The first night was a roughish night at sea. Not too bad, but not great. It wasn’t enough to interfere with breakfast. I attended the knit and stitch meetup at 8:45 a.m. We were a group of six women from five countries. It went so well we stayed on to knit and participate in the…

We indulged in our pastel nata (Portuguese egg tarts, literal translation = cream pastry) breakfast. Afterwards we Ubered to Lisbon’s cruise ship terminal. We are sailing on a budget line (NCL) and every step of the process is slow compared to other companies. It took 90 minutes to check in with preferred access.  It’s a…

The trekking party is over for now. It was an exhausting day although no walking was involved. It was time to return to Lisbon to return the car and spend a night prior to boarding the ship. The drive was nerve wracking on Portugal’s version of the autobahn. Our brains having been used to travelling…

OK, I lied. Greg and I added more to the total by walking to and joining the trail close to where the rain stopped C and I the day of our arrival in Lagos. What a pleasant walk it was, primarily on boardwalk that took us past the lighthouse and all the way to our…

A photo from yesterday, last minute pack adjustments on the beach, typical of every day. We were falling short of our 100k goal so this morning’s mission was to wrap it up by walking to the beginning/ending point of the Fisherman’s Trail of the Rota Vicentina. We found the official location at the Lagos train…

We checked out of the pensao and drove through the countryside to Burgau. If you know me, you know I like tree tunnel pictures as much as I like lone tree photos.  Burgau had a small beach nestled between two rocky cliffs. Up we went in cobblestones to the clay then rock trails above the…

Followed our usual routine: breakfast at 8:15 on the trail at 9:00. Walking out of the village, we heard a metallic sound thinking it was related to the natural springs we were passing. The volume increased and I thought we were heading right into a stampede of cattle with cowbells. We saw the source to our…

Greg joined us today on our circular route trek. It was a morning of varied walking surfaces: Deep sand: Uneven rocks: Boardwalk: And dirt roads: The scenery lived up to its reputation: Rounding the final curve we saw our trail marker in the right place to guide us back to our village of Carrapateira in…

Last night we stayed at “Al.Floral” Guest House in Aljezur. A lot of thought was put into the building’s theme, each room named for a wild flower. Ours was translated to lemon verbena with the accompanying tea provided. My only issue with the room was it was described as having garden view. Sure, there was…

Last night we headed to the third restaurant recommended by our host, Retiro do Adelino, for traditional Portuguese fare. We shared cataplana for two: a tomato based stew of huge prawns, clams, seabass, white potatoes and sweet potatoes.  We are in sweet potato country complete with a sweet potato museum and festival that we’ll just miss…