Olhāo

Tuesday, May 13th to Thursday, May 15th, 2014

Tuesday, May 13th

By early afternoon on Tuesday, everyone had departed the hotel, except us. So we moved from the Marina Real Hotel across the road to the Marina Real Residences. Effectively, we were swapping two (probably expensive) hotel rooms for a cheaper three bedroom apartment.

The view from the apartment back to the hotel and the sea is nice enough, and much the same from the bedroom on one side and from the living room and balcony on the other.

And the veiw from both sides of the third floor apartment in the other direction is also similar - typical of a lot of coastal development in Portugal, there are vacant lots covered in weeds and rubbish, and behind those the town as it always has been. There's nothing wrong with development and improvement, but it's clearly been at an unsustainable pace for some time. Maybe some people are making money, but most are not.

Wednesday, May 14th

We had hired a car, and on Wednesday headed west towards Sagres and Cabo do Vicente - the most "south westerly" point on the Iberian Peninsular. On the way we stop in at the very extensively, and nicely developed town of Albufeira. There were lots of hotels, villas, restaurants, cafes and bars catering for sun worshiping tourists and long term residents from all over Europe.

We had a coffee and walked dow to the nearby beach where it was windy, but warm and sunny. As with the Mediterranean resorts, you could rent an umbrella, and chair, and some (mostly) uninterrupted relaxation.

The Tonys couldn't resist dipping their toes in the water either!

Lunch at Sagres was in a nice little family restaurant with a view of what looked like the best surfing beach in Portugal. In fact, the town was full of surf shops hiring boards and wet suits (!). Tony D and I shared a Seafood Cataplana (Zarzuela in Spanish, mixed seafood and potato stew in English). Tony W had soul (the fish, not the music).

After lunch we drove the 10km to the Cabo do Vicente lighthouse which is situated very similarly to the one at Finisterre in Spain. This is the most south westerly point on the Iberian peninsula, the other is the most westerly. It is very well maintained and photogenic.

The view west and north-west is of rugged cliffs looking straight out into the Atlantic.

Back at the fort in Sagres, the view west towards the lighthouse is just as spectacular.

 

And the fort itself, which appears to block access to the end of its own peninsular was perhaps a little underwhelming. However, given there was an entry fee, and we didn't have a lot of time, we decided not to go in. Perhaps we missed something special after all, albeit not a fort with too much history, apparently.

But the view towards to east of the surf and the town we had lunch was something else. You certainly would want to ride your wave too close to shore!

We took the faster toll road home, bought some groceries and did some more relaxing before dinner.

Thursday, May 15th

Tony D and I decided to take a boat trip around the lagoon and estuary to the island of Culatra, while Tony W opted for a day of rest to recover from his persistent cold. The view back from the marina in front of the hotel and apartment complex showed how imposing they were. They were even more dominant from the other side of the water, as we later discovered.

There were two tour operators with offices in the hotel, each selling a slightly different product. We chose the cheaper (20 €) trip which lasted four hours, with two of those being in villages, and two cruising at 6 knots (I was reliably informed by Tony who carries his boat navigation application and charts everywhere). The boat could have taken 100, but we were just 9 - two Australians, an Irish couple, and a group of five French.

We first went to Farol (meaning lighthouse) on the island of Culatra and near the well protected entrance to the (very) tidal lagoon. It seemed like quite a large town, but we didn't stop here.

From near the main jetty there was a view of the breakwater protecting the entrance. You could see how large the waves were and how impressive the defence against the Atlantic was, even from this distance. Later we would see the old entrance, now dominated by a huge sand bar, and how precarious it must once have been for fishermen to go to sea from here.

We headed back alongside the island to the village which shares its name - Culatra. This is a very interesting place, with no cars, concrete footpaths everywhere, narrow streets, small but well maintained fishermen's houses, and sand everywhere.

There was also an awful lot of of all kinds of fishing gear - boats, nets, oyster bags, traps, and rubbish! There didn't seem to be a lot of fishing happening though, perhaps because of the strong winds out to sea.

Near the marina there was a large complex of one room "shacks" which showed evidence of current or recent habitation, but we didn't see anyone. Assuming fishermen used these, they clearly ate a lot of fish, and drank a lot of beer, at least when they were in residence. Perhaps they were built as single's residences, who knows?!

Having pre-ordered lunch when we got off the boat at 1:15pm, we returned at 2:00pm when our meal was supposed to be ready. We started on a litre of sangria while we waited the last 10 minutes, with enough shade to be comfortable - the sun had a sting, and there was a breeze blowing as well.

When the Masada de Peixe (fish soup with macaroni), it was delicious. Accompanied by bread, and washed down by sangria, it was probably our last proper meal in Portugal.

Back on the boat at 2:45pm, it was time to head to the next stop Armona. You can see the hotel complex and Olhāo in the background.

We had 15 minutes at Armona, a much more affluent village than Culatra, and clearly a place for tourists to rent a bungalow and spend a few days. We headed straight for the bar and a beer.

The tide was up and a lot of the low lying areas of the lagoon were under 2 metres of water (according to Tony's app anyway). For a while we actually sailed over these flats, a route not possible at low tide.

This little settlement is apparently "illegal" and the local government is threatening to remove it. We weren't convinced.

Back in Olhāo, we passed the local shipyard and were soon back at the hotel and apartments.

Looks like being the left-over wine, bread, cheese and sausage that we had been buying for the past two days. After all, we can't take it with us on our flight to London, and train to Dover tomorrow.

Continue following our journey from the Channel to the Med!