Tuesday September 9, 2025
Hi Folks! We’re still in Portugal but are down on the southern coast known as the Algarve (my favorite part of Portugal!). We are docked in the town of Portimao but did an all day excursion to visit three close by towns of Cape St Vincent, Lagos and Sagres.
Our bus started with a trip to the farthest southwestern tip of Portugal named Cape St Vincent. It was named this since the body of St Vincent was shipwrecked and buried here. Wow was it windy! Almost lost my toupee! Lol
Here on the rocky seaside bluffs was a red lighthouse built in 1846. It is one of the brightest lighthouses in the world that allow ships to see it from 50 miles away. And ever since the Ukraine/Russia conflict you can no longer get into the lighthouse/fort since it’s used by NATO to monitor the waters here.
We then traveled to the town of Sagres to the dramatic seaside cliffs of Ponta da Piedade. The views from there were amazing. It also had lots of people swimming and wide sandy beaches.
After that we drove along the sands of Praia da Baleeira on our way to the town of Lagos. Here we stopped at a beautiful beach named Dona Ana. At one time it was considered one of the nicest beaches in Europe. Like everywhere along here there were tall cliffs right next to the beach and lots of people were swimming and sunbathing.
We then had lunch in a traditional Portuguese restaurant overlooking the water in Lagos. Great menu… fish soup, salad, baked chicken and honeydew for dessert. After lunch we did a guided walk around Lagos and saw the Church of Santa Maria as well as a former slave market that dates back to 1444. We also had free time to walk around Lagos and do some shopping (I’m looking at you grandkids!).
After that we made the drive back to the port. We boarded and relaxed for a little and then got ready for dinner. I’ll do another update tonight. Hope everyone’s having a great Tuesday!
The Wandering Italian 