us with much fascination.  The photograph is taken through our window on a wet wet day. These people are living in uninsulated dwellings made of corrugated iron and cardboard.  The women do their washing outside every day and hang it on the clothes line to dry.  Their kitchen appears to be under the trees.  

They have chickens, roosters too, geese and peacocks.  Pippy takes veggie scraps to the chooks one day but they are not interested.  They have plenty of good weeds to eat where they are.

We are keen to find out what these people are drinking at midday at the Municipal market.  It looks good and is called Ginjo we think - maybe a ginger liquer.  Possibly also cherry brandy - more like it. Anyway, it is a popular drink.

Yes spring is coming this patch of blue irises seems to say and our thoughts are turning back to the boat waiting for us in Almerimar.  Not long now before we can return to our home on the water.