Kiwi Roaming

The bus from Sevilla to Lagos took about 4 hours, which went surprisingly quickly. It was forecast to rain in Lagos when we arrived but that got delayed until the evening. After only eating a croissant and Oreos all day we went to the first restaurant we saw off the bus for a pizza and burrata salad to share (and someone needed to go to the loo) which was pretty good. Then we embarked on the walk to Dom Pedro, our accommodation for the next week which is about 2km from the bus depot. Our wee apartment is dated but has a wonderful view of the beach and we can hear the sea all the time.

The beach is about 4km long and there is a 5km boardwalk in the dunes which is well used. We are across from the beach so access is great. We have seen surfers, kite surfers, wind surfers, wee yachts and fishing boats. Plus runners, walkers, cyclists, people in camper vans and the tourist train – so it’s quite interesting from our balcony. Steve was pleased to see lots of guests here on motorbikes and even some KTM team crew staying here too.

Albufeira – one of the first villages we wanted to visit was Albufeira, a resort town which is kinda a mixture of a Greek island and Benidorm somehow – white buildings with blue accents, narrow streets, but also a “strip” of bars and clubs which will be noisy at night. Topology wise there are two beautiful beaches with the town perched on the cliffs above. There are stairs and escalators to help get you from the beach below.

We got there by driving our nifty wee rental car which cost us about $50NZD / day, interestingly if we’d chosen a manual it would have cost about $20 per day or an electric car $30 – but we decided with the need to focus on driving on the wrong side of the road an auto would be best and had no idea Dom Pedro has charging stations so an electric would have been an option after all. It’s a SEAT Arona (for my father).

We stopped at a clifftop brunch restaurant for yummy milkshakes, crepes and the best toasted sandwich I’ve had on this trip. Our waiter encouraged us to stay and enjoy the sunshine and view for a while – which we did and it was wonderfully relaxing. Then we ventured on with our explore. The clifftop pathway starts from here but we decided to just explore the town then walk on the pathway elsewhere today. The town was pretty busy, loads of tourists, and must be a lovely spot to stay with loads of places to eat and shop, and those beaches with golden sands.

There are escalators to get you from the town down to the beach as well as plenty of stairways. We saw plenty of stray cats here (another Greek island feature), tat shops and wonderful artwork too. The views of the cliffs and beaches below are spectacular so we could see why people love it here so very much.

Praia do Carvoeiro – on our way home from Albufeira we stopped at this wee beach, well we parked high above the beach and walked down the stairs to the clifftop then down through a tunnel onto the beach itself. It’s so spectacular with the cliffs 40m above you, the sound of the waves which are powerful and the wee caves the waves have created in the cliff face too. From here we went back up and ventured up onto the cliff walk in an area where there is no boardwalk just picking your way carefully over the rocks and not going too close to the edge!

There were plenty of people doing the cliff walk which goes for tens of kms, sometimes with a boardwalk and other times like this with no formation at all. The sun was getting low so we walked back, up all those stairs and drive home via the supermarket to sit on our deck for dinner and drinks. A lovely day.