We did some sightseeing in the local area today. After everyone eventually got up and had breakfast we headed out at 11am. First stop was São Rafael beach. It took us a bit of a time to find the right road down to the beach. I haven’t yet fully understood Portuguese roads and road signs yet.  They have traffic lights in the strangest of places as well. On the main road they will have a traffic light and a sign which says speed regulation (in Portuguese of course) so we assume it is to slow you down if you are traveling too fast. They just change at random times (or so it seems to me).

The beach was at the bottom of some sandstone cliffs with beautiful azure blue sea. The sea temperature is not particularly warm even though the outside temperature was around 30C today again. As you can see there was not a cloud in the sky and it was like that the whole day. We messed around on the beach with only Michael doing some swimming in the sea. The Portuguese obviously have no issue with being topless on the beach as a number of the woman were tanning (and walking around) topless even though some of them definitely should have known better. While on that subject, it is also amazing how many woman also wear thongs on the beach – and in most cases also should not be.

After the beach we headed for Lagoa but on route got sidetracked into another small village called Alcantarilha and ended up having lunch there at a local side walk restaurant.  It was a late lunch as it was already 2pm when we got there and we only finished at 3pm. The Yellowers decided to head on to Lagoa while we headed back to Vilamoura via the Hypermarket to re-stock.

It was a pretty warm day and so a late afternoon sleep was rejuvenating.  Helen went for a cycle down to the Marina and back again and then we had a late, light dinner of leftovers and salad while enjoying the beautiful evening outside by the pool. Helen said the Marina was alive and thriving and so we plan to head down tomorrow night to experience the vibe.

Until then … P, H, S, M & C