Portugal holiday

Morning view of Caldas de Monchique

We arrived back on Saturday after a perfect week in Portugal.  Portugal's southern Algarve coast is a pretty crowded tourist place and for the fastidious is probably best avoided. However if you fly to Faro and drive for a mere 50 minutes, you can arrive at a delightful spot, Caldas de Monchique, up in the hills above Portimão. However beware of venturing to the beaches on the southern coast in August.  This is the epitome of the tourist trap and its trappings!

However the town of Lagos is an absolute charmer - if you avoid the famous Dona Ana beach which is rated in Condé Nast traveller as the finest in the world.  Well it is not - well it could be breathtakingly beautiful when deserted in the winter.........

Lagos

If you are fed up with the pool, and want to get to the ocean, then the best plan is to go west to Aljezur where there are some excellent simple cafés and bars, and then to the splendid Praia da Amoreira, a lovely uncrowded beach with decent rolling waves coming in from the Atlantic for moderately exciting surfing, if that is your thing.  And there is an excellent restaurant, the Paraiso do Mar, which had no difficulty in accommodating our noisy party of seven, and serving us with the customary extraordinary Portuguese charm and efficiency.

Praia da Amoreira, Aljezur

I am now back in London.  The next operatic excitement will be Tête à Tête's Remarkable Rocket on Wednesday evening!

Comments

[Zenaida]

Had I known you were going to the Algarve, I could have given you some tips, since I know the area well. But you found your way about - especially finding the beaches on the Aljezur side, which are quite delightful and not at all crowded. Glad to hear you had a good time!