My Spot:No offense to Sheldon of Big Bang Theory; BUT this is MY SPOT! Many days if warm, I walk down hill minutes and hang out in afternoon sun here on the cliffs east end of Albufeira or I go below to the beach area for an hour or two.
New AirBnb: See the pics on my new AirBNB next door to the one I had. Nice balcony view! Much smaller place and queen bed in the living room but I can handle that. I have a nice round marble table for my laptop and to hang out with sea view through the sliding glass doors..
Wednesday I took a couple hours walk to western Albufeira deep into hilly old town along the beautiful western cliffs and with very old buildings, Big tourist area, but very cool including a museum showing A.D. artifacts from various old fortresses and buildings. see the pics
Thursday I met with Facebook Expat Albufeira group at Jacks Irish Pub at Albufeira marina; many drove minutes away from Carveiro and elsewhere; maybe there were 12 people altogether.Got great info to get tax ID NIF and potentially a
Great news; I learned that a Residency card from Portugal gives me 6 months visitation in each of 26 EU countries for travel if I want. instead of the 90 days every 180 days limit with US passport alone.
I have found the bus network quite convenient and I paid for a pass point .8 euro for 1 hour including connections;
- no need for a car if I were to live here. However you can wait 30+ minutes for the next bus if you miss the bus like I have ... so some time wasted.
Observation: Portugal in the Algarve has an infatuation with Irish Pubs and many times I can see withing a block or two. Very strange also occurred in Lagos and Playa de Rocha.
In fact a very good Stout is made right in Albufeira called Sagres named after a pretty fishing town West of Lagos .
Friday I am joined some expats from Facebook group Only 4 people showed up including me.We went to the east side to Oura just shy
of Olhos de Agua called the Strip. Its a relatively new (last 15 years) younger crowd, party area with restaurants/ bars apartments which are apparently packed during season as Albufeira area population grows from 50,000 to 300,000.
We met at a well known highly rated coffee roaster/cafe for coffee, 1 from England lived in Portugal 10 years teaching English, 1 female artist (painter) scouting from Grand Rapids, MI, 1 from India here for 2 years, IT consultant all over the world; I.took a walking tour of the strip with this guy- a younger guy that frequents the restaurants and bars.
This time of year Strip is empty and many places are closed until mid January. One local told me the beaches (Oura and Santa Eulalia) can be crowded at 7Am with people left sleeping on the beach from partying the night before during season.
