Algarve 1 - 4 June
The blog has suffered serious delays, which shows that we were rather busy and had loads of fun. Our time on the Algarve was really interesting, although at times we thought we were in the UK. But ...more of that later.
Having joined the service organisation Servas at the beginning of the year, we were very lucky to be hosted by Karin in Loule. Clint's first experience of driving in Europe started well, as we managed to find our host's home immidiately with the help of the new TomTom. We were welcomed by our host and her two very friendly dogs and immidiately got a feel for the area when we accompanied her and her dogs on a walk around the neighbourhood. It was interesting to hear all about the Expat community (mainly British, some Germans and a few Skandinavians), who live in the area. Even if they have lived there for many years and the children have gone to local schools, there is very little integration with the local Portuguese community. It is easy to live in the area as an Expat without speaking any Portuguese ...as long as you speak English. This definately doesn't encourage the learning of Portuguese.
Besides the local community in the villages, towns and agricultural areas - the area consists of golf courses and many holiday resorts, many of them in highrise buildings. From Faro across to the Spanish Border there are long sandy beaches and on the other side of Faro towards Sagres, the cliffs and eroded rock formations surround beautiful little bays - with very inviting clear and clean water. If you are keen on sun and a beach holiday, you can certainly find this in Portugal ...as busy or as quiet as you prefer. Sections between Tavira to Lagos are busy and covered in Highrise blocks - with long stretches of sandy beaches covered with umbrellas and sun- loungers. Restaurants, bars and shops line the roads ...ready for the mass-tourism about to hit in July and August . If you prefer a more quiet and authentic experience, then the area west of Lagos towards Sagres and on the West Coast is for you. Here you also find the remnants of fortifications and the starting points of the great explorations of the 15th century. There are spectacular cliffs to be seen in this area and great surfing beaches off the beaten track. The roads through the interior of this area are very scenic and mountainous - and make one aware of the diversity of the area. The Algarve has many different faces and facets and is certainly not one- dimensional. Whatever your vacationing preference, you can find it here.
What one cannot omit to mention, is that one can certaily see the impact of the economic downturn on the area. There are many developments that have not been completed and are disintegrating. Many properties are for sale and many look deserted. We were told that it is impossible to sell homes or apartments, which means that big investments have become worthless, as they cannot be converted into cash. One can see that huge amounts of money that were poured into local developments have been lost. For the local communities life is not easy, as job opportunities are limited to tourism and this has declined considerably. The cost of living tends to be higher here than neighbouring Spain, in spite of earnings being lower.
We were very fortunate to be hosted, as we experienced and learnt so much more about the area, than if we had just been passing through as visitors - thank you to Karin our very special host, who took some very precious minutes out of her busy schedule to show us her environment. We are so very grateful.

From Faro we needed to get to Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain, to meet up with my cousins from Germany in Novo Sancti Petri. Cross border transport is not the easiest to arrange. We managed to get the last 2 tickets on a bus going from Faro via Seville to Jerez de la Frontera (or so we thought). We felt like real backpackers, when after handing our car back at 23h00, we were waiting at the bus depot until 02h00 for our bus to arrive. After having tried to sleep on a marble bench in the bus station, we were very rudely told that we were not allowed to lie down by the very important bus depot manager. At 01h30 the bus depot closed and we waited at the side of the road for the bus to arrive. Chatted to some very interesting people there, who were also waiting. When the bus eventually arrived, there was some consternation, as the bus driver nor the other 2 people from the bus company on the bus could converse in english and had no idea whether their bus went to Jerez. In the end they said we should just get on - although they seemed totally disinterested in working it out (especially as we had a ticket for our route on their bus!). Then, the bus was full to the very last seat....Clint managed to squeeze into a little space in the last row between 2 huge guys, and I manouvred myself into a seat, which was hardly visible, as the seat in front of it was broken and was lying virtually flat over it. Needless to say, not much sleep was possible. Arriving in Seville, we asked ...what now...and were told that we need to get off at the second stop in Seville (still wonder would have happened had we not asked !). They seemed very pleased to get rid of us and made no attempt at all to inform us where, how and when we could get to Jerez and if our ticket would still be valid. Luckily - at 05h00 - there was a helpful man in a lone office, who got us onto a bus to Jerez about 15 minutes later. The bus driver did not seem to know what to make of our ticket, but luckily accepted it and off we went ...arriving at our destination about 2 hours earlier than planned. One of the guys who got on the bus with us in Faro had been sold an incorrect ticket, it only went as far as Seville and not to Malaga where he wanted to go. Even though the bus we were on went to Malaga and was virtually empty, as most people got off in Seville, they made him get off and would not allow him to pay the difference. He had to wait for the ticket office in Seville to open at 09h00 and then wait for another bus much later in the day. Must say ...the only totally disinterested and unhelpful crowd we have encountered on our travels so far. Bus transport across borders is complicated, as the tickets can only be bought in very specific offices. Trying to get information over the internet when one is not quite sure of the bus companies that drive the routes, is almost impossible. Definately an interesting way to travel !
Oh yes ...we did think of hiring a car and driving ...as this would have been a 2.5 hour journey ...but the one way drop off fee is a cool Euro600 ! Definite business opportunity here !