Saturday (27/08/2016) – Arriving in the Algarve
As I already said in this post, we left Lisbon with the rental car, we stopped at a wonderful beach in the Alentejo region (Pêgo Beach) and at the end of the day we headed to the village of Odeceixe, in the Algarve. We made these strategic stops because our base in the Algarve was in the city of Albufeira and we thought it would be very tiring to go there directly from Lisbon (and we also read interesting reports about these stops).
So, this was the route we took to Albufeira in two days:
Odeceixe
As I mentioned above, our first stop in the Algarve region was in Odeceixe. I found this village to be a cute thing, because all of its houses are white, the streets are quiet and they still had their holiday decorations. Saint Anthony, Saint Peter and Saint John, which took place in June. Just peace…
We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment at the guesthouse Morais House, which is in the upper part of the city on a street that is too narrow for cars to pass through. We stopped near it to unload our bags and while they went to park the car in the lower part of the city, I did the check-in and I talked a lot with the lady who owns the inn, Dona Alzira. How nice!
I was impressed by her lucidity and enthusiasm for life and by the fact that she did almost everything in the guesthouse by herself, including cleaning and preparing breakfast. To my surprise, our apartment was on the top floor of the house and had a beautiful view of the city and a delightful little balcony. I recommend this cozy little corner, but without any luxuries.
We got ready and went to dinner on foot to the restaurant recommended by Dona Alzira, Chaparro. Since the village is small, it is not very difficult to find it. We ordered several dishes and they were all delicious, especially the mussels. The service was good and the wine was delicious too (Cartuxa – a tip from my mother-in-law). Here’s a tip!
Day 1 – Sunday (08/28/2016)
My darling's birthday! <3
We woke up not too early, had a very hearty breakfast made by Dona Alzira and walked around the village shops a bit before continuing on our journey.
Our first stop was at Odeceixe Beach which is about a 10-minute drive from the village. There were many cars parked along the road and in the parking lot at the top of the hill, but we managed to find a spot without much hassle. Check out the view from up there:
We walked down the hill and soon we were on the sand looking at the calm, clear river on our right and the rough sea on our left. We set up the tent we bought right in the middle of the two and spent hours relaxing there. It was so nice to alternate between fresh water and salt water. I'm sure if the water were a little warmer, I would say it was a perfect place. <3
Tip: buy your own tent so you don't have to pay a fortune on the beach. Ours cost 9 euros at a Chinese shop and lasted us 4 days at the beach! They say that renting a tent with chairs on the beach costs around 10 euros.
Arrifana
We left the beach hungry and headed towards the restaurant. Paul, in Arrifana, because we read some good reviews about it. We arrived there without a reservation and unfortunately they had already closed the kitchen, so we had to look for another place. Before that, we stopped by the viewpoint nearby and were enchanted by the view.
We had lunch at a very simple restaurant called Breeze, with great prices and food. The owner made a point of sitting with us and we spent the entire meal talking about the differences between Portugal and Brazil, which made the time fly by.
We stopped at a supermarket and then headed to the city of Alvor to meet some of Celo's uncles. We ended up spending the whole night catching up and only arrived in Albufeira at 11pm (I called before to let you know the time so we don't have any problems with the check-in).
Albufeira
We stayed at the local accommodation Living Water, The daily rate was 60.75 euros per room without breakfast. The accommodation is a building with several apartments (bedroom, mini kitchen, minibar and bathroom) and if you need anything, you have to go to the restaurant counter on the ground floor to ask. Everything is owned by the same owner, who is really sweet, so it’s very peaceful. It’s not super mega excellent, but I thought it was fair for the price. The beach is right next door – Aveiros Beach – it’s small, empty and the sea is calm. I’ll talk more about it later.
Day 2 – Monday (08/29/2016)
Summary of what we did that day:
Marinha Beach
We had breakfast at a cafe in town (not really worth it) and then headed to the most beautiful beach in the region in my humble opinion, Navy Beach. After getting a bit lost with the GPS, we finally found the beach parking lot, which despite being quite full still had spaces. We parked the car, went to the viewpoints to enjoy the views (and what views!) and then went down the stairs to enjoy the beach. We spent a few hours there relaxing and exploring some caves nearby (Celo and his aunt, in this case).
Buraco Beach
We started climbing the stairs and halfway, we took a very short trail to see the Buraco Beach. What an incredible view! I had the impression that you could only get there by boat, but I could be wrong.
Benagil Beach
We drove to the Benagil Beach, because we wanted to take a boat trip to the most famous cave in the region (Benagil – one with a big hole in the middle – photos here), but the tours were already full. The beach is nice, but it's small and it was quite crowded, so I don't know if it's worth it, you know? We thought about scheduling the tour for another day, but we didn't want to commit to a time, so we'll have to wait until next time. trip.
Little beach
As we were hungry, we headed to the restaurant Reed, because he was highly recommended by some blogs that my mother-in-law read. We made sure to call to reserve a table so we wouldn't have any problems like the previous days and look, it was worth it! This restaurant is located in Little beach, very close to the 3 brothers beach, It is in the middle of the cliffs and has a beautiful view.
