Portugal~1999

Wednesday, April 7, 1999

After a stimulating meeting of the Beach Haven Business Association (once again focusing on Sunday trash pickup), I met Kim and we left LBI at 3:30. Got to Newark and finally found a parking place in the far reaches of Outer Mongolia. The shuttle arrived promptly and we checked in without incident. We had about an hour wait and settled into our Airbus 310-300, two seats about halfway back. We both managed a little shuteye, but they woke us up at midnight for breakfast.

Thursday, April 8

We landed as scheduled at 6:45 AM. Then we started at the wrong NY baggage claim until they shut it off at 8. We found our stuff and went to Alamo Rentacar where they had no reservations for us. We did get a burgundy Fiat Pronto and directions from the non-English-speaking clerk. At eleven, after touring all of Lisbon and its suburbs, we finally crossed the bridge on the A2 south. There is a new bridge, the Vasco de Gama, which goes directly from the airport, but it was not on my maps and the Alamo people didn’t tell us. Nobody shouted. It was a pretty drive through fields of eucalyptus and olive trees with occasional vineyards. But the most impressive thing was the masses of wildflowers of every color imaginable and the smell of lavender was everywhere. Kimmy had the terrible drive through Lisbon, and I drove after our rest stop. We paused in a wonderful town, Castro Verde, where the red N2 turned yellow for a short time. It was very, very pretty, clean and quiet. The houses all had geometric patterns in bold primary colors painted as borders and accents. The church was interesting, walls covered with azuleos in totally secular patterns of flowers, animals, etc.

When we got to the basilica later, it was also tiled with depictions of the Batalha of Ourique. We had a very informative tour and the guide passed us the basket for a contribution to the restoration. Then we had a beer in a pretty cervazaria. From there we continued south on the N2 until it turned green and very windy. We turned off for Loule where we decided to spend the night. Stopped at the Turismo and the lady there gave us a map and a few suggestions. The first one was a café, the Cavaco, on the Largo Sao Francisco, where the proprietress’s daughter gave us a choice of a fourth floor walkup with a view of the castle and the ocean or a first floor with no view. We took the view for $16.20. We were pretty tired, so we showered and decided on a short tour before dinner. I had gone back for the car while Kim paid for the rooms.

In the process, I backed the car into a restaurant’s planter where we later had dinner (Bica Velha). It was a converted wine cellar, very atmospheric. Kim had tuna cooked with onions, and I had grilled lamb. Both came with lots of vegetables, salad (not so great) and assorted hors oeuvres’ and a bottle of house wine. The total bill was $17.20. We walked around a bit and came home. To bed around 9. Loule has a similar history to most of the towns in southern Portugal, Roman and Moorish occupation and castle ruins to match. The castle walls are the best point to begin look around town. They have been restored as a walkway and enclose a Museu municipal of vaguely diverting historical bits and pieces. Between the museum and the 13th century Gothic parish church nearby, a grid of white-washed cobbled streets reveals numerous handicraft shops where we watched the craftsmen at work. Lace making in particular is a flourishing local industry. We also watched the metal workers making the catalplana which I wish I had bought.

Friday, April 9

We both slept quite well. The church bells ring every 15 minutes, so I know I was awake from 3 to 5:15, but I went back to sleep till 8. Then we got up and I had café and Kim had Pepsi. The weather was beautiful. Left Loule and went south to Estoi, where we visited the Palace, slightly dishabille but very beautiful. The interior is not available, but the orange and passion fruit trees are well tended. We each ate an orange. The tiles and bas-reliefs were very nice and it was easy to imagine summer concerts in the park. Estoi is basically just one street, a little square, and a small white church. Just off the square is the peach-colored Palacio do Viscone de Estoi, a diminutive version of the Rococo palace of Quelus near Lisbon.

Then we went downhill to the Ruines de Milreu, a ten minute walk from the square. Known to the Romans as Ossonoba, the town that once stood here predated Faro and was inhabited from the 2nd to the 6th century. The surviving ruins are associated with a peristyle villa, one with a gallery of columns surrounding a courtyard, and dominated by the apse of a temple, which was converted into a Christian basilica in the 3rd century, making it one of the earliest of all known churches. The other recognizable remains are of a bathing complex with fragments of mosaic. The apodyterium, or changing room, with its stone benches and arched niches below for clothes, is clearly visible. The site was finally abandoned in the 8th century.

On to Olhao, the largest fishing port on the Algarve. Once past the built-up outskirts, it is an attractive town. There are no “sights” as such, but the flat roofs, outdoor stairways and white terraces of the old town are striking and give a North African look to the place. First to the fishing dock, where many boats were bringing in fish and many seagulls were flying about. We looked at the fish, then went to the main market, held in the two large building on the harborside at the bottom of town. Open from the crack of dawn, there is meat, fruit and vegetables on one side, fish on the other, the latter half full of such delights as swordfish heads propped up on the marble counters and squid ink running off the tables into the gutter. We bought lunch supplies and bottles of honey, then drove along the coast to a beautiful beach at Luz do Tavira where we had a picnic. Then up on the IP1, west to Porches, the Riviera of Portugal, with gorgeous beaches. It must be a madhouse in July and August. We stopped to shop for ceramics. Past Portimao and Lagos to Sagres, the very outré of Portugal. We found a glorious room at O Batador overlooking the harbor.. We walked down and watched them bringing in the fish.

