We’ve made our way down from Lisbon to the southern coast of Portugal (the Algarve) for some beach and sunshine before we finish up our trip in chilly Amsterdam.
Our first stop is in Lagos (pronounced “Lagoosh”), a bit of a party town towards the West. Best as we’ve been told, any further East, and it’s all condos, British expats and spring break party life, not quite our cup of tea. To the west, it becomes quieter, more natural, so that’s where we headed.
In fact, our hearts have been yearning to go to sleep and wake to the sound of waves, to sit and watch the ocean before tucking in at night. It’s hard to find, though (especially when you’re booking at the last minute, as we are), so we’ve found a camper van for our last week, and will be “wild camping” as they call it here later this week, (hopefully) finding spots to park near the waves for the evening, and explore during the day.
Obviously, this will pose a challenge to my “I’m working while I travel, all I need is Internet” philosophy, but I’m going to do the best I can with a cellular modem and an inverter to keep my computer charged off the van battery. We’ll see how she goes.
In the meantime, we’ve been making the best of Lagos, tourist town and all. There are a couple bars by the edge of town with bouncy houses, which has proved a fine way to enjoy a cocktail while Zevin plays (and has provided some of the best entrees we’ve had to conversation with fellow English-speaking parents on our trip, as well).
We also took a day trip eastward to Praia de João de Arens, just west of Portimão. The beach by Portimão itself is well populated with vacationers, but a hike along the cliffs led to some beautiful, isolated beaches, where we were able to enjoy a day of swimming, exploring and an epic light saber battle by the surf.
