Blogs from Lagos, Algarve, Portugal, Europe - page 7

We arrived in Santander to overcast skies. It looked a recently prosperous place with lots of new apartment buildings. (It should be prosperous with all the money we've all invested in the local Bank!) Pampas grass grew prolifically on the sides of the road as we sped out of town, staight into the Cantabrian mountains. Then something very unbritish occurred. As we sped through the tunnels and over the mountain passes, the cloud gradually dissolved before our eyes and the landscape quickly turned dun-coloured and then arid. We struggled to find our overnight accom in Valladolid because the street markings and the Expedia map were not mutually compatible. We even stopped at the local council office to find our way. Eventually, we found the place and settled down to a sundowner by the swimming pool. (They ... read more

I think I am going to move to Lagos. No questions asked, I need to live here. I'd like to think I've been to quite a few places, and been on some nice vacations, but my trip to Lagos definitely makes it on the top 3 most fun and most beautiful vacations of all time. Yes, this is quite a bold statement, but Lagos was amazing!! A bunch of my friends and I went with this group called Discover Granada to Lagos. It's a fun, student run group that is totally laid back yet organizes your entire vacation for you. The bus left from Sevilla, so we spent one night in Sevilla (another beautiful city that I need to return to) and had a blast at Buddah bar. I met up with one of my friends ... read more

August 21, 2010 When we arrived here in Portugal two weeks ago, we did not see the best side of the country. From the window of our train we seem a country side that was dry and in some parts a dust bowl. Where the only places where it was green was where there was a water source of some kind. But now, we have seen a different side of the country. Yes, it is very dry and dusty in parts, but there are many beautiful sites. There are many unusual plants and flowers here. I am amazed at the amount of bamboo there is. There are fields of it just growing wild, and then there are great big palm trees and catechus’! It is truly amazing. We have been to the Lagos Zoo, to the ... read more

August 8, 2010 We made it to Portugal!! And Roma was AMAZING! We had a world win tour of Rome, the sights were out of this world and we probably only seem a very small portion of the city. We did manage to get around without getting to “lost”. Nick and Marcus’ map reading skills were put to the test, while Hannah and my patents were put to the test as us princess had score feet and were thirsty most of the time. On our last day in Rome we were walking around this square with this magnificent church (which of course I have forgotten which one), but right beside it there was a cafe with the owner who worked the crowd! Come have a cold glass of wine on me, the children, they will get ... read more

Having boasted in my introductory, blog-joining note of how worldly-wise and extensively travel the pair of us are, on Thursday we are "going Local" and flying to Portugal to stay with our friends, the Hamatons, who live in the Algarve, Portugal. They emigrated some 10 years ago to escape the UK Winters and are now part of an ex-Pat community in Lagos. Not sure if we could be brave enough to make such a decision but, hey, why do we need to consider such a thing when we have an open-ended invite to go and stay anytime we wish. This year will be the 7th time we have taken up their offer to go and enjoy the quiet beauty of an relatively unspoilt part of Europe. Hopefully I'll be able to make a few entries whilst ... read more