Carnival, Quarteira, Southern Portugal

Its Carnival time and we have been told that it is a must see in Portugal, so we delay our departure until 4 March so that we can see something of this famous festival.

The town of Loule is the centre of Carnival for the region and very famous for the parade, but our local contacts tell us it is better to go to Quarteira to get a more informal and less crowded view so off we go on the train from Portimao.

It appears to us to be a festival where the locals get out and strutt their stuff and quite a lot is lost on us as visitors.  

We think the children steal the show.  They are all around us in their costumes which look like they get trucked out every year - but are so lovely - all dressed up and having a ball.

We stand on the waterfront with the beach to our backs and try not to look as though we are taking photographs of children...

These two likely lads are up to no good!

 Wow that is some costume you have on there!!!











However, there are some of the adults who look like they have some talent and we can see why they are up there on the floats....

Looks a bit precarious to us... but what would we know! 

The local dairy company?  Cheese perhaps?

Now Cap'n Buck starts to look interested....
for sure....

But watch out for the Minder Cap'n Buck.... put that camera away now Y-hear?

Yep!  We really think the kids have it!


And... a lovely time was had by all.  Thank you Quarteira for a lovely Carnival.

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.

  

Christmas in Paris and arrival Portugal January 2014

Hello!

By way of explanation, we are still glowing from a wonderful Christmas in Paris with Emily, Marc and gorgeous Faye who calls Capn Buck 'Babu'.

.

Its dark, raining and windy on arrival in Paris on 22 December, so we pick up the planned rental car and book in to a hotel nearby for a good sleep, driving into Paris the next morning in daylight.  Emily is waiting with Faye and we leave immediately for the country, arriving early afternoon.  What a lovely surprise it is when we find we are staying in a gorgeous house which is the home and workshop of a famous French artist.  Much of his work is still produced and stored there and we are able to see it all when we poke our noses outside on one or two occasions.  We also note the little piles of earth left by the moles.

Christmas is so special.  We are snug and warm and happy all together.

Once back in Paris we ditch the rental car and go everywhere on foot.  We visit Galleries Lafayette with Faye to look at the special Christmas Window displays.  This is a real treat for us to share this with her.  She is so into it and dances along with the animated toys and the music much to the delight of everyone. Faye captures our hearts.  …cheeky rascal!  We are in love. Emily and Marc go away to visit friends over New Year and very generously allow us use of their apartment.  

Knowing that this is probably our last visit ever to Paris we fill in some gaps, visiting the textile district, ogling all the many sumptuous fabric stores, walking to the Arc de Triumphe on New Year’s Eve and finishing at midnight on a bridge close to the Eiffel Tower. 

On another day its Notre Dame, Left Bank, Montmartre just soaking it all up, eating French onion soup and fish to follow, then topping up with mulled wine. The famous second hand (Vintage) clothing market in Montreuil is a must where Pippy purchases an Aigle jacket for Euro 20 which goes straight on and stays there.  Clothing items purchased in this way always retain the memory of the moment and become long term favourites.  Unfortunately it rains while we are at the market and we have to leave… otherwise we might have done more damage – so much temptation! On one very cold day while we are visiting the Sacre Coeur Richard insists Pippy purchase a warm hat – very stylie.  We leave Paris with many special memories stored up for future reference.  

A chapel in Faro is built of human bones ...

We have no idea where exactly we are going to next, except somewhere in Portugal.  We have decided to spend some time out of Spain so that we are not overstaying our visa.  Late on 2 January, we fly from Paris to a sleeping Malaga, checking into our hotel at 0100H.  The train from Malaga to Seville (2.5 hrs) departs early the next morning.  By the night of Friday 3 January we are tucked up in a hotel in Faro, Portugal, having caught the bus onwards from Seville in the afternoon.  Our travel is very much helped by Emily’s wonderful ‘travel sandwiches’, a French roll scraped out and filled with tuna, egg, tomatoes and cheese and well packed in tin foil with giant serviettes. We have one on the flight and one the next morning for breakfast on the train to Seville. They are delicious, nutricious and save us from having to buy food on the flight and train.