The service left something to be desired, but the food made up for it. We had Portuguese crab (sapateira), cod and octopus cataplana (the pan on the right) and everything was great, but not necessarily up to Portuguese standards (by the way, There is an elevator at the entrance to the restaurant). We discovered that the owner's wife is from my country (Dá-lhe Bahiaaaaa!!!) and that they even make some Brazilian dishes when she teaches them to the chef. It's worth the visit!
3 Brothers Beach
After lunch we walked along the two beaches and passed by several interesting caves. Both beaches are very beautiful and I'm already thinking about going back one day to spend hours sunbathing. 🙂
Amado Beach
We quickly drove past Amado Beach and then we went to the Carvoeiro Beach, but we also just enjoyed it from above. I thought it was a good idea not to spend the day there, because I prefer more isolated beaches.
Carvoeiro Beach
We took the opportunity to watch the sunset nearby (beautiful!) and then returned to the hotel, where we ate cheese, snacks and drank a good Portuguese wine on the balcony of our room.
Day 3 – Tuesday (08/30/2016)
Day to discover the beaches of Lagos! 🙂
Summary of what we did that day:
Lagos
We had breakfast in my mother-in-law's room and headed out towards Lagos, as we knew that the beaches near the city are considered the most beautiful in the region. We parked the car in a parking lot near the Batata Beach (paid – 5 euros for a few hours) and we went straight to see the tours of kayaks available there. We ended up closing with the company Kayak Tours a 2-hour tour of all the beaches in the region until Point of Piedade. We rowed on the way there (about an hour) and on the way back a speedboat brought all the kayaks in single file, meaning there was no physical effort involved. It cost 25 euros per person and it was worth it. I recommend it!
We passed all the beaches – Batata Beach, Student Beach, Pinhão Beach, Dona Ana Beach, Camilo Beach and Point of Piedade – and only at the end of the tour did we stop to rest on a mini beach, whose name I don't remember. I thought they were all very pretty from the sea, but I didn't feel like stopping at any of them after the tour. Mrs. Ana, the most famous in the region for having received an award a few years ago, I didn't think it was anything special, particularly.
If you look at it from the sea, you see all the hotels built behind it and you think the sand is dark, in other words, not at all paradisiacal, you know? The guide explained to us that they decided to make the beach bigger to attract more tourists and brought sand from the bottom of the sea that was dirty, spoiling its beauty a little. It's sad... In the end, the one I found the most beautiful was Camilo Beach, but since it was quite crowded, we didn't stop to rest. Maybe arriving early would be worth it. At 2pm it definitely wasn't going to happen...
PS: Unfortunately the GoPro photos turned out bad because the cover was blurry. I'll have to owe you the photos of these beautiful beaches!
We went for a walk around the historic center of Lagos (so cute!) and stopped for lunch at The Fisherman, One of the few restaurants still open around 3pm with a good rating on TripAdvisor. We recommend the cod fritters!
After lunch we went into the Church of Saint Anthony, which is considered one of the jewels of the Algarve with its tiles, woodwork and golden paintings. We had to pay a symbolic fee to enter (I think it was 2 euros per person) and it was possible to visit the museum. The church is really beautiful and you can't take pictures inside. If you're curious, here are some pictures here.
We walked a little more through the cute little streets of the city center and then drove to the Lagos Navy, which seems to have great restaurants.
We took some photos and drove off to see the Point of Piedade from above, where some people praise the sunset. It's really beautiful, but be prepared for the wind. It's so cold!
We returned to our hotel and had our snacks again on the balcony of our room. We were very tired afterwards.
Day 4 – Wednesday (08/31/2016)
Summary of what we saw that day:
Aveiros Beach
We had coffee in the room and walked to the beach next to our hotel, Aveiros Beach. A short and easy trail, which makes the small beach without waves full of families. What a lovely place! I was able to walk a little along the left side to some rocks and see the Oura Beach. Just look:
Oura Beach
Cliff Beach
After relaxing on this beach, we went back to the hotel to get the car and drove to Cliff Beach. A beautiful and very long beach, but with rough seas. We set up our tent and spent some time relaxing.
Albufeira Center
We left there hungry and went to see the historic center of Albufeira, which has nothing to do with the place where our hotel was. The streets are very cute, the beach in front is pleasant and there are restaurants for all tastes and budgets.
We went to a restaurant facing the sea which was very fair, Old Pier. We eat clams, which are the Portuguese lambretas and they were delicious! The service was also good.
One thing I found interesting in the city center is that there is an escalator on the beach side that takes people from the lower part of the city to the upper part (and vice versa). Escalator, people! Outdoors, you know? I was shocked when I saw it, but of course we went up to see the view, look:
San Rafael Beach
We picked up the car in the parking lot very close to the restaurant (7 euros for a few hours) and went to see the San Rafael beach. Since we arrived at the end of the day, we just wanted to get to know it quickly. It seemed really cool and there's even a cool restaurant right on the sand.
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Chilli Pepper, which is very nice, but I don't think it's worth leaving the historic center to go there.
Thursday (01/09/2016) – We left Algarve
We did checkout and we hit the road towards the region of Alentejo, where we had wonderful surprises. I told all the details in this post.
