The End of the World  

After spending 3 days exploring life in the large city of Madrid, we were both ready to head to the smaller and more quaint towns of Portugal. We arrived in Lisbon by overnight train from Madrid and picked up a rental car at the train station then headed south to the Algarve region of Portugal.

We decided to stop at a small town of Albuferia, one of many in the Algarve region along the 99 mile southern coast of Portugal. The old town of Albuferia is set against a backdrop of rock cliffs and has a beautiful coastline of red sandy beaches. We found a pension in the “old city”, and then enjoyed watching the dedicated surfers catching the waves while we walked along the main waterfront. We made Albuferia our home base for 3 days since it is centralized along the coast. The next day we headed out to explore the western most section of the coast. Along the way we stopped in a few of the beach towns before reaching Sagres which is located in the most extreme southwestern corner of Europe and is known as the “End of the World”. While we hiked to the rocky jutting cape out to the lighthouse, we could see why it was referred to by this term. We could visualize that many mariners thought that when the sun sank beyond the cape, it plunged over the edge of the world. In the ancient world, this barron cape was the last explored point. It was where Henry the Navigator launched Portugal and the rest of Europe on the seas of exploration. Famous navigators such as Magellan, Diaz and Vasco da Gama were apprenticed here. Lots more history to ponder.

The following day we headed east and visited the beach towns of Faro, Olao, Tavira and the furthermost eastern town of Portugal, Vila Real de Santo Antonio. It was interesting to see all these former fishing villages – now summer resorts for the British, French and Portuguese that dot the coast. It was evident that the sea is the source of life in these small towns. The narrow streets and village market places that sell copper, pottery, almond and fig sweets and other handicrafts and of course, the local sardines add to their individual charm! We decided to leave the sardines to the locals after trying them once in Italy.

We will now be heading north to the medieval towns of Evora, Obidos and Sintra. Check out the article on the medieval towns of Portugal.

Where’s Pat and Mike?