Faro waterfront from a cafe...

We elect to arrive in Faro at 5pm without having booked a hotel, which as it turns out is a good strategy.  After bouncing our suitcases down several very uneven ancient cobblestoned streets, we finally work out it is better to let one of us guard the luggage while the other goes off on hotel search. Capn Buck finds us a nice one at E35 a night including breakfast, which is a better deal than anything we have seen on line.

Next morning we enjoy a hearty breakfast of delicious fresh orange juice, a monster croissant for Capn Buck, and a large plate of muesli, fruit and yoghurt for both of us then we go and explore, finishing our day with a cold beer in a cafe inside the old town wall, watching the sun go down over the water.

By Monday 4 Jan, via bookings.com, we have secured ourselves a one bedroom apartment in Portimao for the next month and a rental car from Faro airport and we drive at 120 kmph along the A22 - a brand new expressway, tolled, built we hear from EU money, but almost devoid of traffic - to our new home in Portimao. (We soon find out there is another road where we don't have to pay a toll.)  For the price our new home is amazing - well appointed and comfortable.  We have no trouble settling in.  The local people are very nice to us and lots of English spoken.  

The apartment is fully serviced.  The lovely ladies knock on our door every day and come through with their broom and mop.  They change our towels every two days and our sheets once a week.  They also take out the rubbish.  This is all mana from heaven for us.   Our daily on board routine is to thoroughly sweep out the whole boat and hang out the bedding in the sun.  Our towels and sheets have to be laundered frequently as well – walked to the laundry and then hung out on the boat.  To do this in the winter is problematic.  A break from this routine is huge for us both. 

We use the time to get out and enjoy the countryside.  

Fishermen at Cape Sagres near Capo St Vincente take huge risks hanging off these cliffs.

There is a big shopping centre within walking distance where we stock up on necessaries. 

The cinema shows movies in English with Portugese subtitles.  Monday and Wednesday are cheap nights and we pay Euro 4.50 (AUD7) each to go on those nights.  We have seen The Hobbit and also The Wolf of Wall Street – (full on).  That seems very inexpensive to us so we will make the most of it.

Portimao sea wall is hit by a south westerly storm - 4 metre waves are rolling over the breakwater pushing massive multi-ton rocks right over the sea wall in their path. The gouge marks are clear in the picture taken a couple of days later.

Now that we are on the land it is nice to have a holiday from the boat and to think about ourselves and our health and make sure that we are fit to start the next cruising season.  Coastal walks and very good food are high on our agenda – so much to see.

The Atlantic coast here somehow seems a more familiar ocean than the Med to us.  It reminds us of New Zealand in some ways.

There are many lovely places to visit which are well within reach of a day trip from here in the car we are driving.   

The beaches are the most gorgeous we have seen – soft golden sand forever and crystal clear Atlantic water rolling in.

 

We imagine that in the summer some of these parts are going to be lovely to visit on the sea.  Certainly the birds think so as even in the winter there is abundant bird life and the seas are boiling with plenty of fish. 

Lagos walking group...

We make contact with the Lagos Marina cruisers group – and join in on some of their activities which have been fun.  We are used to being just us 24/7, but it is nice to have some relief and talk to someone else, joining 30 others (mostly British) packing out a small local restaurant last Friday, then a superb 15 km walk last Wednesday, picking wild mushrooms then walking along the golden sand beaches of the far western shore line for part of the way.

Just had to have the beetroot...

We have few changes of clothes with us, having travelled with cabin baggage only, but have so far managed. There is no washing machine and using the laundromat is expensive, so we purchase a hanger/dryer for the balcony and wash our stuff regularly. We discover the Portimao Municipal market which is second to none and is open Saturday, Mon Tue and Wed.  Fresh produce – everything you would want – all under one roof plus a lovely social experience with friendly stall holders and the general public.  Winter fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and choice meats are all there.

