One small private island in the Algarves. Portugal is the bomb!
Lagos was gorgeous
Perfect island home in Portugal
August 2011
There have been so many moments on this trip when I feel like someone should come along and pinch me.
I have to pause and take it all in because it almost seems surreal, like I am in a dream…
Am I really sitting at a little table in the south of Spain drinking blanco sangria listening to this perfect musician playing the accordion? Or watching the flamenco dancers so passionately and aggressively expressing themselves through their dance in a tiny show theatre on some random side street?
Could it be possible that I am in one of the 3 biggest cathedrals in the world?
And are my eyes failing me? Or is that pair of Italian leather shoes really only 15 euro?
I love this place
And then there are the moments when someone needs to slap me….or at the very least drug me…
I don’t know what I thought renting a car in the south of Spain and driving to Portugal was going to be like….but I am sure I wasn’t thinking it was going to be as intense as it actually was.
Or maybe I wasn’t thinking at all….
Arriving in Spain, we quickly realized that our budget 100 euro Hotwire special priced car wasn’t going to be big enough to accommodate our 133lbs of dual zipping Oakley luggage.
No problem, we will upgrade.
Jared reassured me that he didn’t care about the cost… We needed a trunk and wanted to be able to stop along the way to see the sights….so on the morning of pick up we’d make it happen. Another 250 euros or not we were getting something bigger to travel in than a vespa on 4 wheels.
So, we arrived at the airport at 8am with good intentions…but sadly couldn’t even find our car rental wicket. We ere instructed to sit in the arrivals terminal and wait for someone with a cardboard sign to pick us up. WTF?
Well after an hour or so of waiting finally someone came….but there was only one car in all of Seville for us….and of course it was only the size of a jellybean! I tried to explain that it wouldn’t work for us that I was worried about getting in an accident since we had so much luggage we couldn’t see out the windows.
“no problem” I was told…you crash the car we don’t care….just return it in the parking lot of the airport with the doors open and the keys under the seat” again WTF.? Wish I’d know that key piece of information before I paid for my booking because maybe I could have found a car with a trunk myself….for free….they probably wouldn’t even know
So off we went literally crammed and completely weighed down in a little mini car…. Think…Griswalds…but worse.
Oh well, who cares, leg room or not….. we were off to Portugal….and if we bottomed out a few times in the potholes it doesn’t matter we’ve been instructed that they don’t give a shit about the car anyhow…..(let alone us). So, with Jared behind the wheel, me holding on for dear life in the passengers seat and our two little children wedged in between backpacks in half of a back seat we headed out towards the border.
To bad we couldn’t find our way out of the city.
Again WTF!!!! Yep just as you’d picture in the TV show AMAZING RACE, we were lost, frazzled, couldn’t read the map, or understand any of the directions in spanish, yet neither one of us would admit defeat.
Down one street only to pop up a few minutes later realizing we’d done a complete circle. There is no rime or reason to the traffic flow in city built 700 years ago and if you don’t live there you can’t begin to understand the rules of the road.
Traffic circles where none really yields…. Motor bikes and horses and street bikes and horns…add in that your in a car that is the size of a small cantaloupe with a manual gear shift and two kids bickering in the backseat eating Cheetos that smell like barf…..one of which was having the odd small seizure …..and well I was close to losing my mind.
What should have been 4 turns to the freeway took us 2.5 hours to achieve….
It took forever, but once we finally found our way we raced towards paradise, passing gas stations, forgoing the need to pee and in true AMAZING RACE style we made it to the Algarve’s.
Even more awesome, we found some random side street with the pharmacy written on our map as the location to our accommodations….pulled into the only parking spot we’d seen for at least a good 10 miles (sideways and on the curb) and smiled at each other fist pumping and a high fiving like we were just told…..”Jenny and Jared YOU are team #1!!!”
Portugal is amazing!
