The Mountain Village of Monchique, Portugal

During our time in Portugal, we drove north from Odiaxere to the mountain village of Monchique. Monchique is famous for its spas, honey, and firewater (aka moonshine). After parking our rental car we meandered down to the town square. We enjoyed an espresso and cappuccino in the blazing hot sun, while watching a sculptural water feature that looked like a water mill. Then it was time for some shopping! I picked up this rustic leather satchel, and we had a great time looking at all the gorgeous cork and leather items for sale.

The store below sold honey and firewater created by the families of Monchique. Behind every type of firewater was a picture of the gentleman who made it. All the products were certified and regulated by a special agency, and packed a punch – 75% alcohol! Yiiikes.

Chris and I saw the beautiful old church perched atop a mountain, and decided to take a walk up to it and see if we could get a tour of the inside. We made our way up the cobbled empty streets, some of which had built-in staircases…

We passed an antenna made from a soccer ball ^^^

When we reached the top of the hill, a few middle-aged men were lounging around outside, eyeing us suspiciously. One of the men motioned for us to follow him – I was a bit hesitant, and didn’t really want to follow a stranger into an abandoned church that had a spattering of graffiti on it…but Chris convinced me to follow along. Inside, the man and his family (with many young children), were living as squatters. They slept in a loft-type area above the courtyard, which was filled with vegetable gardens and chicken coops. The man generously allowed us to tour the abandoned church that was beautifully derelict.

When we finished exploring the church, the man led us back out through his home. In a small corner was a little store. We bought a few lemons, clementines, and piri piri peppers that were hanging on the wall. The man was happy to have sold some produce, and we were happy to have met him and been invited into his unique home. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. We ate our tiny clementines in a cork grove just outside the church, before making our way back down to the town.

We had a bit of a difficult time finding a place to eat lunch. We didn’t want to eat at a tourist spot, which seemed to be abundant in the main square. When we’d go to a non-tourist spot, they would refuse to serve us or even come to our table to take our order. It definitely felt hostile at times. Finally we found a family-run restaurant, where we enjoyed olives, cod, french fries, and pork. Of course, we had chocolate mousse for dessert – which is so typical in many of the Portuguese restaurants! Yum.

Sagres Sunset

On our spontaneous trip to the “end of the world”, Sagres, we caught the sunset. It had been raining on and off during our afternoon around the fort, and a final bout of rain cleared out all the other people around us. When the rain finished, it was time to watch the sunset, alone, overlooking the ocean for as far as the eye could see. It was one of those surreal moments where everything just came together, and we got to see the beautiful colours change by the moment across the sky.

Lagos Marina

Lagos marina looked so peaceful when we drove by, that we had to stop and get out to explore. We walked down to the beach and got our toes sandy. It was a bit chilly, but we were the only ones for miles. Some more upscale seafood restaurants were nestled in the dunes, which we eventually visited a few nights later. Chris even tried the sea bream, and he’s definitely not a seafood lover. But when in Rome Lagos!

Have a great weekend!

Sagres, Portugal

Sagres is a city in the South of Portugal, on the Westernmost tip. The old navigators and explorers, like Henry the Navigator, used to call Sagres and the nearby Cape St. Vincent the “end of the world”. After our unsuccessful hiking trip, we decided to hop in the car and head West. When we came across Henry the Navigator’s old navigation school, we had to go inside. The navigation school and surrounding fort were enormous. We spent the rest of the day walking around, exploring the different buildings, and marvelling at the beautiful cliffs and expansive ocean. No wonder they called Sagres Point “the end of the world”.

The picture below is of Cape St. Vincent, the Westernmost tip of Portugal. I thought it was beautiful how the sun managed to peek through on a very cloudy day to illuminate the cliffs in gold.

While the weather was less-than-ideal for a day of sight-seeing, I thought it perfectly suited a trip to Sagres Point: cloudy, moody, dark, with the sun peeking through at times creating the most wonderful colours and vistas I have ever seen. It was dark one moment, and then sparkling gold the next. We saw rainbows, got caught in downpours, and watched as the clouds shifted by the minute. Just wait til I show you the sunset…

An Unsuccessful Hike

At the Quinta we stayed at in Portugal, there were numerous little books regarding what to see and things to do while in the Algarve. One of the books was called “Let’s Walk”, and provided nice little half-day walks/hikes around Portugal. It was written in the late 90s, and provided colourful descriptions of land-marks and things to see. After reading the book one evening over a glass of wine, we chose “A bygone era” and planned to embark early the next day. The hike was supposed to take us through small rustic farming villages. Interestingly, the only land-marks in the book included “derelict” and “semi-derelict” farmhouses. How were we to know which house was derelict and which one was only semi-derelict?! That was our first clue that this may be a difficult task. We parked the car at the designated stopping area, a small gravel patch next to a highway. We set-off down the highway, careful to walk on the nearly non-existent shoulder while Portugese cars whizzed by without moving over. Yikes. After a ten minute walk down the highway, we reached a smattering of white-washed homes. According to our trusty guide-book, there should only have been a semi-derelict farmhouse there. Uh-oh. I guess things had changed since the 90s. Now there were about seven brand-new white homes. We took our chances and cut-across an empty farmer’s field of clay-ish soil to a small creek-bed. After jumping down the embankment, into the very shallow, nearly dried-up creek, we began searching for the trail that would lead us into the “bygone era”.

No such luck. The trail that was once there was now entirely shrouded with cacti and thistles, making it nearly impossible to get through. Chris tried, and his clothes are now ripped to prove it! We searched and searched for some semblance of a trail, and after about 30 minutes, decided to cut our losses and head back to the car. If the “start” of the hike was this challenging, there was no way that this guidebook was going to take us successfully through a 2 hour hike. On our way back to the car, we marvelled at the peaceful landscape. Back towards the car, we found a little cork grove. We had no idea that Portugal was a main exporter of cork – you can buy anything made of cork in Portugal…base-ball hats, purses, loafers, postcards…the list goes on and on. It looks like the cork is just sheered off the sides of trees, about half-way up their trunks. While the hike proved unsuccessful, it was an adventure that we experienced together, and served an important lesson: don’t rely on old guidebooks!