Vineyards, Lagos, Cape St.Vincent, Sagres

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Since we arrived at our country hotel last night in the dark, we were pleasantly surprised by our surroundings this morning. We took a walk thru the vineyards and olives trees surrounding the hotel this morning. We were on the look out for storks. Storks are famous here in Portugal. We have seen many stork nests throughout our travels. Their nests are up to 6 feet wide and are usually on top of electricity pilons. On the grounds of the hotel, we saw several nests...but no storks. (Picture the stork that delivers babies). We boarded the bus and headed for the town of Lagos. Lagos is a small fishing town on the southern coast of Spain. When we arrived, we beelined for the town market to check out the catch of the day. The market was lovely and we were able to sample some fresh figs. After the market we wandered around Lagos and grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant that was recommended by our tour guide. My mother order the famous octopus stew and I was able to try it. It was delicious. Before we knew it, we had to pay the check and hightail it back to the bus. We had about a 30 minute ride and stopped at Cape St.Vincent. Cape St.Vincent is the most southwestern point of the European continent. The lighthouse and cliffs were gorgeous. This spot reminds me of Loophead which is close to where my grandmother grew up in Ireland. I wandered off by myself to grab some lovely coast line photos. Our next stop was a 16th century fortress at Cape Sagres. This fortress was very cool and the views of the lighthouse and cliffs (that we had just visited) were spectacular. There was a walkway that went around the point and we even met a crab on the way. After a fairly quick stop, we headed back to our hotel. We had a quick rest and then got ourselves ready for our group dinner at Dom Sabastiano. Our dinner was in a very small restaurant and it was very cool. We started with appetizers including olives, bread, flambé chorizo sausage, and liver pate. We ordered a local speciality of chicken cooked in a clay pot. It was amazing! Our dessert tasted as good as it looked. Homemade ice cream and Chocolate Mousse. After dinner, the owner of the restaurant invited us to his port cellar. The cellar was cool and dark. The owner was especially proud of some of his oldest bottles of port, including some bottles from the 16th century. We decided to take a leisurely walk back to the hotel. The town was quiet and peaceful and we enjoyed our 20 minute walk back. Upon arrival, we continued our Portuguese indoctrination by watching Movies in English with dubbed Portuguese subtitles.

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Photos

Land Marker
This land marker signifies that Portugal discovered this land