Chewing the Treat

It’s never a great idea to get your figs mixed up with your dog treats.

The kindly market stallholder in Alcacer do Sal handed me a few figs to ‘try before I buy’. Placing an item in my mouth I felt that the crumbly texture was not reminiscent of the humble dried fruit. Eewww! Unwittingly I had placed the doggy treat within my mouth by mistake. DO NOT try this at home. I had to cover my oral displeasure as I did not want the chap to think I was reacting to his delicious figs so, with slight of hand, I removed the offending object and quickly replaced it with the delicious fruit. Thrilled with my ecstatic reaction, he offered Mr Fluffy a swig of his ginger liqueur which he had, rather worryingly, secreted in the glove compartment of his van.

The Algarve is lovely with beautiful beaches and fantastic weather but we felt that as soon as we ventured inland the people became friendlier and the atmosphere more chilled out – less touristy. In Melides, where we stopped to pop into a market, a chap knocked on Dickie’s window. He wanted to tell us how much he liked English people and what a great time he had working for Mr Richards in Bristol. ‘Did we know him?’ After happily showing us his goosebumps, which he proudly stated was his physical reaction to seeing an English couple, he strode off with a whimsical expression and I felt that, in a small way, we had made his day.

the boys chewing the fat

The trip had started well and became even more pleasant when we pulled up at our lakeside venue.  Graham’s magician friend JJ (who we had previously found in Silves) was parked in the van next door. Mr F enjoyed helping JJ clean the roof of his van and we spent a couple of days sitting in the sun and testing Hugo off the lead which went pretty well until a car, dog or person came into view. He’s a very naughty dog. Now off to Evora for some very big stones.

Sagres, Stones and Terrible Hair Days

Boca do Rio

Carrapateira

The area around Sagres - the pointy bit at the bottom left hand corner of Portugal - is totally stunning. The wildflowers make a colorful frecklage across the fields, the beaches are soft and sandy, and the warmth is making my pits damp. It's around 27 degrees to day and we've spent the last few days at Carrapateira, Boca do Rio, and Sagres itself. We first visited here in the winter of 2009, came back in the winter of 2010 (when G managed a massive brandy hangover from substantial measures at the Last Chance Saloon), and now we are back again. This time the sun is shining even if the wind is still a little on the 'terrible hair day' scale, and the Last Chance is a slightly pricier Chiringuito.

Is this a wild orchid?

By the beach

sideways terrible hair day

sideways stone

We've even managed a few standing stones, most of which are now 'lying down' stones unfortunately, but we did manage to find one which has maintained its erect stance. We visited the 'Interpretation Centre' in Vila Do Bispo and they were extremely helpful, giving us a map of the megaaaaaaliths, and a personalised tour around their very small displays. Map in hand, we followed the Ruta de Monoliths, and found some stones which had seen better days but it was interesting none the less. It is a place where mandrakes grow but being terrible at flora identification we weren't sure if we recognised any.

No longer standing stone

sideways flowers

Hugo has developed a real love of beaches and is even putting his feet in the water of his on accord - occasionally. He has a great time whizzing around like a mad thing then passes out for hours in Dickie. I'm not sure why some of my pics have ended up sideways - sorry about that folks. Heading off northwards tomorrow for some hot mountain action.

Stones and Sand

The beach beckons. We had our first full submersion of 2015 in the sea at Alvor yesterday and, as it was National Cleavage Day, I was pleased to be able to do my bit by getting the crepey Aussie chest out. Hugo loves the beach and carries on like a nut case whenever his paws touch the sand. Not so the swimming part though and we have to physically dunk him in to try to get him to have a cool off in the sea.

We were excited to find a few more megaliths outside Silves and had a trip out to Alcalar to check out the chambered tombs. They've been reconstructed and are quite impressive.

A vision in white

out of bounds

no you can't go in

Hot Neolithic man action

Eek my wee fee is going nuts so I'll sign off for now.

