Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they’re here….. no not really. Things are swell.

Yesterday we fought hard to overcome the effects of being in port for a week. Namely the fact that the time we get up has been slowly creeping later and later. As a result of this when my alarm woke me at 8.30 AM (A time I have always been suspicious of) I was not a hundred percent chirpy. This lack of chirp was made significantly worse buy the fact that I broke the coffee pot the night before so couldn’t even rejuvenate myself with a significant quantity of caffeine. My life is so very trying.

Anyway, the reason we had woken at this ungodly and vaguely bizarre hour was sitting in a nearby car park. A rented car, a day trip, a chance to get off the boat and travel a bit! As we drove out of the Marina the sun started to show behind the last of the cloud and we suddenly noticed the blue sky, a bizarre sight after a week of rain and thunder. It is very good fun to travel, to move along, watching the world go by. I sat, my hand out the window smiling a looking. The more I see of Portugal the more I like it, the poorest of the European countries and possessing a unique character unseen in the rest of Europe. The people are friendly, the language unusual sounding, and the wine is really very good.

We drove to Sagres just east of the Southern corner of Portugal. Driving down towards the town we passed through a row of shops and bars, aside from the usual assortment of old men dressed in clothes from five different decades there was no life anywhere. Five minutes later upon driving into the country side abruptly we realised that we had been through the town. Sagres is one long(ish) street with a small assortment of dilapidated shops and empty bars. There is however a large fort built out on the cliff, so we went to look at that. It also was dead, open but empty. Empty is not quite the right word, there were about six other confused looking tourists. And about thirty people fishing off the cliffs, the fifty foot high cliffs that made up the fort were lined with men of all ages, expensive looking sea fishing rods in their hands and small piles of fish. Some of them had climbed someway down the cliff and were perched on narrow ledges over a forty foot drop onto rock and pounding swell with all the outward signs of happiness. We left slightly baffled and drove north.

We found a long surf beach, with some surfers a few holidaying families and huge messy surf. The wind whipped the tops off the breaking waves blowing them back and covering the whole sea in whiteness. George Michael watched Barnie (Note: I have been told off for incorrectly spelling Barnie’s name, this problem has been rectified, sorry Barnz) swimming while I walked along the beach barefoot. At the far end of I came across a small stream flowing through a gap between two rocks. So I promptly dammed it. Then sat watching with satisfaction as the water built up finally breaching the sand and flowing away to the sea again.

Perched on the cliffs, it’s windows shining brightly in the sunshine stood a restaurant. We drove up there and had a satisfying lunch of Cataplana (Portuguese fish stew) and A bottle of Vinho Verde. Rejuvenated we drove further north to the town of Aldjezur. Climbed to the top of the hill there, had a drink in a café and left. It was yet another hot, sleepy town, differentiated from the others only because it wasn’t on the coast, and because it was teeming in very large ants.

Driving home was fun, we took what was euphemistically termed on the map a “secondary road”. To call it a dirt track winding up and down through the hills occasionally blocked by fallen trees and small lakes/large puddles would be a more accurate description. But I guess that wouldn’t fit in the box on the map. That evening I cooked dinner, a rare event on Blue Sky as George does nearly all the cooking, but it wasn’t a disaster, so that’s nice.

Later we walked into Lagos to check out the Lagos Festival that was going on. For some reason we couldn’t figure out it was all medieval. Lutes, Wenches and Mead succinctly sums up the theme. At midnight a big firework display ended the fun, it was variously set to toverture from Carmen, The Ride of the Valkeries and Carmina Burana. After a final two pints (50cl) in our local bar we headed bunk wards. Tired but happy.

Must dash now, going shopping.