CAR TOURING IN THE ALGARVE

OUR HIRE CAR

LIGHTHOUSE AT CABO DE SAO VICENTE

FORTALEZ DE BELICHE

RUINED CONVENT NEAR MONCHIQUE

FOIA SUMMIT

LOULE CENTRE

FLOAT REFLECTING CURRENT POLITICAL EVENTS

GREAT CARNIVAL COSTUMES

Thursday morning and our car, a Ford Focus, was delivered to us at the hotel. Our plan for the day was to drive to the western end of the Algarve along the N125. We had decided to avoid the A22 motorway because it is a toll road and, besides, we were in no hurry. Rubi did the navigation while I concentrated on driving on an unfamiliar side of the road. The hardest thing to get used to was changing gear with my right hand.

We passed Lagoa, Portimau, Lagos, Vila de Bispo and Sagres before reaching our target for the day - Cabo de Sao Vicente with its lighthouse above impressive cliffs. This is effectively the 'Land's End' of Portugal. We took a stroll around the lighthouse compound and ate our picnic by some sculptures of sea life before commencing our return journey.

We stopped at the remains of the ruined Fortaleza de Beliche nearby, and followed some metal poles that led us down the cliffs to the sea. We also took a look at the facade of Fortalez de Sagres, but didn't go inside.

We finally got back to the hotel at 5.30pm, and happily found a parking space just near the entrance. Supper comprised a medley of pasta, sausage, cheese and vegetables.

Friday's weather was predicted to be the best of the week - perfect for climbing Foia, at 902m the highest mountain in the Algarve. We drove to the village of Monchique, north-west of Albufeira, and parked the car. I had printed a map of the area before leaving the UK, so armed with this and a compass we headed upwards.

We soon reached a derelict convent where a man who seemed to be gardening outside ushered us in to take a look. The roof looked pretty dodgy and we weren't convinced the site was all that safe. Nevertheless it was an interesting aside and we gave the man €1. He, in turn, offered us an orange out of a big bucket.

As we continued our walk I became concerned that the route was not quite in the direction my compass said it should be, but since we were still ascending I didn't worry too much. Eventually we came to a point where I could properly establish our location. We were in the wrong place, but getting back onto the correct path was easy and took only about 15 minutes.

We could see the antennae that identified Foia ahead of us and in a short while we were sitting on a pile of rocks by the summit eating our lunch. Although a little hazy, the vista to the south from our viewpoint was amazing. It was pleasantly warm and we had certainly chosen the right day to do this.

It had taken us about two hours to ascend Foia, but our walk back to the car was much quicker, in part because we followed the correct route this time.

The following day's drive was to see a carnival at Loule. Even before we left the UK, Rubi had discovered that we would be visiting Portugal during the carnival season (Mardi Gras being on Tuesday 28th), and she spotted a poster advertising the Loule event as soon as we arrived at the hotel.

Loule was but a short drive away. We parked at the edge of the town and walked into the centre. The carnival parade would not start until 3.00pm, but it was clear that a huge amount of effort and expense had gone into preparations, with banners, a stage, lights, TV cameras and even a drone with a camera overhead. Police and security men were everywhere, but everyone was well behaved.

We found a pleasant park nearby to enjoy lunch and give our ears a brief rest from the loud music booming out the speakers. By the time we returned, the centre was filled with people in fancy dress and the floats were beginning to arrive. The carnival procession was behind barriers that we had to pay €2 to pass through, but the spectacle was well worth it. The floats were incredibly well designed and really amusing. We particularly liked the one showing a caricature of Putin blowing Donald Trump out of a cannon towards figures of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

There were lots of people in costume playing musical instruments or dancing on and around the floats. Some of the girls were extremely scantily clad and a few topless, but naturally I averted my eyes.

The procession was slow moving and it took over an hour to pass, but all the floats were so good that we didn't want to miss a single one. We eventually headed back to the car at about 4.30pm for an unhurried drive back to the hotel. The day had been great fun.

ALBUFEIRA, PORTUGAL

APARTHOTEL PALADIM

OURA BEACH WITH CLIFFS BEYOND

A ROSE BETWEEN TWO CACTI

FRIENDLY LOCALS

MUSICIANS IN THE OLD TOWN

I'VE GOT A LUVERLY BUNCH OF 'NANAS

By the middle of January, the Xmas and New Year breaks seemed but a distant memory. A foreign holiday beckoned, but we wanted to preserve some of our holiday fund for later, so where could we go that was warmer than the UK and cheap?

After a bit of searching on the Internet we chose Albufeira in Portugal's Algarve. Buying everything separately, the cost was a mere £400 for the two of us. That's flights, 7 nights in a self-catering apartment, car hire for 4 days, car parking at Gatwick and transfers from Faro airport to our apartment! Bargain! Departure was set for Tuesday 21st of February.

Daytime temperatures in the Algarve at this time of year are typically around 13 degrees C - cool for the beach brigade but fine for us walkers. However, as the time for our departure drew closer it became apparent that our stay was going to coincide with a bit of a European heatwave, and we would be treated to temperatures exceeding 20 degrees. Perfect!

Catching our 6.30am flight to Portugal involved a very early start to the day but, after an uneventful journey, we were being dropped off outside the Aparthotel Paladim in Albufeira by 11.00am. Our room wasn't ready but we were able to leave our bags and, armed with a street map given to us by the receptionist, start exploring the town.

We quickly located the supermarket, the beach and the 'Old Town'. The sun shone upon us, as expected, although a cool sea breeze coming over the Atlantic ensured that we kept our jackets on.

Back at our lodgings mid-afternoon to check in, we were pleased to find that we had a spacious room with a kitchenette, dining area and balcony. The early start seemed to suddenly catch up with us the moment we tested the beds - we both nodded off and didn't awake for 3 hours. By then it was getting dark, but we coaxed ourselves out to the supermarket to get provisions for the next couple of days. One counter was selling freshly roasted chicken. Along with a few vegetables and with few shakes of piri piri sauce, this served as a delicious supper back in our room.

Next morning we decided to do a much more extensive tour of Albufeira. We walked east from our lodgings to see the so called 'Strip', which is where all the bars and night clubs are. It was all pretty quiet on a February morning though. We then walked down to the beach at Oura, fending off a keen timeshare salesman on the way. The idea was to walk back along the full length of the beach as far as Albufeira harbour, but cliffs appeared to block our way.

On closer inspection we could see a path weaving its way through the highly eroded yellow sandstone cliffs, so we thought we would try our luck. It took us about an hour to make our way through, but this turned out to be great fun and a highlight of the day.

The cliff walk behind us, we continued along the beach and eventually reached the harbour and the marina beyond. Making our way back, we enjoyed a drink at a beach-side bar and picked up some more roast chicken from the supermarket before returning to our lodgings. Nothing wrong with having the same meal two day's running when it is this tasty.