Portugal: We will be back!
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Well this is it. On Monday we leave Portugal after our longest time in one place since Panama in November! We’ve really enjoyed our time here, more than either of us expected. It’s also been nice to be in one place, relax and get some work done.
But we’re excited about what’s to come. We have some adventures planned ahead of us and are ready for it all . . . hopefully. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out what we’re up to next but it’s gonna be fast paced for the next while. We won’t be in the same spot for as long as a week until June!
Kayak Trip in the Grottos
The weather was perfect for our kayak trip around the caves and grottoes of Ponta de Piedade on Thursday. We opted for the tour that includes a boat ride to the caves rather than kayaking right from the beach. I think it was a good choice as we got to spend our time exploring the caves rather than fighting the currents to get out and back. It also meant we had a boat ride included and who doesn’t like to spend time on a boat?
For obvious reasons I only took the GoPro into the kayak so the videos still need to be edited but I’ve taken a few snippets to give you a glimpse of the trip. If you’re ever in or near Lagos, Portugal it is definitely worth the €30!
Ponta de Piedade from above
We walked out once again to Ponta de Piedade on a cloudy day. It turned out that, despite the hazy air conditions, the water was the clearest we’d seen. We also got lucky with the staircase down to the water level at the point. Each time we’d been it had been fairly busy and we kept putting it off. This visit we had the place entirely to ourselves!
Geology Heaven
One of my favourite subjects in high school was Physical Geography, or Geology. So when our kayak guide pointed out the spot where two tectonics plates meet I was pretty interested in a closer look.
A couple of days later we walked to Praia do Porto de Mos (the surfing beach we visited last week) but continued along the trail up the cliffs. The cliffs can be seen rising as you move west with slanted lines running throughout them. In the distance they stop abruptly, there is a black rocky point and then a near sheer drop to where the landscape drops to sea level.
For the non-geeks out there, this is due to one tectonic plate pushing under the other, making it rise up. The black rocky section is where magma has risen up through the crack in the earth’s mantle. (Not the most scientific description – it’s been a while since high school…).
Alvor Estuary
On Monday we decided to hike over to the Alvor Estuary. This is at the far end of Meia Praia and is the main area for kiteboarding. It’s also a great spot for birdwatching and, although this is mostly lost on us, I was hoping to see some flamingos. No luck with the flamingos or kiteboarding but it was an interesting walk between the beach and a golf course and we did make a feline friend at the pier.
It was low tide and we could see some kind of fish farming going on throughout the estuary although we’re not sure what they were farming.
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