ruthkennedysretirementblog

One more day and we get picked up to start the first part of our journey home. We have virtually been in self isolation for the last week, and I have had way too much time for social media. Need to stay informed, but I am saturated. Daryl is encouraging me to stay busy doing something I enjoy, hence this post. Our plans of many places to visit and explore has been curtailed. Our only visitors have been birds on the deck. Lots of the biggest, fattest seagulls I have ever seen, with yellow beaks and feet.

Travel is such a wonderful experience in so many ways. Sometimes it is the little things that make me go, “Oh, look at that, so neat”. So here are a few of my observations of “neat things”.

Garbage bins are underground. The truck comes around, lifts the bins up and the bottom opens up to empty! Seriously how cool is that. Not having to deal with snow or ice is an advantage here for sure.

It seems everywhere we went, people find ingenious places to hang clothes. Most balconies have racks or clotheslines. Our first apartment had a washer but no dryer. I don’t know if that is the normal, however people do hang out their clothes. It could be due to electricity being expensive.

The first time we went grocery shopping was like going on an adventure. The store was massive and sold everything!

There are tons of wines from Portugal….full price range. We are about an hour from the airport. On arrival our driver was giving us practical information, including a list of the ‘good’ wines to buy. In anticipation of Heather and Mike coming, and the last day we were going to have a car for a while, we decided to stock up. Despite our best efforts we are having to leave some bottles behind. Our apartment has offered to store the wine until we come back, that is one way to age it!

Most of the towns we have visited have defibrillators on the sidewalks.

There are orange trees everywhere…well slight exaggeration. The oranges are the juciest, sweetest, tastiest morsels imaginable,

Standard issue. Definitely an alternative to the run on toilet paper:)

The heater in our bedroom, a wall mounted panel that gives off radiant heat. Really works.

Lots of wind surfing here. When people were still out and about this was a busy little area. Note the wet suit…. this Atlantic ocean is still too cold for me.

An elevator to the beach. Now that is the way to travel.

This town is really booming. Thankfully from this apartment we have an ocean view. From our first apartment we could watch buildings going up, at least eight cranes going at any given time. Also demolition happening.

I haven’t done any shopping here, when you travel with only carry on luggage there is no space for extras. However, couldn’t resist going to a cork store and getting one item. Have to be careful though, not all cork is created equal and not all made in Portugal.

For the most part we have similar trees and flowers. This one was interesting.

And we must not forget the beer bottle that comes with a built in opener.

I even got to try the hospital system. Would not recommend anybody getting sick, but if you have to….well, no complaints from me about the treatment or system. But it was busy and I sat in a waiting room with many other people with my IV running.

Another time when I am not being a germaphobe I will give this a try. Looks ticklish.

And last, but not least, we had to go to a shop yesterday. Many social distancing rules in place. The grocery store was only allowing 30 people at a time (trust me, when we were there that was not a problem), and there were lines on the floor indicating how far apart people needed to be while waiting to check out.

Our trip to Portugal has been shortened by half. It is an amazing place to visit and we will be back.

Cheers

Ruth

On our last outing before the world as we know it changed, we went to Sand City. the largest sand sculpture theme park in the world. It was absolutely incredible. Very few people there, we sure had no trouble keeping a good distance from others.

We talked to a couple of the artists. The sculpture starts out as blocks of compacted sand.

The sculptures last a long time, one artist told us some of the sculptures have been there for almost a year… although there is a wee bit of wear and tear showing.

I have at least “a million” more pictures. They all have detailed carvings and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around.

After leaving Sand City we went looking for another ruin. This one, the Castle of Paderne, was built in the 12th century. We drove country mountainous road for a very long time… I was sure we were at the end of the earth… until eventually we arrived. We could walk around the castle but it was not open. It was massive and is one of the seven castle symbols on the Portuguese flag.

Daryl is tall enough that he was able to see over the walls and get a picture of the inside. The place truly is massive.

Way down in the valley we could see the Medival Bridge of the Paderne. It dates back to Roman times. Apparently the date 1711 is inscribed on the central arch and is thought to indicate renovations to the bridge.

There is also a walking trail in the valley. We could clearly hear people talking but did not see anyone.

There was one more castle we wanted to see that was on our way home, the Castelo de S Joao Do Arade. We were sure this one was open to the public, except when we arrived at 4 PM it was all shut up. Not sure if this was the beginning of public facilities being closed.

This castle will be on our list on our next trip to Portugal. There is so much more we had planned to see, that we were hoping to do with Heather and Mike. This part of Portugal has been amazing and we will be back.

Cheers

Ruth

I read that Albufeira is the ‘premier resort town’ of the Algarve and has a crazy night life. We spent a very pleasant day there, but we were long gone before any partying started!. The beach was absolutely beautiful.

The beach is a long way down from the boardwalk. A first for me was an elevator to get to the beach and yes we used it….both ways.

There was a lovely short walkway starting just after you got off the elevator. Those really old steps that look like they are carved out of the rock did not go anywhere.

This old ruin quite close to the centre of ‘everything’ is quite large.

There was also a couple of neat old churches. Both were closed when we tried to visit.

When we walked by later in the day, this church was having a service.

