The Algarve, Portugal

The first night on our drive down to the Algarve area....we stayed in a cute little hotel called Colina Dos Mouros....in Silves.  Maria told us it means Columns of the Moors... and in the south of Portugal ...the Moorish influence is pretty evident in a lot of the architecture. TripAdvisor has this shot of it....I didn't get one as we arrived after dark and ...in the morning....I forgot.....




It was a great little hotel... very clean as was every single place we set foot in while in Portugal.  A big plus for us.  We have a big deal with cleanliness....

Every building has granites, marbles and tile incorporated into it....how I wish it was as reasonable to buy here.....sigh.... so easy to keep spotless...looks amazing....

For a few euros...we got an upgrade to a castle view room...
why not?  It was only about 37 euros per night .... we probably should have gone to view the castle too..  here is what Wiki says about it.....  "Silves Castle was built between the 8th and the 13th century AD and is considered to be the best preserved of the Moorish castles of the country."  

Last year we did a lot of wandering through castles, cathedrals and ruins...but, this visit we were more concentrated on "doing the Algarve" ... and that meant seeing the amazing beaches... gawking at some pretty fancy yachts at one of the main marinas... feasting in a fancy restaurant later in the day (not that we didn't feast everywhere we went!) ...oh, man...the food! ...and moving on a bit further to more lovely beaches and another hotel... within walking distance from the beach I showed yesterday.

Feast your eyes on these views !!!

I love seeing and hearing the crashing waves and spent many a shot trying to capture just the right moment in a wave's life.... love this one.

Sure....I could live here.  I'll just take the one on the right...a bit higher up the hill, please...... in case of a very high tide.

Nobody around but us...how perfect.

Onward to another beach .... I have no clue exactly which beach this is...but, again it is probably Praia da Rocha.... means rocks.... they are all beautiful.  Love the colour of the rocks .... the wonderful feel of the sand ... I'm thinking colours like this for the house ....mmmmmm.... golden creamy cupboards ...  sea coloured walls. ....

Oh, yeh.....

Peniche

.... after spending a great time feeling the spray and the sea breezes.... just thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of being so close to wild and pounding surf..... we walked back to the car.  It was so quiet .. and not far from the edge of the cliffs at all.... that it almost felt like there was no water behind us.  Weird that....

Down the road...around a few more corners and voila.....we were at a lovely sand beach...with good sized breakers.... well known by surfers.....

It was barely a week or two early in the "real" beach season...and amazingly, we had the beach to ourselves.... well, with the exception of a few surfers and two girls who were either trying to get somebody's attention, or ..maybe they had a shot of something alcoholic prior to donning teeeensy "bathing costumes" and racing jumping and shrieking into the frigid Atlantic waters..... oh, man...it was so cold your foot couldn't feel a thing after about 30 seconds.... ..... brave or foolish I guess.  The surfers were clever...wetsuits.... of course.

Ohhh, boy....this is the time to go to any beach I'm sure...so beautiful...so peaceful....and it's mine, all mine!!  Wheeeeeeeeeee.... That's how I felt anyway....

We had all our clothes on.... with the exception of brave Maria (who had her shoes off toute suite).... and we kept them on.

Looked to our right and saw this ...

Walked to our left all the way to the end and saw this......  didn't see one "for sale" sign on the beachhouses.....            


                                                                                 Fresh mussels anyone?..  

Looked back and saw this....

Looked down....

No matter which way I looked....more wonder.....

.....and the sheer power and beauty of ocean......

When I'm standing on a beach..... I never want to leave.........
but, it was time to go and so we walked back towards the car....

Past amazing little mounds of vegetation that somehow survives in spite of sand piled on top of it by wind and wave......

Goodbye for now beautiful beaches........

Peniche, Portugal

Our second day in Portugal .... hahahhaha..... this posting of pics of our trip even at the rate of quite a few each time, could take a year!  I better speed it up somehow...and yet....I don't want to just speed through it.... same as I hate speeding through anything really..... so... maybe not quite yet.

If I get busy doing anything really exciting around here or feel like I am getting tired of reliving our adventures.... maybe then.....

I need to finish off at least two little bears and hurry up about it.  Sheaffer's Auction/Birthday Bash  ... in aid of Sheila's Sanctuary, is quickly approaching.  I just haven't been able to get my head around doing anything "crafty".  House stuff... even shovelling snow from the shaded side to the sunny side of the grass..and baking...  and... tidying... seems to have taken over my life.  Must be spring.

Second day in Portugal....on the road to Peniche, a seaside town. Actually when I looked for that link...it says it is a small city.  A busy fishing and surfing area.

Olive groves along the highway ... ...

...towns and villages dotting the hillsides ...  whitewashed houses with lovely red tiled roofs.... exactly like the post cards suggested it would be....

... it certainly was never "are we there yet"? with us... .. we loved every minute of the drive as well.... so much new and exciting to see at every turn in the road...hahahha...and there are plenty of those.  Talk about winding roads.......

Loved the pastels alongside the whitewashed ... some hotels ...some business ....and some homes...

Within seconds of being seated.... appetizers arrived on the table!  Almost as if by magic.  Wouldn't happen around here.  I found service to be second to none.  Can't say it happens at every single place in Portugal...but, it happened in every one that we went to during our stay ...and we did a lot of sampling and eating, believe me!

Bread, olives and cheeses... and in this case... little sample sizes of some type of fish eggs... er...sorry Maria...just couldn't bring myself to sample it....
and some baby octopus or squid... can't remember for sure now....

YIKES!! lobster, giant prawns and mussels...for 4 !!  And...we could have had at least another couple or 3 join us and still had plenty!

It was a working fishing port and marina .... big nets drying in the sun...

That Maria ....she must have long arms....and a great aim..... she took lots of pics of the four of us...and somehow...got us in all the shots....
You can see I had no faith in the distance.... hahahha.....

Wandered around the area for a bit and then hopped back in the car and drove to some nearby cliffs for a different look at the ocean... it was a bit breezy  ...but definitely pleasant at  +19C...

sandy little trails between the vegetation...

Little masses of succulents of some sort...with beautiful yellows and pinks for flowers.  They looked much like "straw flowers" to me ...

We hung out just enjoying the many rock formations and trying for big wave spray pics.... there was a lot of crashing action for sure.... just beautiful to see....

                        
....we were pretty insignificant looking in relation to the area..... if you squint ...you can make out the guys down below..........