Surprise. I’m back in
Portugal.
What can I tell you?
It is my happy place.
And, yes. I’m fully
aware that there are so many other countries I could visit with my renewed
Schengen days. Switzerland, Germany,
Italy (I still have a thought of spending a month traveling by train to
multiple cities), France (I want to hit Nice eventually), and Spain but …
naw. I’m good in Portugal.
After several tries, I was able to find affordable housing,
just not on Madeira (still looking into that).
Instead, I decided to hit a new part of the mainland. The Algarve is in the south of the country,
best known for its beaches. The airport
is in Faro which is apparently nowhere near where anyone wants to be.
The first transport options I encountered were several booths for shuttle services. The lines were very long for all of them, so I went on the hunt for a taxi. I quickly learned why the line for the taxis was non-existent.
My next apartment was about an hour away from the
airport. I can’t say how thrilled I was
to see my first Pingo Doce along the way. Yay! I was back in Portugal!
Wait. You want how
much for the cab ride?
Sigh. There goes
another hundred bucks out the door. (Please
note: this is the third c-note taxi ride I’ve taken in the last three
countries, Türkiye, Montenegro, and now Portugal. You’d think I would have learned by now that cabs are a rip-off.)
Needless to say, I will be finding a different way back to
the airport.
I spent my first week in Portimao in a cute, pink, 1st floor apartment. It was a nice setup with a double balcony and a tub (with the dreaded partition). The building is about a mile and half from the beach over a sometimes rocky path.
The beach is fronted by the usual boardwalk with restaurants
and shops. And a lot of British people. I knew before my arrival that there are more Brits
here than anywhere else in the country. There’s
even a grocery store called The Food Co. that’s run by Brits and sells British
made products. My host in Porto had
already warned me that the only reason to go to the Algarve was for the beaches. All of the history and old-world charm of a city
like Porto was completely given over to apartment buildings. Lots of apartment buildings.
And that’s about it.
Not so many historical sites in town.
The big draw is definitely the beach.
I have no problem with this.
I couldn’t book the first apartment for more than a week, though I wanted to. Might as well make the most of the overpriced cab ride. I ended up booking another apartment owned by the same hosts and get this – it was in walking distance from the first place. Sweet! Further away from the beach but closer to Continente (a very small Pingo Doce is another mile further up the road).
I knew before I got to the second place that I wouldn’t like
it as much. It was located on the 8th
floor in a building with a pool. There
was another tub (this time with a shower curtain – yay!) and two HUGE
balconies. I loved those things. This was a corner unit like the first place
which meant different views for each one.
Granted, there wasn’t much more to see than other apartment buildings, but still.
A little over a week in that place and I managed to book the first apartment for an entire month. And, despite liking this place more, I found myself kinda missing the 8th floor. Oh well. Both places are good and means I don't have to make any more plans for a while. I have no interest in getting on a plane again right now, so I figured to ride out my time in Portimao. I’ll see if I can hit Funchal next month to use the rest of my Schengen days.
I love this country so much!
Y’all don’t even know!
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