The Romans, Moors, Spanish and Portuguese have ruled at one time or another, lending a blend of architecture, food and language. The people in the South generally have dark skin and hair due to the African/Moorish heredity. Folks in the North are likely to have blond hair and blue eyes. Portuguese contains many arabic words. Not noted in the literature, Portimao has a dirty little secret -- it was home to the slave trade.
After a bumpy tender ride to shore and a long walk to get to the bus, I saw high rise apartment buildings surrounding the harbor. I didn't spend anytime here as we got on the bus and headed out-of-town. Michael walked the town because his tour was running late so he had to cancel escort duty because he would not make it back in time for the bridge game at 2pm. He said it was the land of beauty parlors. He said he passed by at least 50 of them on one street. I'll let you be the judge.
Our first destination was a village named Lagos, meaning the lakes. This is a touristy town set along the banks of the Arade River. Open air vendors were set up along the river walk, and they all sold the same stuff. Boring........ yawn. Nothing I needed or wanted.
We had free time to wander about, but it was hot in the sun and I wanted to sit in the shade. I sat with a mother and daughter from Scottland and had a delightful conversation. So why did we visit this place? It is from this city that Prince Henry the Navigator directed his Voyages of Discovery.
Check out the toilet in the ladies room. See anything missing?
The best part of the trip was a visit to the craggy coastline of Ponta da Piedade. The rugged cliffs overlooking the sea contain numerous grottos and some of the most photogenic rock formations. We only had a short stop here and besides, if you notice in the picture, there are over 300 steps down -- and that means 300 steps up. One woman actually SAID she went up and down in the 20 minute stop, and survived! Standing on the edge of the cliff to snap pictures was somewhat uncomfortable because if someone near you turned around without looking, they could actually knock you over on the lumpy rocky path and ...... you would become fish bait. There are no protective railings of anykind like in the US.
We then ventured to another fishing village, turned tourist destination. Carvoeiro perches dramatically on cliff tops with steep and narrow twisty streets going up from the beach to the top of the cliffs. It looked like a fun place to explore (not like Lagos), but the driver kept going and going up up up. At the top of the hill was the Tivoli Almansor Hotel, where we had pastries and tea or coffee. This was the last chance I was going to get to eat a Belem cake for quite awhile. The view was terrific.
I did not know that Michael scrubbed his tour, so I was in a mad dash to make it back to the ship by 2pm. The bus dropped us off at 1:30pm and I hustled about 1/2 mile to get to the tender pier. And I just made it. It was a 20 minute ride to the ship and I got off the tender before anyone else could. I raced to the excursion office to sign in and drop off the backpack they make us carry. I then rushed to the bridge room, noting it was exactly 2pm ------ and who do I see? Michael is standing right there! What a surprise! Well, no one can say I was late. I wound up having to play because they were one player short. Not having any time for lunch, I could survive that. But I was sticky hot AND ALL I WANTED WAS A SHOWER. I had to paste a smile on my face and play.....but then I was saved when two more people came in. I was out of there faster than seeing $$$$ go by when filling your gas tank.
I'm looking forward to the next (the only) sea day on this segment. I need sleep and rest. Knees are holding up!!!!!!
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