From Saturday to Wednesday we spent our days lazing by the pool, eating beautiful food and sipping fine wines (and plenty of Super Bock.) It was great seeing the family again and sharing stories of travels: Mum and Dad´s trip to see Katy and Jon in Canada and our own Euro adventures. It wasn´t all lazy days, we did manage some tennis, a trip to the beach, several Nad supermarket stock ups and some swimming lessons (okay, so we´re not experts but ...

Tavira is about 70km east of Lagos so we got there about midday and jumped on the ferry to take us across to the Ilha de Tavira for a day at the beach. The ferry is literally a 5 minute journey and you can pretty much cross the inlet with a decent set of wadders. None packed so the ferry it was. Tops beach with more of the same reading, swimming, beach tennis and checking out the local surfers surfing the 1 ft windslop. Spotted a great little spot for the night ...

This is a piccy of Lagos borrowed from the library of Off Exploring but we were just there this morning and did take some very similar piccies so we don´t feel so bad about this one not being a DK special. We´ve stopped at an internet cafe in Silves and to be honest there is little else to do here. The Rough Guide to Portugal has a lot to answer for, it´s had us turning up in all sorts of weird and wonderful places sold to us as ´quaint´, ´rustic´ (DK´s ...

After an incredibly frustrating internet session in Silves (our last update) where a computer was almost thrown across the room, headed back west to Lagos to catch up with Andrew and Amelia who were cruising through Portugal. We found a very authentic Portuguese restaurant and watched our sardines being grilled over a flaming bbq, just as Andrew had dreamed off all the way back in Oz. Those travel programmes can have a major effect on some people! Was good to g...

This was another great little beach, set between high rock faces and shaded from the wind, after a dip in the ocean we decided that it would be a perfect day for me to learn on a longboard and we duly hired one for an incredible 7 euros an hour.I managed to stand up 3 times over the hour and I was quite impressed with myself seeing as my last surf attempt was back in Oz last November. Dan had a go as well, putting my efforts to shame but we all have to start some...