Fun in the Portugal sun...

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Off to Portugal!!! Liani and I were up at 4.30am to get ourselves off to Heathrow. We flew first to Brussels, then with TAP airlines to Lisbon. I had requested a vegeterain meal with TAP but they only had parma ham panini's which were pretty rank, but anyway the steward came back and said he would go make me something else, I said it was OK so he returned with a lovely bottle of Portugese red!!! Alright, cant complain about that!!! Anyway it became a bit of a theme throughout the day that the rather low top I was wearing seemed to be resolving certain situations we were getting ourselves into. The next problem happened at Lisbon airport where we were sitting waiting for a flight to be called, and then noticed no-one else around so I went to find out from the check-in counter what was happening. At the same time two rude englishmen started huffing and puffing about missing the flight as well, however they were told to go check in for the next flight which was two hours later. The young man at check-in however did all he could and managed to get Liani and I on the flight!! The passengers on board were to say the least - a bit pissed off, but we made it!! From Lisbon to Faro, no further mishaps and we jumped into a taxi for the half hour drive to our hotel in Faro. Driving the motorways and streets of southern Portugal was fairly non-descript. The landscape though reminded me of what rural Mexico would be like, very dry with cacti and palm trees. Old
deserted white structures that before the impact of the motorway traffic, would have been someones home.
We arrived at our hotel, right on the beach and I immediately felt the tranquility of the oceans effect on me. The coastline in front of our hotel was dramatic and rocky, loads of jagged grottos and coves with secluded beaches. The beach was choc full of rentable umbrellas and sun decks, the sand was white and the water was crystal clear. The temperature outside was around 30deg and the water was the same temp as South cronulla in the middle of summer. All good!! Over the next couple of days we swam, sunbaked, drank and ate, Liani turning very brown and my skin... well I needed another 2 weeks to be that tanned!!! The Portugese people are lovely, very friendly and accommodating. They absolutely LOVE BBQ sardines and loads of other stuff from the sea!! We only had one bad meal at a seafood place, at which we both turned green and didnt manage to get the vision of grilled whole squid- ink and backbone included, out of our heads for a couple of days!! I would definately love to see more of Portugal, the west coast is apparently beautiful with nice surf, and the interior would be a snippet of traditional Portugese culture.

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