Day 18, Alvor, Portugal, May 25, 2025

Our last day in Alvor. I was happy to see that the swelling was going down substantially in my foot so we decided to go for one last walk on the beach boardwalk. It was going up to 26 today with no humidity. We stopped by the market for one last time to get the fixings for our lunch sandwiches and dinner. We have managed to use up everything with no waste. 

We spent the afternoon at the pool. The pool staff have been amazing. Particularly the main chappy who would jump up as soon as he saw us and fix us up with lounger pads and an umbrella and always stopped by to all those he helped to say “goodbye, see you tomorrow” after his shift. I never saw any tipping culture here. I wanted to say goodbye to let him know this was our last day so I walked over to his station and gave him a ten. He was so appreciative. I went back to my lounger and after a few minutes he came by to also thank Jill. Such a nice friendly man. 

Jill finished the book which she got at the reception desk when we arrived, “Those Who Are Loved”.  She read “The Island” by the same author, Victoria Hislop, which was about a leper colony on the Greek island of Spinalonga. We had planned to go there last year when we had to cut our holiday short. 

Tonight, we had pork sausage spaghetti with red bell peppers, olives, onion, garlic, piri piri flakes, zucchini, and white wine. We finished the last of the lettuce, cucumber, red bell pepper and arugula in a salad with our usual extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. We used 700 ml of olive oil in our time here. No wonder the pounds don’t drop off us with all of our walking. We ended the evening by going down to play pool. We have really enjoyed playing. I took a few pictures of the road which goes to the beach and another of the beautiful jacaranda trees at the school across the street. Their purple blooms are just starting to blossom.

Tomorrow, we will take an Uber to Portimao where a four hour bus ride will take us north to Lisbon.  We arrive in the afternoon and will have a meal out before we tuck in. Our accommodations are by the bus terminal and an Uber will get us to the airport on Tuesday morning for our flight home. This is my last blog for this trip. 

Until next time, Greece in September …

Peter

Day 17, Alvor, Portugal, May 24, 2025

Today was a down chill day in order to rest and deal with my foot issue. We walked minutes from our place and had our first breakfast out. It was a treat, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast - yum. We stopped to get some more coffee pods for the Delta Q coffee machine in our unit. We normally drink large espresso coffees at home, but here we didn’t have a choice. We’ve gone through 50 pods so far since we also have an espresso at night with some port and chocolate, our indulgence. The unit we are in has been wonderful. It is serviced by housekeeping ever four days. 

In the afternoon, we played some pool which ended up in a draw. We shared a half litre of delicious rose sangria filled with berries and cherries then it was up to our place for Scrabble and snacks. We had a tasty port pate and English cheddar with cream crackers and olives. The good news is, I finally won by a small margin. 

Off we went to Napoli Restaurant for wine and a Margarita pizza. Our third time. Great pizza. Tomorrow is our last full day and it is forecast to be hot. Probably a pool day.

Day 16, Alvor, Portugal, May 23, 2025

We decided to take the boardwalk to the far end of the beach, then walk on the sand to almost the other end. The beach is 3.5 km long. I think we walked 2.5 km on the sand. More people on the beach today as the summer is about to explode with visitors. There are no washing stations when you exit the beach so getting the sand off our feet was quite the lengthy process. We got home after almost two hours of  walking.We made lunch at home on soft Portuguese buns. Jill finished up the capicola with arugula, Dijon mustard, and red bell pepper. I decided to squeeze the pork out of the two sausages I still had, then made two small sausage patties. Lunch on the balcony was a delight. We spent almost an hour dealing with TD Visa regarding our fraudulent charge. Snooze time.

Off to the market to see what looked good for dinner. The store brand smoked salmon was reasonably priced so we decided on smoked salmon cream pasta with capers. We bought a few cans of  €.69 beer. Can’t beat these prices. While at the market Jill noticed that the swelling around my toes due to Morton’s neuroma had spread to my foot and ankle. She made me an ice pack and got my foot up. I guess I overdid the walking. Scrabble time. Jill trounced me once again. She is so lucky and an innovative speller. 

