Albufiera

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We took a shuttle to Albufeira today to our next apartment. The company was a bit of a pain as they wouldn’t let us check in early, charged 3% fee for absolutely NOTHING even on the deposit.

The apartment was large, 3 bedrooms and a balcony overlooking the old town. However, the new thing for these Airbnb companies is to buy up real estate and start renting them out as self-catered flats. Essentially charging an arm and leg for apartments with nothing in them but furniture. No salt and pepper, no toilet paper (except for rolls in place), no hand soap, no dish soap, no dishwasher soap. It is frustrating as you have to buy a months worth of stuff for a few days rental. It is frustrating to renters ( or at least us, who like to cook in the homes, kind of the point of renting an Airbnb over a hotel). Then you leave it behind, and they clear it out so the next person doesn’t get any. I also understand the locals don’t like this either as they are buying up all the real estate and taking away from the neighbourhoods.

ANyways, back to Albufeira. A small coastal town with an old town and lots of neat history and old buildings to see. It felt small and very touristy. Way too much for our liking. Like you couldn’t walk down the street without being harassed by the restaurants to come and eat here, pushing their menus in your face. This is a big party town too, so late night bars pretty much rule the town and music and goers can be heard until 4 in the morning. Nonetheless, this was so far my least favourite place to be.

Lots of neat statues to find ( and I don't mean historical, more like gimmicky- Elvis, donkeys, cows, Mick Jagger, etc etc)

There were a few things we liked. The sport (Seniors)park. Gave us a place to work out every day, including weights built into the outdoor equipment, so that was neat. The beach was nice but not much to do along the sandy shores as there are lots of seashells and it hurts your feet. COuple nice viewpoints and the Cat pier was fun. A sanctuary for stray cats to hang out. They ask for donations, and they spay the cats and feed them, allowing them to live there. So we visited and hung out with the cats for a bit. I also enjoyed finding all the painted electrical boxes. I wonder if they were done by someone on their own, or if the city had them do it. They were sometimes themed by the surrounding area - i.e the cat area!!

We stayed here for 12 days but it felt longer. We did find a 2$ happy hour so that helped. Food was ok....pricier than Lagos and Spain. Only ate out a couple times, 1 at the Mexican- spicy and another at Pizza place for Sean's 48th birthday - we were seated on the rooftop so the views were good and so was the food.

Lindsay also arrived here after about 3 nights, so that was truly the highlight! On the last day, Lindsay had an event with her team just outside of the town and got Sean and I tickets to come to it. It was put on by Remax and was a conference on selling, but Taylor and his team of 3 spoke on different topics like leadership, social presence and how to be a good sales leader. I found it interesting as it all relates to any business and stuff we do at the gym as well. We had lunch with Taylor and Jake and Lindsay, so that was fun. Finally got to meet the man behind the scenes. It was a fun day!



That about sums it up, not much more to tell. We left on The 4th for Budapest, Hungary

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Photos

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Happy Birthday dinner for Sean