Category: Europe Spring 2025

I think the storm is about over. Today we had some rain and a lot of wind but we also had sun and got to enjoy the beautiful coast. People continue to tell us that this weather is very unusual.

The power was out in our room for most of the night but it came back on this morning and we had a very nice breakfast in our room.

About an hour into our drive up the coast. We stopped at Vila Nova de Milfontes to stretch.

In Sines we are staying at a hotel called Casa do Médico de São Rafael. It a beautiful old building.

After checking in we walked around the town a bit.

We had a really nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had thought about going out to find a place to eat but I’m glad we didn’t because the whole time we were eating it was raining and blowing

Tonight we are at a guest house called Herdade Monte Do Sol outside of Aljezur. The lady who checked us in told us that it is unheard of for Portugal to have a storm with this much wind and rain.

We stayed at the Pausada in Sagres until about 1:30 because the weather was just too miserable to go out exploring. I spent the time publishing our first YouTube video of this trip. You can watch it here.

When we left Sagres we stopped at the grocery store to get some food for lunch.

We had a picnic lunch on a hilltop overlooking the coast.

The weather cleared up some and we stopped at Amada Beach.We saw lots of hikers in spite of the weather. The Rota Vicentina is a network of popular hiking trails in the south-west Portugal.

Our guest house has a nice view of the coast.

We woke up to much less wind and almost clearing skies this morning. The storm last night did some damage to the hotel. Luckily the storm didn’t disturb our sleep.

We decided to go out exploring while there was a break in the weather. We drove up the coast a bit and stopped at Praia do Beliche (Beliche Beach). When you look at the pictures of the beach on Google it looks like a popular sunbathing beach. Today, after the storm, I think we were the first people on the beach.

We climbed down and back up 155 steps to get to the beach it was exhilarating!

Next we drove further along the coast to Cape St. Vincent. According to Wikipedia Cape St. Vincent. Is the southwesternmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. The history section of the Wikipedia post lists eleven naval battles that were fought in the vicinity of this cape.

Back at the hotel we walked along the coast east of our hotel.

It started raining hard and blowing again this afternoon, so we read and relaxed at the hotel. We debated whether to eat dinner at the hotel or walk to a restaurant nearby. We ended up walking to Restaurante Carlos about a block away. It was raining and blowing some but nothing like last night. We had a fabulous fish dinner called Grandma’s fish, to share. It was the owner Grandma’s recipe. OMG the dish was good.

The 3HB hotel where we stayed in Faro is in a no car part of central Faro. So we parked our car in a lot about a quarter of a mile from our hotel.

About 10 this morning we checked out, walked to our car and drove to the extreme southwest corner of the Iberian peninsula. That’s where we are tonight in the town of Sagres.

Our hotel, Pousada Sagres is on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We checked in but our room wasn’t ready. So we went out to the fort and lighthouse on the point. It is blowing incredibly hard here today.

We checked out the museum and walked out to the point. The ocean and the wind were incredibly strong. Our walk was a real adventure and kind of fun.

For dinner we went to a restaurant near our hotel, RestauranteVila Vella. The ambiance was cozy and the food was delicious.

The rain and wind really pelted us on the short walk back to the hotel.but it was worth it!

We woke up to a beautiful clear day this morning.

After a leisurely breakfast we drove about 15 miles to the coastal town of Tavira. We found an interesting hike on Alltrails. The Rota da Praia de Tavira hike is eleven miles long. We did about five miles of the hike through the salt flats. It was such a gorgeous day. I really enjoyed taking bird pictures and using the Merlin App to identify the birds.

After walking about 3 miles through the salt marshes we walked back to the car directly through town. We felt we had earned a coffee and a Portuguese Custard Tart ( Pasteis de Nata).

We walked back to the car and drove to Faro where we are tonight. We remember having a fabulous dinner when we were in Faro in February of 2016. We can’t remember the name of the restaurant and although I put food pictures in the blog I didn’t include the restaurant name. (Lesson learned! Include restaurant names in the blog!) We looked but I think the nameless restaurant has closed.

This time are staying at the 3HB Hotel which has been fabulous.

For dinner we went to Restaurante Ostraria Lodi and had Cataplana do Mar with tuna, shrimp, and clams. Cataplana is both the pan and the method of cooking.