Algave

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Yeah after 4 days of torrential rain it finally stopped which means it felt like we saw nothing at all of Lisbon, It gave us the impression that Lisbon was a horrible city. In continuing rain we checked out of the revolting hostel we were in which smelt of wet dog and who knows what else and went to a 2 star hotel which felt like real luxury. From there we were able to explore a 7 floor department store called Cortez Ingles where we went to the movies and saw “Life as we know it”. In Portugal the movies are’nt dubbed so they are all in English with Portugese sub titles. The movie provided light and comic entertainment and got us out of our room which was just what we needed.
Next morning with the rain and wind continuing we hopped on our 1st Portugese train (not very impressive, you don’t ever want to use a toilet on one)and took 3 hours and 50 mins to go down south to Faro ( a step ahead of you David). At 1st we were’nt too impressed, another not so good hostel and more rain until we woke the next morning to glorious blue sky and sunshine. We went on a boat trip to a nearly deserted island where we had delicious prawns and calamari for lunch and spent a couple of hours beachcombing and lazing in the sun. Again just what we needed. Next day we walked around the town in more sunshine which was very colourful and full of character, found a laundry and shouted ourselves to some clean and dry clothes and then sat in a beautiful garden where there were trees and plants from all over the world including Australia. I then made myself proud by winning a game of mini golf with Emily which she’s finding it difficult to live down and is sick of hearing about.
We are back in Lisbon now where the weather is much improved and we have internet access back again. Amazing how much your impression of a city can improve if it’s not pouring and there is a bit of sunshine, as a few of you have said we have really been very lucky and spoilt with the weather we have had on the whole trip. We did another very steep and hard walk up to the castle here in Lisbon (Emily did’nt want to catch the bus) yesterday and saw some great 360 degree views of Lisbon.
Only 2 more nights here in Lisbon then 3 in Paris and then Em takes off back to Milan for 2 months and I hop on the plane for 22 hours and return home. It’s been great but I will be happy to get home again.
Hope Cup Day was enjoyed by those that went, it sounds very different being at the beach and not at the Banks like usual. Looking forward to seeing everyone when I get home.

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