Super-campers on the Algarve

The Algrave in April... bleak, but beautiful

In the morning, in Lisbon, having successfully turned the walking tour into a pub crawl the night before, we shook off our hangovers, swore off sambuca forever and wandered off to the train station with no real plan in mind, other than it was time to head south.

The last minute decision, based on a number of google searches, was that we would head to Lagos, on the western end of the Algarve (the south coast of Portugal) and that we would try camping again. With the help of a knowledgeable cab driver we ended up at Touriscampo, just outside of the small town of Luz, four km from Lagos.

Sagres: next stop, America!

As was the case before, the campground had a small store and a restaurant (expensive this time though...) and this time we even had a pool at our disposal.

We stayed in Luz for three nights, wandering the cliffs that fall into the Atlantic during the day and eating tasty pizza and seafood from the enormous selection of touristy restaurants at night. It seems that the Algrave has a large population of British expats, and as a result the menus can be rather geared towards British tastes (but still retaining the Portuguese finesse in regards to seafood).

We took the bus out to Sagres, which was considered to be the legitimate end of the earth before Columbus happened upon the Americas. It is potentially the windiest place in existence. Set right on the corner of Europe, it's crowned by a fortress that is still in a decent state of repair, and that has a number of interesting displays on Portugal's efforts towards renewable energy. Inspired, clearly, by the wind rushing over the fortress walls, and the fury of the Atlantic beating away at the bottom of the cliffs.

Also it was free, and that was nice.

On Tuesday morning, having survived our first night of rainstorms in the tent (which held up fantastically), we packed ourselved up and hopped a train to Tavira, almost entirely because we were just not prepared to leave Portugal quite yet. We opted to continue camping, and although the new site wasn't quite the luxurious set-up we´d had in Luz, we appreciate the giant canopies over the tent sites because the rain never really quit for the next two days. We were able to explore Tavira´s cute riverside core, as well as its hilltop castle, which has been turned into a (free!) botanical garden. The castle was cute - it was nice to see a different presentation, and the view was great. Although Dan had to spot me on the steep, narrow and slippery staircases up the walls and towers.

And then, sadly, after two nights of rain and dampness in Tavira, we decided that it was time to leave Portugal behind and continue on to Spain - and Seville.

S