along with Heather, Jez & Geraint.
We had an early start to get to the airport for the flight. We found our very nice Villa in the Algarve and we are overlooking the coast. It is a nice quiet location with fantastic grounds and lovely rooms. We had pizza for supper before heading to bed.
by the beach
We spent the day around our great swimming pool. I could see that we will spend a lot of time in and around the pool, it is very hot 30 ° C ! We enjoyed a salad for lunch. Later we watched some films on the TV and had spaghetti bolognese for dinner.
Today we went to the boardwalk at the town of Alvor. Some of the group went along the board walk while others remained at the cafe drinking soft drinks and admiring the views. We visited the beach briefly then visited the shops on the sea front at Portimau. For our evening meal we had a BBQ.
Jez took a group to the city of Lagos to visit the castle there. They had lunch and drinks on the promenade and wandered along watching the boats leaving from the marina to the sea. The others remained at the villa and enjoyed a peaceful and relaxing time doing our hobbies. This evening we watched ' Murder in Paradise' a BBC series and ate home made fish and chips for tea.
It was another glorious sunny day which we spent around the villa and it's pool. Some played on the putting green at the villa, some took a walk around the garden (The grounds are bigger than you think). Some went swimming. Some enjoyed colouring in their books.In the evening some went to Portimau for evening drinks and to see the sunset.
Today we all went to the city of Lagos where we went for a stroll along the stalls on the promenade. A chance to buy some gifts. The more active from the group walked around the marina near-by. We had a fantastic lunch in a harbour front restaurant, the burgers were to die for! When we got back we had a late dinner of salad as we were still full from our lunch!
Some of the group opted to go shopping this morning, the others wanted to relax by the pool. Some played games in the garden of the villa. Later we went for a walk into the village. After dinner some went into Lagos to take in the atmosphere of the evening and see the street entertainers.
This morning we went to look at the wildlife in the salt marshes in Alvor, a beautiful stretch of land with wooden walkways close to the beach. We saw lots of crabs and one had a huge claw. It is so hot today so during the afternoon we returned to be by the pool. In the evening it had cooled a little and we took a trip to take in the night life of Lagos and the chance for an ice cream. One of the street entertainers was a juggler.
Today we went to Lagos to go on a boat trip for Dolphin Watching. It was very exciting as we literally saw a dozen dolphins! They were leaping and swimming along side the boat. We had a lovely lunch in a restaurant by the marina and returned home for a cooling swim in the pool. It had been very hot again today.
We visited Zoomarine today. In the morning while at Zoomarine, some had a dolphin experience booked and went swimming with the dolphins. The rest of the group watched. It was exciting to see and experience the dolphins. The rest of the day was spent in the Theme Park seeing all the animals and visiting the seal and dolphin shows. We also watched a show with birds and we learnt a bit about birds of prey. A few of us also went on the rides at the park.
After an exciting couple of days we collapsed by the pool and decided to relax and make the most of our holiday weather, it was beautiful sunshine.
Today half of the group went inland to the town of Silves to look at the historic castle there and explore the museum. The castle sits at the top of the historic town which was once the capital of the Algarve in the 12th Century during the reign of The Moors. We stopped for a nice cool drink in the cafe. The other half of the group went into the heart of Lagos where they were entertained over lunch by a flutist and a juggler while they sat eating their meal outside.
Some of us visited Albufiera today. We liked the beach, we did however have to negotiate a few steps and it was a little cloudy this morning. Martin had his photo taken in front of one of the cafes which had a statue of Elvis while we were looking around the town. Unfortunately, it later started to rain so we returned to the villa rather early.
One of our hire vehicles unfortunately broke down this morning but was later replaced. So our morning was taken up while this was all sorted. We had a salad lunch at the villa. However, we did get to watch the TV and the Rugby International game was on. Later we went to a local restaurant for a lovely meal, it was the local cuisine.
Time for us to gather up all of our belongings and check out of the villa. We made our way to Faro airport where our flight would take us back to England. Overall we had been very lucky with the weather and had seen lots of sunny blue skies during our stay.
the dolphins on our boat trip