This was one of the hottest days since we have been in Portugal. Sure was lovely to sit for a bit.

On our way home we stopped at a roadside vendor and picked up the sweetest, juiciest oranges imaginable.

Just another day out and about. Now if everyone can stay healthy!!

Cheers

Ruth

A sunny Saturday morning, a car and the Algarve to explore.What a winning combination. We had a few destinations in mind, but no “must sees”.

There were several pottery shops along the roads. We made our first stop at Porches Pottery. The entire shop is a work of art.

We actually got to see one of the artists at work. I have to say there is a negative and a positive to travelling with only carry on luggage…. it restricts what you can purchase, and it restricts what you can purchase.

We ended up doing a part of the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. It is a very popular and scenic hike. Even though the rock formation is similar along the Algarve coast, every time I look at it, I get a “pinch me” moment. Marinha Beach has been awarded as one of the top 100 most beautiful beaches in the world, although not sure how anyone could decide as they are all beautiful.

My GPS said we did 3.85 km out of the 11.9 km if you had completed the trail, out and back.

Mostly the trail was easy, except for the couple of parts where you had to use your mountain goat skills. Daryl managed it in flip flops.

There was very little wooded areas on the trail, mostly it was along the rocky coastline.

When you don’t have a hat on a hot sunny day, you make do!

After all that hard work it was time for relaxation. We had read that the Quinta dos Vales Wine Estate had a sculpture filled garden. We were not disappointed, and must have spent an hour wandering the extensive grounds as there had to have been hundreds of sculptures.

This is just a small sampling of the sculptures throughout the extensive grounds. And of course we had to try the product and gave it a big thumbs up.

Cheers

Ruth

We went to the end of the world. Our first stop was Capo de Sao Vincente, this most southwesterly extremity of Europe, up until the 14th century, was known as the end of the world. It is wild, rugged, beautiful and windy.

I read somewhere that in the 16th century the first “lighthouse” was a protected fire. The current lighthouse has been operational since 1846.

We also visited the museum. There were a couple of walls of maps from the 16th century.

Apparently the originals are in Vienna’s Imperial Library in Austria.

The landscape reminded me of going “down the coast” in Newfoundland. The vegetation and trees are stunted due to the constant battering with the wind.

Sagres is known for its surfing, maybe the wind helps a bit:) After leaving S. Vincente we passed a beach where the parking lot was full of all kinds of motorhomes. And lots of surfers.

There was a paved path, and steps, down to the beach. The beach must have been sheltered from the wind as somebody was using an umbrella.

Our next stop was Fort Beliche. This fort was built before 1587. It was damaged in the big earthquake of 1755. There has been some restoration done and there is a restaurant that was not open when we were there.

And my favourite sign of the day. It is unbelievable how many people go outside the walls, and the sea is a long way straight down.

Our last stop for the day was at the Fortaleza de Sagres. Apparently it was here that Henry the Navigator devised his 15th century explorations.

There is no way to capture the sheer size of the fort. There is a 1.5 km cliffside walk inside the fort.

This giant wind compass was used to guide early navigation, to determine wind direction.

The date on this canon was 1824, but others were lots older.

The water cistern.

“The United States Power Squadron honors the memory of Prince Henry The Navigator 1393 – 1460 whose school of navigation, founded on this site, opened the way for worldwide navigation in the great age of discovery”

There were lots of hardy flowers in this desolate, wind swept landscape.

While this Ice Plant is beautiful it is not native to Portugal and is considered an invasive plant.

Our visit to Sagres was memorable for being so beautiful, rugged and windy. For sure worth visiting.

Cheers

Ruth

We took a trip to Silves to see the castle. It is only about 20 minutes drive from Praia da Rocha, and well worth going. Silves was originally the ancient capital of the Algarve. It was under the Moors from the 9th to the 12th century.

We got our first glimpse of the castle sitting on the hill as we were driving into town. It is really hard to get a sense of just how big the castle and ground are, the guide information said 12,000 sq meters (google converted that to 2.96 acres).

We walked up a really long hill and arrived at a big archway. I thought we had arrived at the castle. But no. This was just the outer walls. And a beautiful courtyard.

We continued our uphill trek to the Silves Cathedral. This cathedral was erected in the 13th century. Some of the information says it was erected on the site of the old grand mosque.

There are lots of sarcophagus along each side of the church. The literature suggests over the years some of the bones have been relocated. A Portuguese King was buried in this cathedral, but he was moved in 1499.

We left the church and walked uphill some more, finally reaching the castle. It was not possible for me to capture the sheer size of the place. There are a total of ten towers.

Even a place for refreshments.

Even outside the walls there is still much of the structure. Those wall do look like they were built to last.

Going down is just as far, but so much easier than the going up!

There is a functional ancient bridge in the town. This Ponta Romana, Roman Bridge, has been around since the 15th century and is still used as a foot bridge. Yes we had to walk on it.

Silves is another pretty little town. Unfortunately it was the day after my hospital stint and there was only so much energy to go around. Thankfully Daryl got some beautiful pictures.

An incredible amount of history packed into one afternoon. No one would have to twist my arm to revisit any of the places we have visited.

Cheers

Ruth