Lagos Pt 3

Monday 3rd Dec - Sunday 9th Dec: A nice lazy week with plenty of walks on the beach, a visit to Lagos and watching the coming and goings of the site - plenty of activity as the 'going to Spain crowd move on and are replaced with new arrivals from the UK. It would seem that a rather large regular group visit annually at this time and have done for some years, so we tend to be the 'newbies'. More kind weather, mainly sunny with a couple of light showers and a high of 19C and a low of 10C, enabled Neil to complete the other side of the trailer brakes making it all ready for the road again. Our socialising included a lunch out at Portimao to say a quick farewell to Pat and Mark who are going back to the UK until February and of course many coffee/drink sessions with fellow campers, Ken & June (full time 5'ers), Bruce & Margaret (tuggers), John & Margaret (tuggers) and Bob & Gladys (tuggers) to name but a few. We received a nice surprise parcel (we had told everybody no presents for us this year) with Christmas gifts in from Sandra and family, it did make it feel a bit more like the run up to Christmas. Our Lagos visit was on the very pleasant Sunday and was very enlightening - a lively, colourful and cheerful place which is probably the most popular resort in the Algarve. Originally a Carthaginian settlement which became Roman then Moorish before becoming christian in the 13th century and was a centre for trade in ivory, gold, silver and other exotic merchandise, a far more unsavoury enterprise was also centred on Largos - slavery! From the 16th to the 18th century Lagos was the capital of the Algarve before it was transferred to Tavira just after the tragic devastation of the country by the 1755 earthquake.

Lagos & beach

Lagos town square

Dhow fountain Lagos

Slave Market Lagos

Santa Marie Church Lagos

 

After a nice informative walk round the town we headed for the Marina which is very well equipped and at present very full. We also felt the need to check out the current fire prevention measures and were very glad to hear that the fire engine in the front of the station is just for display and much more modern engines are used for today's fires.

Lagos Marina

Lagos Fire station

Monday 10th Dec - Sunday 16th Dec: Started the week with paying our site fees and confirming that we want to stay until 10th February which should give us time to complete our wish list and hopefully mean that it will be a bit warmer when we do move north to the Porto area. So far so good this month as it looks like most of the rain seems to left the area although the nights are starting to get a bit chilly - this week saw plenty of sun, some cloudy periods and one small shower with a high of 20C and a low of 9C (single figures!). We managed to get some quality contact time with the family via Skype so caught up on all the UK news and confirmed that all are safe from the floods and terrible weather - they did try to make us feel guilty but it did not work. The site owners, a Spanish family whose daughter Agnes looks after us extremely well, very kindly laid on a drinks and nibbles session on Sunday afternoon so everybody had a good time and got to know each other. The economic squeeze here has meant that there is a much reduced Christmas lights effort this year, with most council budgets very tight only the minimum of lights are on display, if at all. 

Lagos lights

Site lights

Lots of new arrivals, looks like it is going to be lots of people about for Christmas. We have also noted that the amount of wild/free campers have increased a lot - the local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to occupancy of unused land or car parks in the hope that the campers will at least help the local economy. The car park at the closed swimming baths at Silves looks like a 'Dale Farm' of motor homes (mainly Dutch, German and French with some Brits) and the occasional RV or two. Wild/free camping is easier and more prolific in this area with the surfers leading the way, a cheap way of living but not our cup of tea I am afraid - we like our comfort and security.  


Monday 17th Dec - Sunday 23rd Dec: Frustrating start to the week as the laptop/WiFi stopped playing - HELP. Nice Portuguese man came out from Lagos and had a look at it, nothing major but unable to completely fix it - apparently it is due to an incompatibility between Outlook and the PT DNS at this location, which on current PT repair times may be fixed in the next 6 months, believe me that is fast for over here. Looks like we will just have to work round the problem/transfer to a dongle. Neil decided that he would take his frustration out on  some little white balls on the golf course and paid another visit to Espriche GC, super day for it 21C, sunny and calm. The rest of the week was fairly good weather wise with sun, overcast, mist, a 21C high and a 11C low - the Christmas week is predicted to be a bit chilly so a quick check of the central heating was completed. Our 'Red Cross' parcel from Terry arrived, just a few nice things (including chews for Daisy) and the replacement lens for the trailer light (Nimes occurrence). This week's off camp day was a trip to Lisbon - phew, a long way/day. We, Linda, Bob, Gladys, Daisy and Neil, set off at 9.30am and using the picturesque back roads eventually got to Lisbon at 1.45pm and started to explore the area of Belem in Lisbon - the Monument to Discoveries, the Belem Tower (a fortress once in the river but now on the shoreline due to the change in the river's path by the 1755 earthquake) and Jeronimos Abbey (built on the site a religious order's church to celebrate Gama's voyage and Portugals seafaring).  

Monument to Discoveries
Lisbon

Belem Tower
Lisbon

Jeronimos Abbey
Lisbon

Keeping the momentum going it was onwards and upwards to the old sector of Lisbon, Baxia to see the Cathedral (located in the oldest part of the city and built on the site of an old Mosque), the Castle de Sao Jorge (an ex Moors castle and the long time main fortification of old Lisbon and the Kings residence 1279 to 1511) and the general cobbled area/back streets around the castle.