We toured Henry the Navigator’s fort which was a bit weird. It looked modern, although it was built in the 15th century, but it had a multimedia building with an exhibit of strange 1990-ish pictures called “Warriors of the Sea” about people in very dangerous situations harvesting barnacles. Then we went to the Lighthouse at Cabo de Sao Vincente, which we toured and then watched a beautiful sunset, the sun sizzling as it hit the water. Back to our rooms and ate at the restaurant there. Grilled extra large shrimp appetizers. Kim had spaghetti and I had catalplana de pexia, fish steamed in a special pan which we had seen back in Loule. Nice bottle of wine. We talked with an English couple and then retired.

Saturday, April 10

Left O Batedor about 8:30, stopping for a croissant on the way. We made a wrong turn (?!!?) and saw the lighthouse again before heading through Vila do Bispo up the western Algarve coast. It was a beautiful drive with carpets of flowers everywhere and glorious views of the rocky coast and sparkling water. It was spectacular. The coast to the west of Aljezar has two fine long stretches of sandy beach at Arrifana and at Monte Clerigo. Perhaps the most interesting development in the area, though, lies between the two at the Vale de Telha. This is a large area of several hundred acres given over to the development of holiday villas, holiday homes, and leisure facilities. We turned west to see the new construction there.

We took the road east through a rather harsh, stony terrain of cork trees and olive groves. It is in this way very similar to Tras-os-Montes in the far north of the country. Some of the hills here, though, seem to have been deliberately cleared and terraced by the local timber industry in order to plant young, and relatively fast growing, eucalyptus trees. Beyond Marmalete, as quiet a place as one could imagine, the hills are more densely wooded with their natural flora of pines. The road twists and turns as it rises, offering some fine views, occasionally even as far as the blue of the sea off the Algarve coast.

Then to the spa town of Caldas de Monchique, a delightful drive through some of the prettiest countryside in Portugal. The town itself is set at the head of a deep ravine. The medicinal effects of the spa were apparent as far back as Roman times and the waters are today considered to be particularly effective in the treatment of rheumatism and skin conditions. The natural spring is housed in glass and marble, and a nurse offers the curative waters to anyone who wishes to try them. This was a fashionable resort for the wealthy Spaniards of the 19th century, and it was they who constructer the mock Moorish casino, now a regional arts and crafts center that dominates the town square. North to Monchique itself, sitting high in the mountains, the main market town for all the farmers and smallholders in the surrounding area. The air is fresh and invigorating here. Further north we twisted and turned through eucalyptus forests, stopping for a rather heavy lunch at a tiny town, Santa Clara-a-Velah, with one café, Pancadas. Kim had fired fish and rice and I had a pork stew with garbanzos. Then we drove to Barragem de Santa Clara, the largest artificial dam in Portugal, with a beautiful, deserted lake.

Through Oldemira, a pretty town , set around the River Mira, and back to the coast to Zambujeria do Mar, definitely a holiday town, with a beautiful beach at the foot of a high rocky cliff, a dramatic background to the beach. The scenery more than compensates for the winds and the sea, which can get pretty chilly, even in summer, but can’t disguise the run-down state of the village and the encircling villas. We stopped and looked several other places, but were absolutely dumbstruck at the lighthouse at Cabo Sardao. The views were magnificent, with surf pounding below, creating all sorts of whirlpools and patterns. Up through Almograve, where huge waves come crashing down on the rocks. Then over the River Mira to Vila Nova de Milfontes, where we arrived just in time for a wedding parade. Five different choral societies marched very slowly and very close together from the town square to the castle, singing, almost chanting, traditional Portuguese folk songs; very fortuitous.

The town lies on the estuary of the Rio Mira, whose sandy banks gradually merge into the coastline. It has an advantage of geography for sailors, the port is reputed to have harbored Hannibal and the Carthaginians during a storm, and swimmers. The old town, huddled around a strikingly ivy-wreathed castle, remains a pretty place. We walked to the Pensao do Cais (Rua do Cais) and got a room with a beautiful view of the river’s mouth opening to the Atlantic. We sat on the terrazzo and read for a while then looked for a restaurant. We found the Fateixa, right on the river, where we had shrimp omelets, cocktails, wine and brandy for $24. Home to bed.

Sunday, April11

Left before breakfast, about 8, and had a lovely drive up the coast to Lisbon, where we found the airport with no trouble (now that we knew the right bridge to cross), shopped at duty-free and got back to Newark, in a blinding thunder storm, about 5:45. Home safely.