Robyn's Algarve Pics

SUMMER LOVIN', HAD ME A BLAST!!!

Portugal – Algarve

Last week, Robyn and I headed south to the Algarve for a long overdue holiday and some proper Summer weather. After touching down in a glorious, cloudless Faro on the Tuesday, who would've guessed that the next cloud we would see (briefly) would be on the Sunday afternoon, five days later? Incredible to think that not far from here (UK) the weather can be so totally different and pleasant.

Most days were spent lazing around in the 30ºC plus sun on a different, picturesque beach. Refreshing swims punctuated sustained periods of bathing our shockingly white bodies in the hot Portuguese sun. After a few days I downgraded from the Factor 30, to '20-minutes-in-the-sun-before-I-apply-the-first-coat' Factor 20, and it worked! And now, for the first time in who knows how long, I finally have that elusive tan! That tan that says I'm not English, I'm African!

Anyway, back to the holiday! We were really blown away by how beautiful, user-friendly and clean the beaches were. In the Algarve, the beaches all seem to have a characteristic (beautiful) look about them. Most of them are flanked by towering sandstone cliffs of varying height, and if not, you have a view of one somewhere in the distance. The impending sea has seemingly picked away at the dry, sandy coastline and left behind hundreds of little coves which over time have become beaches.

We hired a car for a day and drove westwards along the Coast to Lagos (Lah-gosh) and Luz (Loojz). Robyn managed superbly well on the other side of the road, well done Bob! Which reminds me, if any of you ever head to Albufeira in the Algarve, please do not hire a car from 'Auto-Prudente'. I can feel my heart-rate climbing uncontrollably as I type this. Just take it from us that they are the most USELESS, unaccommodating bunch of ill-mannered plonkers I've ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with.

A big thanks to Elise and Charles for letting us stay with them and for being such good hosts! We loved the BBQ's (Ribs and that tasty marinade being the highlight) and generally just chilling out on the balcony most nights sipping (very cheap) Finkbraus as the sun went down. Kent, if you're reading this, thanks for ferrying us around and generally being a pretty good tour advisor, we really appreciated it. I'm missing Sharkies already.

Pictures:
1. Sao Rafael beach (spot Robyn)
2. A beach in Lagos
3. Galle (Ga-lay) beach
4. Outside 'Marufo' chicken restaurant. Superb traditional Portuguese piri-piri (peri-peri? whats the difference?) chicken and great value too!
5. 'Submarine rock' seen from a sunset cruise up the coast