The last leg of our travels is in the Algarve sharing a Villa with 4 other couples who have been friends for many years. Its a beautiful Villa with all the amenities for our group including a large outdoor pool, fully equipped gym, theatre room and a large kitchen with a counter big enough seat 10 people. It was a wonderful experience with lots of shared meals and good conversation. Being able to spend some quality time with some of our friends after being somewhat socially separated during the past 2 years of Covid has been a real enjoyable experience.
Our group booked a boat tour of the Benagil Caves on the coast in Albufeira. It was an impressive view of the weather worn cliffs and caves. Nature used the wind and waves to carve numerous images on the cliffs that allows the imagination to run wild. King Kong, an elephant and a Yellow Submarine were some identified and I saw Groucho Marx (it was mid morning and no I didnt have beer for breakfast). There were lots of beaches interwoven amongst the cave configurations and lots of people kayaking and windsuring etc. After a gruelling episode finding
a restaurant and parking in old Albufeira, we were able to return to the Villa for a relaxing dinner around our 10 seat counter. Communal living can really work with the right people, at least for some undetermined amount of time.
We were staying in Vilamoura, which is part of a series of towns and cities spread out along the Algarve coast line. The city has one of the largest marinas in Europe and lots of golf courses. Contrary to a few years ago, where golf was reputed to be quite reasonable, it is now quite expensive(150 EU green fees) so we took a pass. We did have lunch on the patio at the Dom Pedro Old Course which was a very nice looking course and noted as one of the best in the area.
Tavira was another smaller town visited on the East side of the Algarve close to the Spanish border. It was less busy than others and had some interesting Roman and Moorish ruins along with the Gilao river that splits the city before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The weather has been quite pleasant so it was a relaxing day exploring the Town with
After a week together, everyone departed on various post Villa travel plans and we head home. Our Portugal and Spanish travels were diverse, seeing many places and adding some new experiences. For the most part, it was goldilocks weather not too hot or cold with very little rain. Technology continues to change travel. It‘s amazing how few people (tourists) were carrying cameras , just using their phones for pictures. We took our camera but never used it. GPS is a must have, particularly when self driving and touring. We used primarily our phones for both walking and driving directions, although there are always some glitches that provide learning opportunities. A lot more places, restaurant, museums etc, are providing QR codes that can be scanned allowing for downloads of translated menus and other information. Google translate is getting better at helping language barriers and although we used it to some degree, it can be more effective once we learn to use it more productively. We also discovered a helpful tool in photos. With some pictures of historic or high profile buildings, the photo manager will provide helpful background and historical information.
We did find it to be much more crowded than in the past which is consistent with various media reports on travel demand.
