Portugal: The Algarves (Lagos and Sagres)

Lagos

After a great few days in Lisbon, we were off to a place that we were excited to check out.  The Algarves are the southern most region of mainland Portugal on the Atlantic Ocean.  The pictures that we had seen online were amazing so we could only imagine seeing the sights in person.  We choose Lagos as our base due to its location close to many of the great beaches and the fact that it has a thriving backpacker nightlife scene.

After an easy 4-hour bus ride (which featured air-conditioning and wifi) we were in Lagos.  The transportation in Portugal consists of bus and train however there were no direct trains from Lisbon to Lagos and the price was higher so we took the bus once again.  In addition, the train would have been a regional train, thus much slower than the bus.  The bus was surprisingly nice except that it didn’t have a toilet onboard.  To our astonishment, the bus also didn’t make a single stop on the entire journey.  Thank goodness that I only had 1 cup of coffee that morning otherwise I don’t know how I would have made the whole journey with no toilet.

After grabbing a great lunch of the famous piri-piri chicken that we had heard so much about from other travelers and our research, we checked into our hostel.  This was our first hostel experience on the trip.  We did a lot of research ahead of time and it seemed to make the most sense for us.  We didn’t want to be in the dorms since we are a married couple.  We had both done the dorm thing while traveling after college and knew that we were over sleeping in a dorm with 11 other strangers.  The hostel that we picked was one that had private rooms with their own bathrooms as well as your more traditional dorms.  The private rooms in fact were located in a separate building down the street from the dorms.  That made it really nice.  In fact during our stay we met each of the other couples that were staying there as well and grew to really like the place.  It ended up being the perfect base because it was also right in the center of town close to the restaurants and bars and was walking distance to many of the beaches.  Upon our check-in, Arthur, our host referred to this area as the California of Europe so we were excited to check it out.

First we went to the closest beach to town, Praia da Batata, which is referred to as ‘Potato Beach’.  The beach got the name from the rocks around it, which has the shape of potatoes.  What a sight that is!  Upon initially seeing the beach, thoughts of the Big Sur coast in California came to mind.  Maybe our hostel host Arthur was right.  I thought of that because of the shear cliffs and the sweeping crystal clear blue ocean waves crashing into the rocky shore.  In between, there was the most beautiful natural sandy beach.  We plopped down on the sand and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon sun – after all it was 80 degrees and sunny…perfect beach weather!  The water wasn’t the warmest – probably in the mid 60’s but it was refreshing and felt amazing.

After our beach afternoon, we cleaned up and went out to check out the nightlife.  We really enjoyed the variety of restaurants featuring fresh seafood from the day.  In addition to the restaurants, we enjoyed the bar scene.  All of the bars had cheap draft beers – 1-2 euro each and many of the bars featured live music, which was our favorite part. The live music was a very interesting mix that featured some local Portuguese tunes alongside some American classics.  The weirdest song played however was, “In the Jungle” which was featured in the Lion King.  I bet we never thought when we were 10 years old watching Lion King (yup that’s right, 1994) that we would hear this song 20 years later in a hole in the wall bar in Portugal.  What made the experience even more interesting is that EVERYONE in the bar knew the song and we were probably the only Americans.  What a strange place to hear an acoustic version of the song.  Makes you realize the influence American culture has on the rest of the world.  Classic movie though so I can’t blame them!

The next day we had thoughts of renting sea kayaks but the weather looked threatening in the morning so we decided to hold off for that day.  To our surprise it never really did rain despite the ‘interesting’ looking clouds.  Instead of kayaking, we wanted to check out some of the other local beaches close to the town.  We found the beaches to be very private and pretty hard to find if you didn’t know what you were doing.  There were no big signs, no huge parking lots, nobody lugging huge coolers of beverages and sand toys to the beach that we could follow.  Everything was found because you just knew that this little path lead to this beach and that path led to that beach.  In fact, we were standing on the sidewalk with a map fully open (not looking like a tourist or anything) when a guy walked by asked us what we were looking for.  We pointed to the map and he gave us instructions of how to find the beach.

It went something like; walk past that shady looking road, turn right.  When you see a condo complex at the end of the road, walk past the guard at the front (don’t mind him) and keep left through the complex.  You will find it from there.  That’s exactly what he said!  Somehow we did find the path we were looking for and it was awesome!

The path reminded me of something that would be in California.  High up on the cliff over the waters of the ocean, it was spectacular!  The part I liked the most about it was that it seemed ‘off the beaten path’ with no guardrails or signs telling you not to be stupid and get close to the edge.  If you fell off the cliff, good luck trying to sue anyone.  We found some stairs that led us down to the Praia Da Dona Ana beach at the bottom.  This beach is considered to be the most picturesque beach of the Algarve region and I can see why!  The beach is in a small cove that is bound by steep cliffs.  The beach also had perfect golden sands that were lapped by the crystal clear waters.

The sand was the kind that when you walk barefoot on it you feel like a million bucks.  We arranged to rent 2 chairs on the shore and enjoyed the afternoon there soaking up some rays, swimming in the fairly rough waters and buying an occasion beer from the locals selling them on the shore.  Gotta support the local economy right?  I really like the concept of renting nice beach chairs on the beach for $5 for both of us and buying an occasional cold beer from a local for $2.  American beaches need to take note – makes it for a relaxing day at the beach.