Te Se (Cathedral)
Lisbon

Old Sector
Lisbon

Castlo San Jorge

By now we were all in need of sustenance and head for the Rossio Square area in search of a restaurant and the Christmas lights.

Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon



Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon





Homeward bound and it was on the motorway for ease and speed, arrived back at the site at 1130pm - quite a long day, very enjoyable and informative to see the mix of an old and new capital situated on the River Tagus. Lisbon, a former Greek, Roman and Moors city before becoming a part of Portugal in 1147, is a beautiful old city but is suffering from lack of tender loving care in places due to lack of funds. A busy week was topped off with a really nice Carol Service on Sunday at the Church in Praia de Luz, followed by mulled wine and mince pies.  


MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

A Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year

From Neil, Linda
and Daisy

Lagos Pt 2

Mon 12th Nov - Sun 18th Nov: A partial return of the better weather lifted our spirits and meant that we could enjoy some local area sightseeing. The week was mainly sunny days but a heavy thunder storm/tornado paid us visit on the Thursday and the weeks temperatures were more pleasant at a high of 21C and a low of 11C. Fortunately the the tornado, which came in off the sea, hit the coast just west of us at Lagoa and travelled up to Silves and caused a lot of building damage and over turned some caravans and motor homes (Euro boxes) - but thankfully no fatal injuries. With the first months stay here completed we settled the bill - not too bad at all only 17.45 per night especially as it has ticks in all our boxes, and we confirmed our booking for a further month and provisionally 2 months. Still a bit early to head north, we are happy and settled here for a while and there is plenty of time before we need to be heading homeward. Had a good walk around and investigation of Luz, really nice small fishermen village type place, great beach, lots of eateries and the people are very nice and friendly - quite a few Brit residents so the shops tend to have most of the normal UK commodities. An ideal location for fishing, diving and surfing with a clean sandy beach and clear sea waters Luz is well worth a visit. There is still some evidence of the continuing search for Madeline McCann in the village with 'what she would look like now' posters displayed but unfortunately, generally time seems to have moved on.

Luz Portugal

Luz Church Portugal

       

The Beach
Praia de Luz

Where are those birds?
Praia de luz

With most of the places accommodating Brits, Linda decided to trust another haircut in time for her birthday next week - no language problems as all the staff were expats. Neil managed another game of golf, just to keep Bob company of course - nice course but expensive in 'ball costs'. Skype is still working well but is not really up to video conference calls, so it is one to one or just verbal calls - still it is free.

Mon 19th Nov - Sun 25th Nov: Well another birthday, strange how they come round ever year. Linda became '24' on the Monday which of course meant a meal out - this time we visited the Alitalia in Lagos for lunch, a really nice 3 course meal with drinks was consumed whilst sitting out in the sunshine just watching the world go by. In fact the week's weather was really good - mainly sun with blue skies and comfortable highs of 20C and lows of 13C but an occasional shower appeared here and there plus we had our first single figure temperature when a couple of the night times reached 9C. A quick run through to Ferreiras near Alberfeira mid week for a lovely lunch with Mark and Pat was a real pleasant interlude and helped to prevent 'site fever' building up - too much on site time (nice as it is) can be a bit depressing, so we try and get out as much as possible. The good weather motivated Neil into doing some vehicle maintenance and he managed to get the RV's jacks working again, at least we do not rock from side to side now and are able to level ourselves up. Whilst having a few problems on the 'beast' it is till amazing us with its general serviceability and comfort levels. The Jazz needed to be topped up and as expected the fuel costs have not gone down - still much cheaper than the UK though. The cost of living has gone up a bit in Portugal but is totally acceptable to our current budget, unfortunately the local population are suffering with the country's economy problem and unemployment is now very high. Although whilst not joining the Movember appeal, Neil did decide to support Terry's sponsorship both financially and by not shaving for November - very scruffy!

Mr Scruffy

Mon 26th Nov - Sun 2nd Dec: We started the week with a visit to the shopping centre in Portimao, although the retail park is closed due to extension fire damage there is still the Aqua Centre with shops to spare - including a Primark. The town is quite large and is situated at the mouth of the river Arade and will be the subject of a more involved visit later. Linda had been very patient enough to wait for her birthday presents so off we set in the drizzle to get her some nice things - warm clothing is on the list as we under packed winter type clothing. The rest of the week was dry and fairly sunny with 16C but the nights were very chilly, dropping to 7- 9C, still much preferable to the UK as the news is showing lots of snow, ice and -4C. Neil decided that the trailer wheels and brakes (bedded in after renewal in Poland) needed a quick service, so completed the right hand side - no need to rush the left hand side can be done next week and then will mean it should not require any work on it until we get back to the UK. Just to ensure no withdrawal symptoms affected Neil a quick early morning game of golf was completed at the Espriche course. A bit strange this year, our first on on the road, Linda did not know what to do with herself as the first Sunday in December has always been 'Christmas decoration day'. We agreed that we would have a few festive decorations in the RV just to prevent any 'Bah Humbug' feeling creeping in, at least we will have the eating part of Christmas sorted as we have booked to have dinner in the site restaurant on 'the' day - a rare day off for Linda.