Day 9 - The Algarve

Here we are! Lagos in The Algarve! It's beautiful here. The cold, and the fact we're at the end of our tour, has me a little exhausted so I'm going to lay low for the next couple of days. 

We arrived and were greeted by the craziest hotel I've ever been in. The Tivoli hotel is a combination of several properties and as such the layout is very confusing. I've never been in a hotel where you had a guide show you to your room. But thank god they did, we'd never find it otherwise. 

View from our room

We went up a flight of stairs (to 1st floor), met our guide who walked us down a hallway that has us on the 4th floor (keep in mind we didn't go up any steps). We got in an elevator to take it down to the second floor. Down another hallway, then up a half flight of stairs to our room. I said to Janet that I think we should have dropped bread crumbs to find our way back. 

We took the extra excursion to go have another "traditional" Portuguese meal. I happen to like these big group meals as it makes it very easy on us - we don't have to decide what to have. 

We thought this might be a good time to get a photo with our tour guide Hassan. He still wasn't, at all, sure about these crab hats, but he enjoyed the humor in them. He was an excellent guide and I learned a lot from him during this trip. 

Janet had the fish - I think Sea Bass and I had the pork. It was so dang tender and delicious. The Portuguese eat a lot of pork alongside their fish. 

The next day we were up early again and headed to Cape Saint Vincent. The south western most point of continental Europe. 

It wasn't nearly as windy there as I thought it would be. In fact, Hassan said it was odd that it wasn't windy. I guess we'll enjoy it and be thankful we weren't blown off the steep cliff. 

After the Cape we stopped at the Fort of Sagres. 

The fort is well positioned to have a panoramic view of the area. The cliffs are about 60 meters high and the views were amazing. 

The history of the fort has it built in the 15th century under the command of Henry the Navigator and was designed to protect the area from attacks coming from North Africa. The fort was damaged in the big earthquake of 1755 and then the resulting tidal wave (yes the wave came over the 60 meter high cliffs). 

At the top of the walls, you get to see so many beautiful views of the surrounding beaches and cliffs. 

That lighthouse is Cape Saint Vincent - which was where we were prior to stopping here at the Fort. 

We got back to Lagos and had the afternoon free. Our first stop was lunch though. We found this little restaurant and ordered ourselves a steak bifana. Likely the best bifana I had during the entire trip. Simple and delicious. 

For the afternoon, I decided to stay in the room and rest. The bug I picked up was in full swing and I thought it best to rest up. Janet took off for a walk around Lagos. 

Later that night we met our new friend Julie for a happy hour drink and then dinner. We headed back to the restaurant we visited at lunch because it was so good. 

Janet had the codfish au gratin (basically the bacalau); Julie had the octupus and I had this Portuguese steak that was amazing. Huge piece of beef surrounded by all these potatoes and a gravy that was out of this world. 

Tomorrow we head back to Lisbon for the last day our our trip. I'm ready to be home if I'm being honest. I think a combination of the cold and exhaustion has me ready to be in my own bed.