After dinner, we played some pool. Sticky Fingers Jill is playing so well. Our games are very close but close only counts in horseshoes. It’s a lot of fun. Our complex has three pool tables. €1 per game. We went for a walk to checkout the booming music. It was a guy with backing tracks, too frikken loud for me. We could hear it in our unit with everything closed tight. We did, however, get a few pictures of some nice vehicles. It was a good day for my growing stone collection.

Day 15, Praia do Vau/Alvor, Portugal, May 22, 2025

We were up early and took an Uber to Praia do Vau to do the cliff top walk again. It is such a beautiful walk, challenging in parts. Jill will atest to that. Although the temperature was forecast to go up to 26 today, there was still a gentle breeze at the top to cool us when we rested in the shade. I couldn’t help but take more pictures. I didn’t want to miss any which I missed on our first walk. We found our way to the road that took us home. By the time we got to the market, we had been walking for 2 hours, sometimes quite briskly. We were full of energy and it felt good to be trucking at a strong pace. We stopped at the market for some pork which I marinated with garlic, lemon juice, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, salt and piri-piri. We’re going to have it with rice and broccoli for dinner. We are thoroughly enjoying going to the market everyday after deciding what we’re going to have for dinner.

Rather than going out for lunch, we made sandwiches for lunch and ate on our balacony which always has a nice breeze from the ocean. We bought some capicola for our sandwiches topped with the hot Dijon mustard and mayo, arugula, tomato, and some red bell pepper. The jacaranda tree at the school across from our place is starting to bloom it’s beautiful purple flowers. The temperature only go up to 23 so we decided to play some pool rather than go for a swim. Jill only swims when she’s hot. Back to our place to chill. I took a picture of the small stones I have collected so far for my necklace projects. They are few and far between here, not like Greece  Lots of clam shells, stones rare. 

Unfortunately, despite the fact I had marinated the pork, it was really tough but tasty. Dealing with different cuts in a foreign country is a crap shoot. After dinner, Jill suggested we go down and play some pool. A nice night of wine and pool was had. Tomorrow we are walking on sand.

Day 14, Alvor, Portugal, May 21, 2025

Today we walked again along the sandy beach of Alvor and we allowed the waves to cool our feet. We were hot and the icy cold ocean cooled us as it lapped our feet. On to the boardwalk to Old Town with our destination for lunch, a small place highly recommended on TripAdvisor. This was our hottest day, mid-twenties. The sea breeze was no longer cooling. Portugal and Spain have been warned that as of May 27, temperatures could reach highs of 37. 

We are leaving Alvor to Lisbon by bus on the 26th. We will overnight in Lisbon before our flight the next day. Yesterday, we were alerted that our bus tickets to Lisbon were cancelled due to road construction. We also received an alert that bus tickets to Lisbon were selling fast. We were lounging at the pool when we got the news and Jill, my resident travel agent extraordinaire, immediately jumped into action and arranged bus tickets from Portamao which is an Uber ride away.

The recommended restaurant is what you would call a hole in the wall. Six small tables outside and a few inside. The prices were cheap and it was reflected in the food. My bifana had two tough pieces of pork on a soft bun. Not much marinating here. Jill had fish and chips. The chips were excellent but her fish was fried in a poor tasting oil which oozed and dominated the batter. We shared a litre of so-so sangria. Sometimes you get what you pay for. 

Back home and we were ready for a swim in our beautiful pool, but first a stop at the market for the fixings for a big salad dinner.

Today was Jill’s first dip in the pool. We had a good swim then dried off on our loungers. We’ve gotten enough sun and probably the darkest we have been in decades so we retreated to our place. Despite the temperature increase, our unit was not hot. No need for aircon. We get a beautiful breeze from our balcony and bedroom window.

