Awesome Algarve

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I first met Michael when I was in Peru on the conservation project; he is British but lives in a town near Portimao in the Algarve. He met me at the station and took me back to his new house, where he lives with his Mum Elaine. The house is beautiful and has a view of the sea from the balcony. Elaine is lovely, she took us out for Chinese food in the evening, we had a bit of a walk around the town and on the beach, and we met up with Michael’s friend Micha for a drink. Michael has lived there for 11 years and went to an International school. His Mum works as a teacher at the school.

Next day Michael and I went to a medieval town called Silves and went inside the castle. We walked all around the walls, tried to work out what the original palace inside would have looked like from the open excavations that were there, and went inside an underground cistern which was interesting. It was such a hot day so we had to keep ducking out of the sun, but the castle was a relaxed place, music playing, and lovely to wander around. The Sé (cathedral) was closed so we had some lunch in a cafe and headed down into the town. There was a new area by the river that was like an exercise trail for people who go there on holidays. You go around the path and there are different activities to do at each stop, monkey bars, pushing up wooden planks, that kind of thing. It was good but way too hot to have a go and no one was around!

In the afternoon we went to the beach near Michael’s house. It was quite busy but a nice beach in a little cove of coastline, and lovely to swim in the warm sea! We went right out to some buoys the sea was so nice! We went back home for dinner and Elaine cooked us some couscous and roasted veg, Michael is vegan but we had some very tasty food!

We decided to go for a trip to Lagos the next day, a very chilled town near the west coast, I really liked Lagos. Which I was glad about because my parents are going there on holiday in October so I wanted to check it out! We parked by the pretty marina and had a wander around the town. The pavements all have tiny cobbles that Michael told me were created by one man, he comes along with his cement and hammer and makes all the intricate patterns by hand. Lagos is full of young happy people; it has a great vibe to it. Michael told me about an area by the sand dunes near the sea where some little huts have been set up for stray cats. Volunteers go there every day to feed them and to check whether any need health care. So of course I wanted to see it, and the cats there were so sweet and friendly, I wanted to take them all home with me! I think it is a great idea and so cheap, the cats are completely free but are looked after as well. We then went to visit Michael’s friend James, another English guy who works at the dive centre in Lagos. Of course he was working but we arranged to meet up in the evening.

There is a beautiful beach on the west coast of the Algarve with a river running into it, amazingly clear warm water and soft sand. On the way there Michael and I stopped to pick up some hitch-hikers! It was the first time either of us had done it but I’m glad we did. It was a couple, German girl and Swiss guy, who were hitch-hiking around the Algarve for 9 days. They were yoga teachers and very interesting to talk to. They weren’t really sure where they were going so we asked if they wanted to come to the beach with us and they ended up staying there the night! They came swimming with us and we sat on the beach chatting for a while, it was very relaxed! But we had to leave pretty soon to go home for dinner.

In the evening we of course ended up watching the World Cup final, and then went out into Lagos where a lot of Spanish people were making a lot of noise! We went with Micha and met James and his girlfriend Sabrina there. We stayed in one pub all night, one with pool tables and a table hockey game, drinking coronas, it was fun! Even when a strange Brazilian girl started talking at me for ages, I am always happy to listen to crazy people!

In the morning Michael took me to the animal sanctuary where he volunteers. We went in to see the kittens, 5 of them, so sweet! And there were lots more cats in the cattery. Then we walked around to see all the dogs, and I have never seen so many dogs together in my life, there were hundreds! But they organise it really well, they have to work out which dogs get on together and put those in the pens together, and the best dogs are allowed to roam free about the farm. There were also donkeys and mules, stood so placidly with nets over their faces to protect from the flies. Michael had to give the kittens some injections so I watched him do that. He is moving to Plymouth in September to do animal welfare at university, and I know he will be brilliant at it! It was such an amazing place, loads of space, set up by a couple who are now elderly so they let the workers run the place for them. The animals are really well looked after and it was so great to see.

In the evening Elaine, Michael and I went to a place nearby where they have the biggest sand sculpture festival in the world. We got there while it was still light, planning to go back when it was dark to see it all lit up. The theme was the natural world and it was fantastic some of the things they had made. It was set up to be all the countries of the world, the animals found in that country and some traditional people were shown as well. Our favourites were the huge under-the-sea one in the middle, the China one with a massive Panda eating bamboo, and the Amazon rainforest one. Of course I liked the Egypt one with gods with animal heads and a big Bastet the cat, and I liked the mythological animal section; a dragon, Pegasus, Dracula, everything was there! They even had a section about Dinosaurs and about Darwin and Evolution. We were there for ages looking around.

Elaine then took us for an Indian, to a restaurant where Michael’s friend works, such a beautiful meal; I really miss my Indian food!! Then we went back to the sand sculptures to see it in the dark, all lit up in different coloured lights it was a spectacular sight, really beautiful. Michael took me to the train station in the morning and I got the train back to Lisbon for my flight to Madrid.

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