A bit more Lagos

It is already Thursday and Kyria and I have made some plans for the rest of my time here so that I see some more of the area. However today is local and we hired a boat to go and visit the grottos that I had visited by default from the cliff tops. I think the pictures are in some respects not as interesting from the sea but the colours and the rock formations are stunning even if quite a bit of local licence in terms of giving the formations names has been taken You will note the 'elephant' over Kyria's shoulder in one of the photos below....

We then set off with Kevin to the village of Salema which is a few miles down the coast, it is a working fishing village so we had a fish lunch and then spent some time on the beach before returning so that more work on the Garden could continue.

Friday I tried yet another beach within walking distance Pinhao which is quite sheltered which as the wind has continued is a good thing and again has beautiful rock formations and quite a tide which is so different from Greece.

Kyria doing a waitressing shift so I went to check out the food, barbecued mackerel very tasty.

Saturday morning finds me in the local Museum which has relics from ancient history showing how long the area has been inhabited through to the inevitable bits of farm machinery and model boats. However it is housed next to church which now forms part of the museum and is the classic over decorated style of the early catholic churches and

is in stark contrast to the main church which is stunning in it's simplicity.

It is a shame that the earthquake and tidal wave in 1755 destroyed most of the ancient buildings from the Roman and Moorish occupation and the British had a hand before that in attacking and ransacking both Sagres and Faro during the height of the first Elizabethan period which means that at an area of great importance in terms of the development and exploration of the world has little left to see.

Met up with Kyria and she drove me up to Aljezur which is close to the west coast beaches. We found our way up to the Moorish castle with great views of the surrounding area

 and visited a number of small local museums one a house left as it would have been probably about 150 years ago. Little english spoken in the museums compared to the restaurant where we stopped for lunch, the waitress speaking at least 3 languages fluently and the waiter a further 2!

We then visited a couple of the beaches, Armoreira backed by sand dunes

and Arrifana which has cliffs backing it and where we stopped for a supper as the sun went down aah.

Plus lovely olive grove on the way home.

 

Off to the far west coast reaching Cabo de Sao Vicente before lunch. This is the most south westerly point of mainland Europe and fortunately not quite as wild and windy as it certainly could be. The lighthouse here is visible for up to 62 miles and is the most powerful in Europe, must be welcome to transatlantic sailors.

                                                                                                                       Fortaleza from Cabo.

The cliffs are very high meaning the lighthouse beacon doesn't need to be raised high but this doesn't stop local fishermen with very long lines(!) fishing as here.

Sagres town is also on a promontory so surrounded by beaches no fancy rocks but beautiful sand and of course surf.

The harbour is where the trawlers berth and there is a big fish market so guess what we had for lunch!

Outside the modern town is the Fortaleza de Sagres situated on an exposed headland and the site of the School of navigation of Henry the Navigator set up in 1420. He gathered together those with knowledge of the stars, mapmakers and instrument makers (sextants etc) which made longer journeys possible. The only things remaining from this time are an amazing 128ft diameter compass which may also have been used to check wind direction

and some ancient canons displayed by my assistant!

It is a vast area and most of the buildings are post the earthquake another wild and windy spot but the knowledge accumulated here accelerated sea exploration hugely in the 15^th century. Called in on Zaviel (poss never wrote it down!) beach very windswept made me grateful for the coves near Lagos, beautiful with a very tasteful large villa over looking it owned allegedly by the actor Steven Seagal.

Spent a quiet last day on the beach with Kyria and then went to The Garden for supper and a couple of photos which looked better on the camera than here I'm afraid but you get the idea!

Back to the airport via the town of Loule, pleasant inland town with Moorish market

and chance for a last outside lunch. A quick visit to Faro island which is right by the airport (shown from the air on take-off) quite busy with a single track bridge

before being dropped to catch the flight home. Amazingly back 25 mins early thanks to the jet stream being in the wrong place, didn't quite make up for the hour delay on the way out but meant I reached Salisbury before midnight. A big thank-you to Anne for looking after my car at her home and taking and collecting me from Stansted.

First day home and the Torch is here, so for those of you who missed it locally or live abroad this is it passing close to my home. I'm afraid I didn't feel like getting up to see it and Michael Johnson leave the cathedral early the next morning! First one shows the transfer from a wheelchair 'runner' to the next lady mainly local people.