Better than I ever could have dreamed, with each stop we make more breathtaking than the last. Our friends The Davidsons and the Mackies and their parents Suzy and Manuel have been great hosts, putting us up in a perfect little apartment situated right on the most stunning beach in Quarteira. It seems to be the perfect location as it is packed with people…and I completely understand why each year they have a desire to come home. It’s lovely! The Aparment is quaint and comfortable and if I ever had a place here I think it would be in the same location…..close to the pharmacy, the gelato shop and of course, liquor store.
Before I even came here I knew that I had to go to a restaurant known as the best chicken place in the world. Along with hearing the stories about the food from Simone and Larry, my hairdresser, who is also portuguese, also told me I had to go… And for good reason. I wish i could find words to explain the flavor….but lets just say i sucked every bone clean…and Jared ate with his fingers…both of which never really happen…lol!
It was the start of them sharing all of their little secrets about this paradise. The next one was the island.
The island of Farol.
It’s like nothing I can even explain. Simone thinks it’s like camping…but for me, it kinda reminds me of the the country club from the movie dirty dancing. Except for it’s not a country club and it has the most fabulous beaches ever…and instead of a fancy shmancy club house it has a beach bar and a lighthouse, but it’s exclusive. Most of the people who have been coming here have been coming to the island for decades, their grandparents started going as squatters and it has slowly built into a small community of single story white washed adobe houses. They pay no taxes to be here, it is public land, which astounds me because it is so pristine and valuable that it is almost a miracle that some big wealthy corporation hasn’t bought it up and converted it into an even more exclusive, all inclusive 5 star resort.
You have to take an old fashion ferry or water taxi to get to the island and everything that you bring on you need to take off with you when you leave. Island life is simple. The electricity was only hooked up 5 years ago and the water they use throughout the summer months is an accumulation of the rain water they gather during the winter months in a giant tank on the roof of their house.
Fig and Suzy have unit 177. Which is fitting because that is approximately how many steps it takes to reach the crystal clear waters and endless miles of beach.
I love the island. I imagine heaven will be something very similar to this place or at least I hope it is.
And I hope they serve sardines….(surprisingly they are so good!) and lots of wine to wash down all the delicious food, like they do here. I definitely want to make my way back to the island one day….heck I want to figure out a way to become an exclusive full time squatter their.
Oh and then there is Lagos….amazing! Picture the rock formations of Cabo San Lucas and then times them by 20 and add a hundred different shades of green and blue and turquoise waters. It takes more than a 100 steps down a steep staircase to reach the bottom of the cliffs to the beach but the trek is well worth it. The water is clean and fresh and if you can’t find a place to put your umbrella on the crowded beach you can find shade in one of the many little caves that outline the sand.
We took a boat ride through all the rock formations and floated in the saltwater. We laid in the sun and people watched…..they come from all over Europe to bathe in the 40 degree weather, baring their breasts like free spirits, and I can understand why….it is so unlike any other place in the world I’ve seen. I am definitely coming back here one day…and next time I might even go topless myself!
Albufeira reminded me a little bit of Venice beach in California….busy and bustling with lots of little shops and restaurants lining the packed pristine beaches. The views from the top of the cliffs are so breathtaking that it almost seems impossible something could be built so perfectly. We didn’t get enough time there to fully explore it but we left just enough of a taste that we knew we’d have to come back again.
So far that has been the best part of this trip….we’ve got a glimpse of so many great places, so many beautiful people and been able to do many amazing things it seems like it can’t get any better.
It reminds me of how life truly is the ying and the yang. Sometimes it’s hard and challenging and sometimes it’s so completely incredible that you can’t quite take it all in. Almost like looking out into the ocean and realizing that you are almost as insignificant as a measly grain of sand.
But enough about my analogies on life. I only leave you with advice…..If you come to Portugal make sure you drive from Spain. Part of the fun is getting lost in the side streets….but rent a bigger car than you think so you can fill it with good luck roosters (even though gas is 1.63 euros a liter)and find yourself a friend from Portugal to show you it’s beauty. It’s the best way to see it….not to mention it helps to to have a translator! Without them, my coffee would have always been to strong…I would have always paid too much and I’d never have been able to order that extra and absolutely necessary finger linking chicken at the best chicken place in the world….
Off to italy!