After our share of sunshine, we packed up our daypack and headed back up to the top of the cliffs to explore further and see if we could hike a little along the top.  We found a path that was steep and not all that well kept but contained the most amazing views around each corner.  After another 30-45 mins of hiking, we stumbled upon another amazing beach, Praia do Camilo or Camilo Beach.  This beach was at the bottom of over 300 stairs.

Picturesque cliffs embrace the little beach and the rock formations around it are pretty awesome.  The climb down to the beach was well worth the climb!  The beach was connected to a sister beach via a cave and was just a relaxing place to be.  The weather at this point in the day looked threatening so we didn’t set up shop but did manage to capture some pretty amazing photos of the place.

After the beach day, we showered up and cooked dinner at our hostel.  We met a great German couple and enjoyed some drinks on the terrace of the hostel with them and another couple.  We had a blast and enjoyed learning about new and different cultures.   After the evening cocktail hour, we hit up a few bars.  Once again, the pubs don’t really start hopping until after 11 pm.  This would be so late for American bars but the Portuguese (and Marissa) are really night owls.  Lucky for us, we aren’t working so we can enjoy while there are actually people at the bars.  If you went before 11, nobody would be there!  We hit up the same bars that we had the night before since we really enjoyed those and they had great live music.

The next day we decided to do the sea kayak tour that we had intended taking the day before.  We figured this would be a great way to get a workout in while seeing the beautiful coast from a new perspective – on the water!  Our group consisted of 12 kayaks, each with 2 people in them.  Marissa and I could be in the same kayak and we would all just follow the guide in the front.  The view from the water was just as amazing as the view from the top of the cliffs the day before.  The best part about kayaking was being able to go through small sea caves.  Some had a larger entrance and opened up once inside to electric blue waters caused by sunlight leaking through the cave from the bottom of the ocean floor.  This was similar to the blue cave that we went into in Croatia.  Other caves were much more difficult to get inside of.  The last one was just crazy and something that would never fly in the US.  The tide was coming in at this stage in the afternoon and was approaching high tide.  The guide was very hesitant to let us go inside this particular cave.  He even told several kayakers that they were allowed to go in because they couldn’t control their kayak well enough.  We didn’t have those issues as we had kayaked before and knew the basics.  You had to time your entry into the cave just right and get some speed going.  The sides of your kayak would rub against the harsh rocks and you pushed your way in.  And you had to lay back in the kayak so you wouldn’t hit your head on the opening.  It was a SMALL opening.  We had good speed, timed it just right and I pushed us through even though the sides of the kayak were rubbing against the rocks.  Once inside, it opened up and was just a serial setting.  Another kayak wasn’t as lucky and ended up bloody and bruised because they were suck in the opening when the waves came it.  Gotta love and adventure with some sense of danger!

Sagres

For our last full day in the region, we decided to take a 45 min bus to the nearby village of Sagres.  Sagres is in the extreme southwest corner of Portugal.  In fact during Roman times, this area was thought to be the furthest west in the world (however that wasn’t exactly true…) When we decided to go there, we knew that it would be a sleepy little town but were really surprised when the bus dropped us off and we felt like we were on the end of the earth.  It was nothing like the lively Lagos but we made the most of it.  First we grabbed some lunch then decided to start hiking along the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic.  Overall this day (as with many during the trip) we hiked quite a few miles.  We weren’t wearing pedometers but I would say that we probably hiked around 10 miles for the day. The views were similar to those around the Lagos area, the difference was that the wind was INTENSE!  This coastline received much stronger winds and weather in general than those near Lagos.  This proved to make walking pretty difficult at times and gave us quite the windburn afterwards.   In addition, to the winds, the steep cliffs rose above the ocean between 500 and 1000 feet straight down.  You had to be careful were you walked!

During the hike, we found the Sagres Fortress.  We saw this from a distance and hiked over to it.  The fort was once home to Prince Henry the Navigator who originally built it in the 15^th century.  It was later rebuilt in 1793 but after we walked through it, it appeared to be completed under construction yet again.  We were surprised they could charge an admission fee, as literally everything in the area seemed to be under construction.  Still, the best part was the views and the feeling that you were walking on the end of the earth.

After the brief visit to the fortress, we wanted to visit the beautiful beach that was beckoning us below.  The beach was the called Praia do Beliche or Beliche Beach. This ended up being one of our favorite beaches in the area.  It was basically a perfect beach- everything about it.  The best part about the beach was that it was nearly deserted except for a few locals hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.  It just felt like a breath of fresh air and was incredibly relaxing.  The beach was in a magnificent bay with soft golden sand and huge towering cliffs surrounding it.

We really didn’t want to leave this beach, or the Algarve area but this was a nice grand finale for us.  Alas, we did leave the beach and headed back toward our hostel.  We knew that in the coming weeks of colder weather north, we would remember these beach days.  Portugal contained some of the best beaches I’ve ever seen.  The combination of shear cliffs, soft golden sand, crystal clear blue water and the friendly locals cannot be beat.  This is an underrated vacation designation for Americans and I know that Marissa and I will be back!