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Published: January 2nd 2011
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An internet connection in Burgau was non-existent and even back in Spain now we're having a hard time keeping one going long enough to post anything of significant length...so there is a little catching up to do...
Our arrival in Burgau, Portugal came after a long day that started with having to sort out a credit card that our credit card company had lovingly put a hold on, concerned as they were that charges were suddenly appearing from the wrong side of the world. The two calls that I had made to them prior to our departure apparently wasn’t enough reassurance. Todd managed this portion of the day as I was a complete vegetable following a night of less than 3 hrs of sleep. We managed with the help of the GPS to somehow escape the tangled mess of roads that make up Sevilla and pointed the car west through countryside that was very reminiscent of upstate New York with it’s rolling hills, yet straight out of southern California with it’s Mediterranean climate, olive, orange and palm trees. As we inched further away from Sevilla the clouds began to build and for the next few hours we traveled into
and out of rain.
By the time we hit Burgau the rain was coming down sideways, the wind was howling and the temperature had dropped down into the 40s. We entered the tiny town, reading the directions to go down the steep narrow road and park on the slipway (the boat ramp). What we found at the bottom of the road was an angry ocean that looked as though it was trying to eat the town. The waves were crashing violently into the headwalls not 30’ from where our little apartment was. Somehow in this mess we had to go find the lady that was to give us the key so we set out to find a phone to call her.
The first three people we met spoke neither English nor Spanish and they seemed to be the only people in the whole town. We started to feel truly hopeless when I shoved the piece of paper with the woman’s name on it under a little old lady’s nose and she, after a suspicious moment exclaimed AH! and rambled something in Portuguese…and then took off. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to follow her or not as
she didn’t make any normal human indication to do so but having no other options we started following at a safe distance. She finally turned around at some point to indicate that maybe following her wasn’t a bad idea and within a few minutes she delivered us right to the girl who had the key. The little babushka bolted without ceremony and within minutes we were in little Casa Pedro, wet, cold, tired and wondering what the HELL we were doing, having left the warm, confortable, sunny, familiar Sevilla where we could at least somewhat communicate in the language, where there were people milling happily about, where there were MARCHING BANDS for crying out loud. We left all of that for this tiny town, this cold and wet and dark and foreboding edge of the earth…I was exhausted and so I just sat there and cried a little. But we shook it off, Todd as always made me laugh and we decided to wander around to see if there were any signs of life in the town. Amidst the shuttered buildings and closed restaurants and shops there was a light on in one of the bars so we poked our
heads in to find a lovely, cosy atmosphere and a British couple enjoying a beer. We settled into an evening of lovely beer and conversation and left feeling much more hopeful.
The bartender looked just like Ryan from The Office.
We woke up the next day to a completely different universe. The sun was shining, the ocean was only slightly less angry but the sun made it seem infinitely less so. We bought some rolls up the road at a closet-sized little bakery and headed out to explore Cabo do San Vincente and Sagres. In order to get off of the slipway in Burgau you have to drive along what is probably a much less scary strip of concrete when the waves aren't crashing into it violently.
(video) Along the way we stopped at Praia Beliche which during the summer is supposed to be a spectacular place to hang out. That day there was no getting to the sand as the huge waves crashed against the base of the stairs spectacularly. It is beautiful though, a sandy alcove tucked into the towering cliffs.
Cabo do Vincente, as the southwesternmost corner of Europe, was once considered the end
of the earth, a concept that a few brave men with their big wooden boats and new triangular sails that could tack into the wind set out to disprove in the 15th century. The Portuguese were the explorers and navigators of the world, the first to dial in how to get there from here back in the day. Prince Henry the Navigator is revered in these parts as the champion of the science of navigation and the backbone of Portugal’s dominance during that time.
We hit the Sagres fort next and walked the long point through a series of very strange displays about navigation and renewable energy. There was no interpretive information about the fort itself (we’ll always have Google) but there WAS a mysterious round cinderblock building that we explored. As you approach it you can hear a roaring sound that comes and goes. Odd. So then you start walking through the maze-like little halls on the sandy floor, the roar getting louder and louder till you are so sparked by curiosity and terror there simply is no turning back without finding out what the hell is in there. In the center is a red painted area with
a grate covering a hole about 3’ across. And every 20 seconds or so the hole comes to life with a skull-rattling roar.
(video) It was straight out of LOST and we fully expected the smoke monster to come racing out of it. Again, no interpretation but from what we gathered these are holes that go to subterranean caves that the waves are working down there. Absolutely wild though to stand there and hear the power of this mysterious energy.
After a late lunch in Sagres we found the surfing beach and wandered down it for a while. The evening was beautiful, the waves perfect for the surfers out there. We came back to the still peacefulness of Burgau, had a beer at the cozy Smuggler’s bar, watched as another soaking storm came in, and called it a day.
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