Alvor

We followed our usual routine in Alvor, wandering the town initially and then sitting on a bench in a nice square to enquire of google maps as to the location of the tourist information office to discover, if we had only looked up, that we were right outside it! The town is small and slightly confusing as it has no easily definable centre. Following again our usual routine we explored supermarkets, local markets, bus stops. After a couple of days we simply had to climb the small hill to the local church.



It has a rather lovely peal of bells and from the anchorage is nearly invisible atop a wooded hill. Only the top of the church is visible.



It has a manueline entrance ( getting good at spotting these now) The interior is plain with some nice tiled scenes flanking the gilded altar. The last supper is on the left.



Along with some strange false windows.



We also spent some time and effort to discover the castle, marked on our map we had got from tourist information. It was not immediately obvious, it had been turned into a children's playground and quiet space by the market.



The entire space enclosed by the original moorish walls and accessed through a small door sized entrance.



There was a nice tiled panel explaining the history obviously done by local children I found it quite charming.



As Lynnes birthday was coming up that meant our anniversary was also due. Lynne had been eyeing up various restaurants but I had been attracted to the Casa del Rio, purely because of its fantastic situation overlooking the harbour and river. Its a relatively short climb up steps from the landing pontoon and you can occasionally catch a glimpse of local wildlife on the way.



The wind had been surprisingly strong most of the day and as we walked onto the attractive open air terrace our waiter Paulo explained he had moved our reserved table indoors accordingly.



It really is a fabulous view particularly as the sun sets.



The restaurant has a particularly intimate atmosphere, the staff are attentive and helpful, particularly Paulo, who may well be running Alvor when we return!



The food is excellent, fish is a speciality although being creatures of habit I elected for a steak and Lynne Salmon. Our sardine starter was very good as well



It was nice to be able to relax and keep an eye on Dark Tarn in the gusty winds as we enjoyed our meal and a bottle of wine.



We chatted with other couples one young couple on honeymoon had been married in Belfast, its a small world....
.


There was another couple celebrating an anniversary and Paulo insisted we all sing "happy birthday", a rudimentary knowledge of Portuguese will explain this misunderstanding, however being overwhelmingly British we all went along with it! As we left the restaurant Paulo insisted we have a drink of some local firewater and we assured him we would return again on our way north.....



After dinner we walked into town and had a few too many beers in the Sunset bar. Chatting with other flotsam and jetsam that had finished up in Alvor.



The following morning nursing fairly significant hangovers we elected to walk along the beaches. Choosing to "turn left" we discovered the delights of Praia da Praihna.



This is a somewhat typical Algarve cluster of small beaches separated by fantastic rock formations.



Arches and caves, there were even bars and cafes built into the crumbling cliff faces.



There were stacks and seastacks, natural arches, lots of isolated beaches that you could choose to access by a hole through the rock or a quick run around the outside.



The rock architecture is fantastic and constantly  surprising.



It may have been an optical illusion but the seaweed seemed very green......



The wind was still in evidence and some wind driven swell was breaking over the offshore rocks and stacks.


,
we explored as far as we could before retracing our steps back to the main beach



A last look at the fantastic natural structures and rock formations.



The Algarve, surprising......
When we returned to the harbour our neighbours on Silver Lady needed a tow in their tender back to their catamaran as the engine on their tender had seized. Happy to oblige it did mean that due to towing another boat into wind we arrived at Dark Tarn a bit wetter than we left.