Blogs from Algarve, Portugal, Europe - page 8

The massive seagulls are again causing mayhem at breakfast. One of them has hoed into someone's leftovers on a nearby table and there's now broken crockery and glassware all over the paving. Issy decides to have a domestic morning, so I set off in the car for Praia de Falesia beach, which is about five kilometres east of Santa Eulalia. I take some happy snaps from the tops of the cliffs. There are again signs everywhere warning that they're unstable and to stay well back away from the edge. They look stable enough to me, so I walk right up to the lip to get the best possible vantage point. As I lean forward I realise that I'm standing on an overhang of soft loose dirt; the real cliff face is about a metre behind me. ... read more

We sleep in and miss breakfast. The channels that our TV's been tuned into suggest that our hosts think we're Dutch. We settle in to watch a few minutes of "How I Met Your Mother". All the dialogue's been overdubbed, but the canned laughter seems to be the original. We've got very little idea what's going on, but we get the giggles watching familiar faces speaking a very unfamiliar language in equally unfamiliar voices. We wander through the hotel and try to get down onto the beach. Security's intense; all the doors and gates are locked. It feels like we're in jail, only with lots of swimming pools, bars and restaurants. Actually I suspect this is not really how it feels like to be in jail. It seems that we need to use our room key ... read more

We visited the Novacortica cork production factory. Very interesting! This factory is one of nearly 600 in Portugal. It is considered a medium-size factory. It is a 3rdgeneration family business and currently has 43 employees. Each factory specializes in a certain area of the cork production. This business makes only discs and granules that are used in the production of champagne and wine stoppers. More than 60% of cork is used in stoppers. Portugal produces nearly 50% of the world’s cork. Cork comes from a cork oak tree that is all over Portugal. We saw many of them as we drove down. Harvesting: · First harvest after 25 years. Because of its irregularity, it is used in flooring and insulations, etc · Second harvest after the next 9 years, still not of production quality, is used ... read more

After walking around town for a while, I started I notice the different doors of each of the residences. I finally started taking a few shots. Interesting...at leasr to me. :-)... read more

Took a walk around town this morning rather than on the beach. Saw some very different areas of the city and walked through a cemetery (a little morbid, but always interesting). Enjoy.... read more