The Algarve - 15th to 18th of July 2010

A four hour bus south to the south coast of Portugal, a region known as the Algarve. Famous for its beaches, its mass tourism and the planeloads of Brits that invade every summer, its certainly worthy of its reputation. But once we´d accepted that this isn´t vintage Portugal, we still had plenty of fun hitting the beaches and bars. We stayed in the town of Albufeira, mainly because of its transport links and its awesome beach where we had a great afternoon after another exciting bus ride.

But our tourism hadn´t been put on hold, and so we hit the road again the following day for a day trip west, first stop Faro. We had a good tip that Faro wasn´t much, and we´d agree, essentially just the airport gateway to the region and a little harbour. We only stopped for an hour or so in Faro before heading further west to Tavira, much less touristy and home to a cute little river and fishing community. We spent the afternoon across the bay at a very long beach after a 20 minute ferry.Once we got back to Albufeira and dolled up, we hit the bars, safe in the knowledge that we could have the luxury of a little sleep in the following day.

Day 3 in the Algarve was spent in Lagos, an hour train west from Albufeira. Its another mass tourist town, but it does have some nice walls, a pretty harbour and a cute little fort guarding a little beach that is probably one of our favourites. We had a great afternoon sheltering from the sun under the cliffs before getting the last train back "home".

We've been extremely lucky with our accomodation on tour so far, an excellent location in Madrid, a fancy as apartment in Salmanca, a cool restaurant in our hostel in Santiago, but definitely the best view we've had was from our little room above the beach at Albufeira. An excellent spot for some cheese, crackers, and a few beverages after our days in the sun.