HP Sauce And Other Highlights!

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Before Christmas we met a couple who had a house near Cape St Vincent in Portugal, we checked it out on the map and it appealed to us as it’s right at the very bottom south west corner of Portugal, a famous old red lighthouse marking the craggy cliffs. We decided that Cabo de Sao Vicente and its neighbouring town: Sagres, would be our next stop.

We broke our journey south by stopping for the night on an aire, situated 902 metres above sea level on an observatory. The observatory is in a place called Foia, near Monchique, directly north from Portimao, the climb upwards is not too terrifying and at the top there’s a large car park, gift shop, café etc. but more than that: absolutely amazing 360 degree views of the Algarve. The car park was deserted once the sun had set so we did a bit of star gazing (a very small bit, as the only constellation I can ever recognise is The Plough!) before settling in for the night.

From Foia, the next morning, we meandered back down the hillside to our campsite in Sagres. Situated between Sagres and Cabo de Sao Vicente, the campsite was in a perfect position for cycle rides to both. There are some fantastic beaches in Sagres, with a backdrop of terracotta coloured cliffs and little blue, white and yellow houses, the sands were dotted with only a few umbrellas and holiday makers. Perfect!

We cycled to the Cape one evening to watch the sunset, sitting on the rocks near the lighthouse, there is nothing between you and the sunset but the ocean so the view is totally uninterrupted and quite mesmerising. There were loads of people sitting on the rocks watching the sun sink; it was probably the busiest ‘venue’ in the area!

After a couple of days in Sagres, we drove east to a really lovely campsite in Cabanas de Tavira, just a few miles further than Tavira town. The welcome was friendly and efficient, the site was pleasant, toilets and showers clean and modern and the bar and pool were OPEN!!! I absolutely couldn’t fault it. We’d stayed on a few ‘Orbitur’ sites in Portugal prior to this, a chain of campsites all down the west coast and along the Algarve, and they were pretty rotten to be honest: run down, tatty and dirty facilities, staff totally indifferent… if you’re off to camp in Portugal, avoid them!

As we were in the Algarve we made the best of the fact that every café offers a full English breakfast! Well you have to really… and it had been 7 weeks since our last one, on the ferry… The waitress produced a bottle of HP sauce from the front pocket of her apron, without us even asking for it, Steve was in heaven! Breakfast done, we cycled in to Tavera town for a look around. There’s a nice old town and the remains of old castle walls to explore, the castle and two mosques were built by the Moors in the 8^th century but after the town was conquered in 1242 the Moors were forced to live outside these old town walls. From the town it is possible to cycle a few kilometres out towards the ferry that goes across the water to the Ilha de Tavira (a little island with a fantastic beach, reachable only by boat, there are no bridges or causeways to take cars over to the island), along this route there are saltpans: areas of land divided in separate square pools to allow for the formation and collection of the salt. There are three main areas: one for large deposit of sea water; a second for evaporation and concentration, the third area is for crystallization and collection of the salt, the pans produce 800 to 1000 tons of Traditional Sea Salt.

I really enjoyed all of our Portugal experience, from the little villages hidden in the hills and valleys of the centre, to the city of Lisbon, to the cliffs and beaches that we visited and there’s definitely more to the Algarve than golf courses (and English breakfasts)!

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Photos

Cabo de Sao Vicente Lighthouse
Photo's courtesy of Steve Linger

Comments

[Sojourner1208]

aire
How do you find these "aire"s ? I am considering renting a camper and traveling around Europe a bit myself. I have traveled around the US camping and Europe using hostels but this is the first I have heard of an "aire". "We broke our journey south by stopping for the night on an aire, situated 902 metres above sea level on an observatory"

[VanB]

Aires
Hi, you can buy books on line called 'All The Aires', there's one for France, one for Spain/Portugal and also one for Northern Europe mountains I think. In France there are loads and loads to choose from but some European countries are not campervan friendly!

[Sojourner1208]

Aires
Thanks for the heads up and info on Aires'.