10th April 2024

Hi,

Regular followers of this blog will know that I've been to Portugal twice. The first trip was in 2017 when I visited Porto for a week with my brother Donald. In 2019 I travelled to Lisbon with my two siblings and brother in law Brian and we had a few days based in Lisbon before taking a car trip around the Alentejo region. These trips confirmed my liking for the country as a whole, but I had not really considered visiting the popular Algarve region as I associated it mainly with golf and beach holidays (not my bag). However The Travel Department, who I have used three times in the last two years, had the offer of a trip to the Algarve including three days touring to various locations. This blog will give an overview of my experience and will accompany the photos.

Tuesday 19th March

It was a flight of just over three hours from Glasgow to Faro via Easyjet and travelling was fairly smooth both ways. Since Brexit kicked in I have not noticed any real increase in delays getting into the EU at passport control and this trip was no different. Transfer to our hotel in Albufeira was about half an hour. I don't think I'd been to southern Europe in March and immediately the greenness of the landscape is apparent compared to the brown dusty colour which often characterises the summer months. Temperatures for my trip varied from 19-22 Celsius during the day. This was very pleasant coming from 7 Celsius in Glasgow, but it was mostly hazy with cloud cover during my stay.

My hotel was the Vila Gale Cerro Alagoa. It is well situated with the the old town and the main centre well within walking distance. Given the time of year it was quite quiet. I'm not sure how busy or noisy it would be in the summer but I thought the food was very good (I went half board); quality seafood was served up on the grill every night. The hotel is somewhere between three and four stars.

I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting two scuba diving places but unfortunately was not able to arrange a trip with them on my free days. Information from the diving shops indicated that visibility is still quite poor so possibly I didn't miss much. I used the local taxis which are cheap and have meters so no haggling about fares.

Wednesday 20th March

Today was a free day with no tour so I walked to the Marina e Bryn and took a boat tour. The buildings at the marina are all highly coloured and it is known locally as Legoland. The company I used was called Dream Waves. The staff were very nice and the boat captain was a bit of a character. The aim of the tour was to see dolphins and visit the Benagil Caves which are west of Albufeira. The trip took about two and a half hours and was around thirty five euros. If you are in the area I would recommend this trip. We headed straight out to sea and did in fact see numerous dolphins which came around the tour boats. The coastline is beautiful as you will see from the photos and the boat takes a small turn into the Benagil caves which are atmospheric.

I walked back to the hotel via the Old Town of Albufeira. There are many very attractive residential homes and public buildings which I have tried to capture with the camera. Most of the Old Town is pedestrianized.

Thursday 21st March

At 0900 we headed west from Albufeira to Cape St Vincent which is at the south west tip of the Iberian Peninsula. This is a grand spot with a lighthouse and towering cliffs. The sun was blinking on and off and I suppose it would have been preferable to be there on a cloudless day but I was glad we had quite a bit of light. We stopped in the small fishing town of Sagres as we headed back east, stopping briefly for a few photos of the small scale fishing activities in the harbour.

It began to rain quite heavily as we entered Lagos. We were decanted from the bus for a couple of hours and I enjoyed some seafood croquettes and pastries whilst sheltering from the rain. It always amazes me how cheap coffee and snacks are in Portugal compared to other European countries. Great value! The rain eased off and I took a wander round, taking in churches, Muslim walls and a sea front fortress. Like Albufeira there are a lot of imaginatively painted buildings. Good for the camera!

There are two tourist areas in Albufeira, the Old Town and 'The Strip.' I didn't visit 'The Strip,' so can't comment other than it was the direction younger folk were heading for. The Old Town at night has a nice buzz to it so that's where I tended to wander round of an evening if I left the hotel.

Friday 22nd March

This was a free day, so I explored Albufeira, walking the full length of the two beaches, Praia do Peneco and Praia dos Pescadores and explored the Old Town on foot, before spending time at the pool.

Saturday 23rd March

Today was a half day tour to Faro and Loule, which are both to the east of Albufeira. Faro is the capital of the Algarve and is only half an hour from Albufeira. We took a walking tour and had free time afterwards. Sights taken in included the Arco da Vila (entrance to the Old Town), the Bishops Palace and the medieval Cathedral. Faro is worth a visit but seemed very big after staying and visiting smaller places in the region.

Loule however was a smaller town and a highlight on the tour. I started following the guide but got a bit impatient with over-elaborate descriptions inside a church so headed off on my own. I visited the Castle and then spent time looking round the fabulous market which has a great atmosphere within a lovely building.

Monday 24th March

Our final tour took us to the towns of Alte and Silves, not far north of Albufeira. Alte is small and very picturesque and we walked through the town up to see the church. On retracing out steps there was a local bakery which makes an almond version of pastel del nata. It tastes ok but I will be sticking to the original which along with a nice coffee is one of the highlights of a trip to Portugal.

Our final stop was Silves, a town larger than Alte and dominated by a castle on the hill above. At the Town Hall I walked past the Cathedral up to the Castelo de Silves, which has red sandstone walls and is quite well preserved with commanding views of the surrounding countryside. The castle was inhabited by the Moors from 8th to 13th Centuries and is one of the best examples of Moorish fortifications in the country. Another sight I took in was the Ponte Romana over the Arad River in Silves. The current bridge is 15th Century but it is thought there was a bridge on that site going back to Roman times.

I should also mention that on tours in between towns our guide Ana gave us a lot of information on flora, fauna and crops including rubber. Unfortunately it's not the kind of information I tend to retain in any detail but I did take the odd photo, so folk who are inclined towards plant and vegetation can possibly identify some of them.

Reflections on the Algarve:

It's a great place to just chill, sit in the sun and allegedly play golf.

It has all the standard benefits of Portugal: great food, nice friendly people, good weather, attractive buildings as well as being the cheapest quality country in Europe I've visited to date. It really is great value.

I did enjoy visiting Cape St Vincent, Lagos, Loule and Silves and would recommend a visit to these place for anyone coming to this part of the world. However I feel I have seen most of this part and am unlikely to be back. However, other areas of Portugal have still to be explored and are more likely to provide the kind of historical places I like to visit.

I hope you enjoy the photos. It was a very quiet and chilled trip with little socialising so there is an almost total absence of people pictures. Sorry about that. Enjoy anyway.

All the best

Murdo