I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to convince me that there is anything better than waking up early in a new place, a stones throw from the ocean, with the sun already blazing.
The Old Town.
Today's forecast was for mid morning cloud though, which we could see rolling in on the far reaches of the horizon. Not to worry, we had a plan. Forgoing lying by the pool to do what Laura and I arguably do best; explore.
The previous evening saw us scrambling around the rocks to watch the sunset, what was beyond was to be kept a mystery until today. We knew the Old Town of Albufeira was in that direction, so after an amazing breakfast of fruit, tea, juice, and these amazing caramel pastries we ventured out.
Despite the encroaching cloud it was still warm, and the wind had taken on the form of 'refreshing sea breeze' rather than 'nippy annoying blusters'. The geology around Albufeira (and perhaps the whole of Southern Portugal? Maybe even the whole of the Mediterranean?) was unlike anything I has come across before. The rock seemed to be made entire from ancient organic material. Compressed corral and shells seemed to make up the bulk of the cliffs and ledges we were walking on. The sand was then simply a more refined version of this corse amalgamation. This, as common knowledge dictates, must be a form of limestone, but formed much more recently than, for instance, the Cliffs of Dover, as the Argavian rock is much rougher with sizeable shell and coral fragments. (whilst writing this I looked up the geology of the region, and my deductions are not too far off. If you are interested here is a link to Contributions to the geology of Algarve)
Laura the conqueror!
We spent a while taking photos and enjoying the coastal flora, before coming to as far as we had perviously reached. And around the corner, sure enough, there was Albufeira. An amazing white building-ed seaside, cliff-clinging village, set at the end of a few kilometres of pristine golden sand.
We continued our scramble along the rocks, past blow holes, deep dangerous crevices, and impossible to get to coves (despite seeing foot prints in the sands 10m below!). We then de down onto the beach and made the final leg to the town. At the earliest point we could we veered right, up off the sand, and began to climb a steep road. At the top; a tourist look out, complete with hecklers, and an ironic statue of a fat lady taking a photo of her fat husband and equally rotund child! The backdrop however was the most amazing mish-mash of buildings. All built in the same style, and crammed together to the point where it didn't look like there was any free space left.
Opting not to take the escalator (clearly aimed at the pot-bellied tourists), we wandered down a small set of narrow streets and back alleys until we reached the bottom and nice little plaza. Market stalls adorned with all sorts of nick-nacks, restaurant owners beckoning you inside, and most importantly ice-cream shops filled the street.
Laura opted for Strawberry Cheese Cake flavour, in a cone (which the cone part is not like her), however I went for Rice Pudding flavour. And let me tell you, if ice-cream has been missing one thing, it's rice! Who knew, little morsels of rice make ice-cream better than imaginable!
For the next few hours we wandered around the Old Town, looking in the souvenirs shops, and purchasing a cork surrounded, title table mat. By the looks of things cork and leather apparel to be the regions specialty. Eventually we had our packed lunch in the main town square surrounded by happy families, and smiling locals. That is of course until the weather-app-predicted showers came through. Not much, but it was cocktail-o'clock anyway, not that we needed an excuse. We found a small restaurant that had Happy Hour, and holed up there with our Pina Coladas and Daiquiris until the sun shone once again.
A very happy hour...
And boy did it shine. Laura is always talking about how the sky is different everywhere we go. Which of course is true. The sky in Southern Coastal Portugal is unbelievably dark. In the middle of the day, with no clouds, and full sun shine, the blue of the sky is more akin to deep navy. This was accentuated by the bright while buildings, and pale yellow rocks.
I mean, by this stage the photos are just here to make you jealous.
Feeling satisfied with what we had seen, and remembering that we have pool waiting for us, we began to make our way back. Along the beach and over the rocks. We were now at the far end of the beach, atop a high lookout, down below were sunbathing bodies, the odd person tentatively swimming in the April sea, with the promise of warm sand between our toes. So we descended an old rock staircase and aimed for home.
Back at Laura's aforementioned Cat Beach, we cut back up to the supermarket, it was beer-o'clock again, and our litre bottles of Sagres called.
The rest of the afternoon was spend by the pool with beer, books, and chips. But finally the sun started to go down, and we began to feel hungry, so we got dressed and headed down to the waterfront.
We had previously spotted a nice looking place the over looked the water. A jug of sangria was the first order, before out comes an array of amazing tasters - bread, cheese, fish pate, whole baby squid, olives. I ordered the fried sardines, while Laura got a variety of fish served on a sword (a fish sword, as opposed to a sword fish!)
It was amazing! If you've ever have the urge to eat four whole animals, might I suggest Portuguese Sardines. Not a bad final dinner to have in such an amazing place!