Next blog will be Paxos and the little matter of a wedding.

Visiting Kyria in Lagos, Portugal

After great catch up with Tricia, Gail and Anne in Herts, I left Stansted late on Thursday evening to fly to Faro to find out how Kyria is getting on in her new life in the sun. Not that as I start to write this on Saturday morning there is so much, as quite cloudy though still warm. It was after midnight by the time I had got through passport control and picked up my bag but the lack of traffic at that time of night made the journey from Faro to Lagos as straight forward as possible and we arrived at the hotel before 1.30am. It is lovely and only about 10 minutes from where Kyria is living which is lucky as could have been much farther away. 

this is the view from my room

 

As you can see grand staircase too.

Spent Friday having a tour of the old town 

and a look at the marina before heading for the local beach to check that out.

 She showed me her accommodation where she  has a nice room in the 'staff quarters' of The Garden

 which is about to become a bar, barbecue and restaurant, owned in partnership by Kevin who has become her new man. All the permissions are now in place but the final piece of paper is not expected until midweek so they are planning a soft opening on Sunday. Kyria will work in the restaurant but has also started thinking rather more about her plans for ladies and kids wetsuits.

So before she gets totally embroiled in all that I shall endeavour to get some cultural activities on her itinerary for the next few days as there are some interesting places to visit according to the guide books!

Saturday weather lovely and took myself off to a different beach near the hotel with great rock formations but quite a few steps it will keep me fit I suppose!

Out to supper with the two Ks as last evening before the opening in pleasant out of town restaurant. Arranged for Kyria to take me to the long sand dune beach Meia Praia next afternoon so I spent Sunday morning having a further look around the town

 and visiting a museum housed in a fort at the river entrance.This beautiful chest was one of the exhibits.

 The top floor has some rather lovely kinetic sculptures which owe a little bit to Mad Max I think!

Henry the Navigator who was key in encouraging sea exploration lived here as it was the capital of the region for 200 years from 1557 until an earthquake destroyed much of the town.

 Hopefully my experiences in New Zealand are not about to be repeated! There is a monument to Gil Eanes who was the first man to sail out of sight of land and return who also came from the town.

Rather less honourably it also has the first african slave market in Europe set up in 1444 which followed from all the trade down the west coast of Africa.

The beach is very wide and long quite different from the pretty coves on the coast going further west. After a pleasant afternoon we drifted up to a bar on the dunes and enjoyed in my case a glass of wine while listening to some live music as the sun was sinking lying against a huge bean bag, rather Californian. Back at the Garden quite few people had been and were in to check out the new space in town.

Let Kyria help out on Monday although she was suffering a bit from dehydration and had a gentle day myself by the hotel pool before finding a back street restaurant where had some very good grilled fish.

Tuesday morning I set off for a beach further away but discovered that distances on my map look farther than they proved so ended up walking to the lighthouse at the end of the promontory. 

This overlooks the grottos which are best visited by sea but still managed to get some good shots of the eroded cliffs from above.

Met up with Koo to drive up into the hills, stopped for lunch at Caldas de Monchique a spa village set amongst wooded hills.

Continued on up to Monchique itself and then to Foia which is the highest place in the Algarve, unfortunately rather hazy but you will get the idea from this photo with a strange lady in it!

We then descended to Silves which has a large castle which fortunately was still open when we arrived.

The whole of the walls can be walked round, no health and safety considerations here with work on the gardens as well.

Not surprisingly it has good views of the surrounding area. The town has ancient origins including a Roman bridge and Moorish remains, it was the Islamic capital of Al Gharb so now you know where Algarve comes from.  Originally a river port but the river silted up and the town declined until cork processing was started up in the 19^th century. Rather less of that now but good agricultural land and tourism provide the bulk of the employment these days.

The weather which had continued sunny and hot up in the hills proved to be rather windy and cool on our return and woollies were needed for the first time in the evening.

Morning proved back to warm and sunny and made the beach I had originally set out for on Tuesday, many more steps down to this one

 and the tide came in restricting the space but managed to find a dry spot and spent most of the day there. Ventured into the sea but the water is so cold compared to the Med that I ducked out of actually swimming! Arrived back at the hotel in time to watch the end of the Murray/Ferrer match and then spent most of the rest of the evening doing this, how time flies when you're enjoying yourself!