Quarteira

The Algarve is a beautiful coastline.  We had only one activity planned and I'm glad we did.  We all needed some relaxation at the beach.  Much more english is spoken here, and a distinct english accent goes with it.

Despite the sand being a gorgeous beige colour, don’t be fooled, in the afternoon that burns your feet like west coast sand in NZ.  And it’s true, the Atlantic is much cooler in temp than the Pacific.  But you can’t go to the beach and not go swimming.

The area has a gorgeous wide promenade for walking, it’s 2km along the beach which is what we did to get to the famous Quarteira swing.  I can’t imagine what this place would be like at the height of summer, it's where all Portugal likes to take vacations and I can imagine a bunch of the UK as well.

Vilamoura Marina is a short walk away and the way it has been set up, it's a combo of water activities in the morning followed by lunch, cocktails and then probably more eating and drinking.  Not to be confused with Albufeira which is a massive party town just up the coast a bit, it's more set up for families and the older generation which is why we picked this town along the Algarve.

On our boat ride to the Benagil caves we passed by Albufeira and it's so impressive, completely white in colour, and a stage down on fishermans beach for hosting all kinds of gigs.  In past years this is where all the small fishing boats were stored each day, but as the area grew in popularity they purpose built a little marina for the fishing boats and there is more beach for partying now.

As we watched everyone load onto the boat, it was hard not to be judgy about the attire we saw.  The temp had dropped to 22 degrees for the day and you could see out in the ocean what looked like rain.  We had jumpers and rain jackets, while others had singlets and some kind of knitted dresses…… needless to say, 5mins in, the crew were giving them jackets to keep warm.

The caves are such a cool natural wonder.  The boat got us right up close to the sandy shore (only kayaks and paddle boarders can actually land in the cave) and to see it IRL is far more impressive.  The coastline of caves also hold stories and have nicknames based on what they look like, there are caves that come together and look like two faces kissing, a wolfs head imprint in the side of a cliff, and a massive rock formation that looks like a submarine with a sitting lion on top. 

We are now packing for Seville and I wish I could say we have a good system now in place, but nah, stuff is all over the place and takes ages.  This time however the kids are taking more responsibility for their belongings.  

I write this on our last night in Portugal while drinking Vinho Verde. We bought Pastel de Nata from the supermarket for tomorrow morning, probably not as good as the cafes but just trying to hold on to that delectable breakfast food for one more day.