Today we discovered the real Portugal. We went places where few tourists go, we wondered through the countryside on some pretty windy and very steep roads. We saw some little towns that looked extremely quiet and peaceful. We saw hundreds of acres of orange groves. We even found another vista along the way. Here is a list of the towns we saw: 1. Paderne - along the way to Alte we got lost in the town of Paderne. So we toured the cemetery which is like the ones in New Orleans. 2. Alte-a quaint little town with a river running through it and a very old cathedral. The Cathedral dates back to the 16th century. The chapels are decorated with golden leaf from the 1700's. One chapel has side walls covered with smooth surfaced tiles dating ... read more

We have spent the last two days orienting ourselves to Albufeira. It is a busy, crowded resort town similar to Cabo or Cancun. The majority of people here are English (from the United Kingdom), Irish, and German. People are quite surprised and pleased when they find out we are from the U.S. We thought we would see some real Portuguese life by going into "old town". That area was every bit as crowded as the beach area. So we decided to take the advice of a guy we met by the pool and rented a car. We will tour the coast and some inland areas in the next couple of days. After dinner, which by the way the food here is delicious. Jerry had a dish called chicken piri piri. The recipe is online. I will ... read more

Our day in Ayamonte. We spent the morning trying to figure out how we would be able to get out of town the next day. We had reservations for a place in Portugal that we needed to get to on Saturday. So the first stop was the reception office for the condo we are staying at. We found out where to leave the keys in the morning (no small task with one person speaking Spanish and one person speaking English). Then she tried to help us with the bus schedule. Her information said that the bus did not stop in Ayamonte on Saturday, only Monday-Friday. Now what?!?! Next stop was to be the tourist office. They would be able to help us find a way out of town--IF they speak a little bit of English. Since ... read more

Our last day in this wonderful beach town. It reminds me a little of Seaside Oregon. What better way to spend the day then at the beach. I actually went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! We have enjoyed our time here immensely. We have met many people who come here to vacation from all over the Europe. We also discovered tapas! In Spain in the evening many restaurants serve tapas when you order a glass of beer or wine. A tapa is a little plate with an appetizer size dish of your choice of a menu item. Each glass of beer equals one tapa. The thought, of course, is that after sampling a few, you will choose one and order it for dinner. But after sampling one or two at two or three different restaurants, who ... read more

One of the sights of Nerja is the Balcony of Europe. It is a bluff that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea. A castle and later a fort occupied this spot from the 9th century until the earthquake of 1884. Now it is a pedestrian friendly view terrace. And what a view it is. You can see miles of the Mediterranean Sea coastline and many little coves and caves below. The tide change here is minimal--only a two feet change during a 24 hour period. On the Balcony there is a cute statue of King Alfonso XII. This commemorates when he came to Nerja after the devastating earthquake and mobilized the locals to put the community back together. Standing on this spot amid the ruins he marveled at the view and gave it its name Balcony ... read more