Tavira - Portugal

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Tuesday 15th February 2010

Time to move on to Portugal today via Palos de Frontera. Palos is considered the "cradle of the Discovery of America" because from its port in 1492 the ships of Christopher Columbus and the Pinzon brothers set off to discover a shorter route to India and discovered the New World.
On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed with three ships; the Santa María nicknamed Gallega (the Galician), and two smaller caravels the Pinta (the Painted) and the Santa Clara. On the morning of October 12th land was sighted and the rest is history.
Today we find the old port and the Muelle de las Carabelas ("Dock of the Caravels") which has been faithfully reconstructed, with storage buildings, canteens and shops of various craftsmen. Particularly impressive are the exact replicas of the three ships of Columbus.
Unfortunately a rare example of Spanish H&S intervened and visits to the ships were suspended as the decks were wet and slippery – good job that didn’t apply to Columbus or America might never have been discovered ! But at least we got a look at the ships from the dock before heading into Portugal and our first port of call Cabanas near Tavira.


Wednesday 16th February 2010

School day and domestics with dinner in the site restaurant followed by Bingo / Football on TV ( Arsenal v Barcelona )

Thursday 17th February 2010

Visit by train to Tavira where we saw the town, castle and visited the camera obscura, housed in an old water tower and owned by an ex-pat. Later took a walk to Cabanas marina and had a pleasant walk along the promenade.

Friday 18th February 2010

A drive along the coast to the holiday resort of Albufeira followed by Maths and English tests for the boys and laundry for Max. Met a cardboard cut out of Sir Cliff Richard in the campsite shop and bought a bottle of his wine.

Saturday 19th February 2010

Bus from site into town for a spot of sightseeing. Had a tattoo ( henna ) as it’s Sam’s birthday - 19 today ! It doesn’t seem a year since his 18th party at the cricket club – happy birthday Sam we miss you ! Late afternoon brings rain so we retreat into a café to watch Man Utd v Crawley Town in the FA cup, after which we move onto a restaurant with an ocean view for dinner. Speciality – Cataplana, a traditional seafood dish served with rice, excellent and very enjoyable washed down with local vino.

Sunday 20th February 2010
Late start, lazy day – Max sunbathing and The boys tinterrnetting using the free wifi at the bar.
On our return from cyberspace Max claims to have had a close encounter with a scorpion.

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