A Magical Meeting

The wifi finder said JJ's something or other. 'I bet that's my old mate JJ the magician'. They had not seen each other for a few years but it turned out JJ was parked two vans away in a fabulous classic Hymer and the two chaps got together to chew the veritable fat. 

Our sudden decision to drive to Silves turned out to be a fortuitous one as we met JJ and his friends Ann and John from Northern Ireland, had a gorge walk to see our first Portuguese standing stones, and discovered the loveliness of Silves. And Hugo fell in love with JJ.

JJ, Graham, Ann and John

the classic

 

Silves Stones

Our first Portuguese standing stone

neolithic tomb

a bit phalloir

Driving through Amorosa (which means lovely in Portuguese), we passed Casa Troll and knew we must be heading in the right direction. 'Ah yes, a healing centre on the left'. Soon we came to a sign showing we had reached the Alignments of Vilarinha. There are four standing stones along the trail and each is carved with different designs, some of which we could hardly make out due to the centuries of weathering. There were also a couple of intriguing tombs along the way that we weren't expecting.

A little troll-like himself

It was third time lucky as we had been on two other searches for megaliths, both of which had been totally fruitless (apart from the lemon I secretly picked off a tree). Perhaps it was the boat with the Eye of Horus called 'Bom Fortuna (good luck) we saw in Olhao that helped us out.

Bom Fortuna

a road well travelled

Here comes the sun..and Fado

peeping eclipse

A small tear peeped over my eyelid as I listened to a song called Kilkelly on Mike Hardy's Folk podcast. Not being the type to burst into tears at the drop of a chapeau I blamed the eclipse and the fact we had arrived in Portugal, home of the Fado. 

Looking through the sky light we had a fabulous view of the eclipse as it conveniently showed itself in a break of the clouds. The beach at Manta Rota was a perfect spot for Hugo to have a run and we found a mermaid's purse in the sand - a good luck sign to match the eclipse we hope. 

Next stop Tavira for the musical theme of the day to continue. There is a new Fado project (Fado com Historia Associacao Cultural) where you can learn about its history and hear some songs - £5 for a half hour. Although brief it was a good taster for our evening activity, a Fado evening at a local restaurant. Both singers and guitarists were extremely talented and Mr Fluffy is now suffering from overeating a yummy squid stewy thing.

Fado com Historia

hot Fado action

Hugo is enjoying his food as well and we think he may be putting on weight. His face was a picture a couple of days ago when, in a spurt of energy he bounded up to a little wall and over the edge into a fountain about a foot deep. Great merriment was had as we watched him learn that, yes, he can swim, a talent he was previously unaware he possessed. He has been a little keen to avoid anything watery ever since.

spot the Dickie behind the tulip tree

El Rocio

The wide dusty streets are a little reminiscent of the towns of far west NSW near the Warrumbungle mountains (where my grandparents grew up) that I visited as a child. The main difference is the gigantic pilgrimage church which over a million peregrinos visit each Easter..... and perhaps the shops selling flamenco dresses and ponchos......and the tapas bars.......oh well there are gum trees, wide streets, verandas, dust and heat. 

Church of El Rocio

I'm a wide street

no kookaburras in these gum trees

El Rocio is on the edge of the Donana National Park and is great for birdwatching if you're into that sort of thing. From Dickie we looked out over the lake where flamingos paddled alongside horses and sand flies. No on could say the place was size-ist. 

spot the Dickie

view from Dickie with a raindrop on camera

The rain came in overnight and turned the streets to mud so we headed off to La Rabina to visit the monastery there. We carried Hugo around the museum (he was heavy but well behaved) and another reminder of childhood came when we saw the replicas of Columbus's ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. We learnt about these at school and I've always liked the musical quality of the three words strung together.

After a night in Moguer we will be in Portugal in an hour or so. A new country - how exciting. Looking forward to becoming fluent in yet another language....not.