Dinner prep involved slicing up a red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, leftover chicken breast, salami, olives, green leaf lettuce and arugula. We had two fat pork sausages left over which I sliced thinly then crisped up in  the frying pan. Extra virgin olive oil, salt, and red wine vinegar brought it all together.

We had to do a port run as we were out again. After A/B ing Ruby and Tawny port, Tawny won out by a considerable margin. A bottle of Dow’s Fine Tawny Port cost a mere €5.39. Drink local, pay local. 

We’re enjoying our balcony. It’s cooled down nicely. A pink sky tonight. Sailors delight.

Day 13, Alvor, Portugal, May 20, 2025

This holiday is going very slowly (in a good way). Today we decided to take the boardwalk to one side of the beach and walk back on the sand. My foot has healed nicely. It was wonderful to walk with slow waves lapping the shore. The ocean looked so inviting. We walked through old town Alvor as we discussed lunch and dinner, major decisions in our simple life. Rather than eating out we figured we should eat up the chicken cold cuts before they go bad. We took the last bun for Jill and the last of the sliced rustic bread for me out of the freezer. Jill microwaved hers and I toasted mine. We had two packets of mayo, thanks to sticky fingers Jill and hot Dijon mustard. We sliced most of the red pepper we had left over and arugula to make our sandwiches. We piled on the chicken and the fixings - with some white wine it was so good.

Off to the market to get dinner. Pork sausages, not like home, so much better, a zucchini which they call courgette throughout Europe and Australia. Red peppers were sold out. I like drinking red wine when I cook and thought I should try the €1.99 Vinho regional Alentejano. To our surprise it was excellent. Much better than the red wine we bought previously for much more. We looked it up and learned it was from a challenging vast wine region in Portugal. It was a 2022 vintage and was excellent. It’s a blend, which many wineries do to average out bad harvests. A lucky find … off to the pool.

The water felt a few degrees warmer today. The forecast is for rising temperatures until we leave. We have had 19 to 21 degree days but as of May 27, it will be rising steadily up to 37 degrees. Yikes! The pool was the busiest since we arrived. Our loungers were next to three Portuguese women, one talking at the speed of a machine gun lol. We giggled saying she must have practiced circular breathing because she didn’t seem to take a breath. We don’t know what she was saying, but it sure was intense. Her friends never said a word, nor did they have a chance. An hour in the sun is more than enough, so we were off to the pool table.

I lost the match. Jill is getting better. We are considering’Sticky Fingers Jill’ as her handle. Mayo, serviettes, somehow supplements our kitchen. 

Our dinner once again used what we didn’t want to waste. Some onion, half a red bell pepper, garlic, with zucchini, salami,  sliced pork sausages, piri-piri flakes, white wine, olives from the old couple by the beach, hot Dijon mustard, served on leftover rice in chicken stock. This could be a kitchen staple when we get home.Yum!

Day 12, Praia da Rocha, Portugal, May 19, 2025

As we looked out from our place, large clouds were forming and we wondered what today would bring. We took an Uber to Praia da Rocha to walk along the beach boardwalk. We walked to the end of the beach to the Portimao break wall and walked to the lighthouse. We decided to take an Uber home and eat at a restaurant in our complex. We both had bifana (again) and fries. This time our baguette was filled with lots more marinated piri-piri roast garlic pork. We were stuffed and needed to have a snooze by the pool. I had a swim. The water, although bone shattering cold, was warmer than when we arrived. Jill sheltered under the shade of the lounge umbrella. 

We played some pool then went up and played Scrabble. Jill cleaned my clock, as I did her’s at pool. We stopped in at the market and picked up what we needed for dinner. Jill suggested we do a lemon arugula garlic chicken pasta. It was delicious. We watched the second last episode of Masterchef UK finals. One more week and we’ll be heading home. Too bad about the Leafs. 

Lots of Brits here. I mean lots. Elderly, like us. They sure like their beer and hanging around shirtless, the men, at the €2 pint bars. We have had to identify ourselves as not Americans, but Canadians when we meet. It then brings out the WTF talk.