Friday 19th
Feb 2016
Our first taste
of the Algarve, and it is gorgeous !
The Huelva camp
site was mostly permanent caravans – People who leave their vans there all
year, have an annex and even a separate kitchen set up, and also have a shade
cloth roof over the top to keep everything a bit cooler in summer. It was also very wet – They had also had a
lot of rain last night, like we did in Seville. And being sandy, it was a bit
mucky. But the showers were hot, and
there were seats on the toilets, and it had some of the fastest wifi I have seen
n 2 months – I was so busy downloading I almost didn’t have time for supper
!! So life was OK. Bit of a late wake up and departure, but as
they also had nice bread rolls for sale at the restaurant, we set off down the
road munching on warm fresh bread.
Yummmm. (Shame I couldn’t reach
the Vegemite from the driver’s seat !)
As you know, we
usually try to follow the minor roads when we travel, and since we started
today from down on the coast near Punta Umbria, it wasn’t hard to find the
small roads along the coast, although we had to make a few detours north to
avoid river inlets etc. It is quite a
scenic area, with lots of holiday apartments which, while empty now, wll
presumably fill up quickly once the weather warms up a little. Little towns like Cartaya and Lepe actually
look quite pleasant, although I am sure they become very “touristy” later in
the year. Not being sure of fuel prices in Portugal, we did manage to find some
cheap fuel in Ayamonte for Eu 0.85 a litre (about A $1.36), and when we crossed
into Portugal we were happy – 1.05 Eu per litre or more ! With 180 litres on board, easily good for
some 1300 kms or more, I should be OK for the rest of Portugal !
Before long we
came to the Portuguese border, and there is a fine bridge over the River
Guadiana. Crossing the bridge, and the
border, we were faced with big signs telling foreigners about how to register
for toll roads, but when we checked with the tourist office at the border, they
said not to worry !! We got off the
Autoroute before we encountered any tolls, so it wasn’t an issue anyway, and we
went into the little town of Vista Real.
As I crossed the
border, my off-line maps went blank, and I realized that I hadn’t downloaded my
maps for Portugal ! As these include
details on camping sites and detailed road details when one is in towns or
villages, I needed this (Janet is not the world’s best map reader !), so as we
drove around Castro Marim, we looked for some wifi – And in the back of this
delightful little border town we found a café full of locals, and they couldn’t
have made us more welcome – A lovely start to Portugal. And map duly downloaded.
From there we
tootled on down the minor road to Villa Real de Santo Antonio – Another really
nice little town, where we stopped for a sandwich, and then ended up going for
a walk through the little town, even buying a few bits and pieces for Janet to
take home to Aus next week ! We then
turned west towards Tavira,
T
hey say that
Tavira is one of the most beautiful towns in the Algarve, and many people base
themselves out of here for a week or two.
Camping in Portugal seems to be allowed almost anywhere, and as a result
French and German (and a few Dutch) motorhomes fill every parking lot, and a
lot of non-parking lots too. I do not
agree too much with this, especially when there are campsites nearby that are
not full. Unfortunately before long I
fear the locals will rebel against having tourists camping very publicly on
every open piece or land, not unlike gypsies, and it will ruin it for the
future. Rant over…….
Once away from
the overcrowded parking lots, Tavira is a lovely little town, and we managed to
find a parking space and went for a wander in the sunshine. The River Gilao flows through the middle of
town, and it is straddled by several small bridges, not the least of which is
of Roman origin. Tavira was founded in
400 BC and was an important trading port with N Africa until the Great
Earthquake in 1755 which virtually destroyed the town and many neighbouring
towns as well. And many of the houses in
the narrow town streets retain fine old doorways with traditional door knockers
in the shape of hands. We also saw many tiled houses in the tradition of this
part of Portugal, and then we went to the old church which is an interesting
mix of very plain low church and very ornate high church – And a couple of
bells outside from 1852 and 1781, so I presume they must have been replaced
after the Great Earthquake.
From there it was
a wander back through the streets to the car, and on the way out of town we saw
a mobile phone tower disguised as a fir tree !!
We have seen fake palm trees, and even fake palm trees complete with
fake dates in Fez, but never a fake fir tree !
After Tavira we stayed on the slightly bigger road and headed to Faro
where we could see a camp site on our maps that was close to water. There is a large coastal strip all the way
from the border where you can only get to the beach
by ferry onto sand spit
islands, so we decided to try for one nearer the beach itself. Unfortunately when we got there it was a bit
sad, and had many permanent residents who seem to live down here year round for
the surfing and the laid back (and very pleasant) surroundings. So tomorrow we will investigate further along
the Algarve coastline. But it certainly
is a very pleasant part of the world, and I can see why so many northern
Europeans have places down here, and visit frequently.
Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0427HuelvaToFaro?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHp_K60rMXwqwE
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