Tuesday 28th February - Alvor

Alvor is 18 miles from the campsite and is a resort that Roland holidayed in back in the 90s so he was interested to see how much it may have changed.

Alvor harbour

Alvor is a small fishing village and is typically Portuguese with white houses and narrow cobbled streets.  It is not as brash as some sea side towns and has a more laid back feel about it.

When we arrived we parked the car in the huge, free, sandy car park near the beach.  It would seem that it is also a favourite place for campers to park their campervans/motorhomes.  It looked like many had stayed overnight and possibly longer.

Alvor beach

We walked on to the white soft sandy beach, which seems to go on for miles in both directions.  There were a few surfers already on the beach although it was a little chilly.  After walking a while up the beach we stopped in the beach café and had our most expensive coffees in Portugal (still pretty cheap by English standards at €2.20 each) but you couldn’t fault the setting.

We continued our walk along the beach and came upon a sea gull that was clearly in distress on the edge of the water.  It looked as though it had broken one or both of it's wings as they were hanging limply as it tried to lift itself and move forward from the water which was spreading ever further up the beach.  We felt as though we should do something to help, but alas we took too long in our deliberations of what the best thing to do would be and it died, possibly from the cold or from its injuries.  There is probably a lesson here but we still don't know what we should have done.

Alvor beach has a number of very long board walks which are a very pleasant alternative to trudging through the sand.  We eventually arrived at the rather impressively build breakwaters that had a walkway protected by a wall of rock on either side.  It must have been a huge investment but, as with many projects here, much of the funding has come from the European Union.

This is no time to be checking your Facebook

We walked to the end of the breakwater, but not before we encountered a small group of Portuguese who had ventured to the light house in front of us. It was then that a freak wave crashed over and soaked their feet.  While that had their backs turned and were starting to walk back another larger wave came over the top and drenched the unlucky group.  A moment captured by Angela, our intrepid photographer.

OK its not Lyme Regis, but its a whole lot warmer

Roland ponders:
"why when the water is so high
 you don't get wet"

Igreja Matriz de Alvor (Mother Church of Alvor)

At the Igreja Matriz de Alvor we were pleased to see a lovely boxer puppy (6 months old), and  like all boxer puppies he just wanted to play.  It was amusing to see him hopping and bouncing around all over the place trying to introduced himself to everyone.  However, he was not amusing to two Portuguese ladies with tiny snappy little dogs who didn't see the funny side as they tried to restrain there own small balls of fluff with teeth.  After listening for a while to the two woman and the male owner of Alex (the boxer) exchanging pleasantries (Portuguese seems to be such an expressive language) we went back into town.

Inside Igreja Matriz de Alvor

As we walked back to town we were hailed by a couple sitting outside a cafe.  It was Douglas and Elaine, a Scottish couple, our neighbours from two pitches away on the campsite and owners of yet another lovely boxer dog, Hansa.  They had just had lunch, but we joined them for a glass of wine and a chat.  We'd been chatting for a while when a parade came down the street.  Lots of children, and some adults, were in fancy dress, gaily marching along the road.  Some of the younger ones were riding a little train.  We cheered and clapped them on.

So you think I look funny!

These Iberians love a carnival

Note: Click on photos for an enlarged view.   Feel free to post a comment on the blog.