Tonight we are eating a big beef stew cooked on the stove top, since we have no oven, just a microwave. The cubed up meat is sizzled over high heat so that there is a lovely brown crust on the bottom of the pot, adding flavour to the dish.  The meat is succulent and tender, the stew delicious.  Lamb is also plentiful and tender.... just like home but half the price.

We have just finished the 5kg/Euro 2.50 of massive oranges purchased on the road side recently.  One orange makes a full glass of juice.  Delicious.  They will go on the shopping list again.




Spring is springing and the days are warming up but the nights are still cold and chilly in this apartment with cold tiles on the floor.



 

Cap'n Buck morphs into his father with some borrowed specs....hahah!!

  

Cap'n Buck and Pippy signing off for January 2014 xxxx

Almerimar

Cabo de Gata in the distance

Our passage from Cartagena to Almerimar is just lovely.  

Yacht Zenara is giving us a run for our money....

Departing Cartagena around 1100H on Sunday 6 October, we soon pick up a nice Easterly just aft of the beam which takes us almost to Cabo de Gata on the south eastern tip of Spain.  Once the light fades its a very dark night with lots of lights around us from other shipping, so the AIS and radar goes on and does us good service.  We have run out of wind so creep around the Cape, engine on and navigate ourselves into an anchorage in the pitch dark on the south western side of the cape, dropping anchor around midnight and piling into bed for a good sleep. We would not normally go anywhere in the pitch dark that we do not know very well, but we can see the anchor light of another boat in there, this is an open roads anchorage on good sand and we drop anchor on the stern of a large ketch.  If its okay for them, its okay for us.

In clear blue skies and a gentle north easterly we sail off the anchor the next morning on the tail of the 22m ketch Zenara and have a sort of friendly race with them, almost getting past before they get away on us. 

Richard stamps his feet a bit but then settles down to enjoy a lovely sail while Pippy does the housework... life goes on and Matelot is overdue for a good cleanup down below.  As we close on Almerimar we both enjoy hot showers on the stern in the warm sunshine. 

We feel a bit sad as we enter Almerimar Port - the end of another year - not such a good one health wise.

Capn Buck is immediately at home with ducks to feed off the stern of Matelot.

We begin our exploration getting to know our winter home.  It all turns out pretty well considering we did not know much more than how much it was going to cost when we booked in here.

Almerimar, is an interesting place... someone's dream gone a little bad for the moment.  A bit similar in concept to Gulf Harbour really, but with more life, restaurants, a large supermarket, hair salons, banks, doctors, pharmacy etc... all the infrastructure right here.  

This is a really nice marina development right on a long sandy beach surrounded by hundreds of posh apartments, all empty.  Maybe because its in the middle of nowhere with the nearest real town about half an hour away.  No doubt we will find out the reason in time.  

We are told you can rent an apartment here for E200 a month.  When it was first opened you could not get a berth here for love or money... that was five years ago.  Now we have our choice of where we want to go in the marina and its one of the cheapest in the Med.   

Times change and the GFC has hit hard here.

SY Matelot in her winter berth Oct 2013

After settling into our berth on arrival we go for a walk, come across another Kiwi boat SY Sparkles and go 'out' for a drink with Trevor and Val, to a bar ten steps away.  

A medium beer and tapas (prawn fritters x 2) at Euro 2.20 is a great deal as we have developed a thirst and an appetite but we extract ourselves after one drink from nice company and continue on our walk to the next 'Darsena' (yacht marina basin) only to find good friends Jurgen and Monica on SY Nereus who we last saw in Palma de Majorca. We did not expect to see them here but are soon seeing them off again to the Canary Islands and beyond to the Caribbean.

There is lots of space beside us, but soon to be filled up with some late arrivals, including Danilotta with Hans and Andrea on board, whose company we are going to enjoy over the winter.

 

Many hours later and after dinner at Stumble Inn, we stumble back to SY Matelot for a sound sleep.

Almerimar with Sierra Nevada Mountains in Background