We stop in town called Faro for lunch. We park near a large church, thinking that this would be an easy place to find when it comes time to head back to the car.
Not soon after, I realize that my SIM card from Spain no longer works now that we are in Portugal and so I have no GPS or assistance with directions. All we had to go off of was a small map located in my lonely planet Portugal book. We head south towards the water in hopes to find the old town and a map. We come across a tourismo sign and decide to walk into the building thinking they would have info for us. Find out that it is actually a school and not the tourist info center, but luckily the lady is nice enough to give us a map and circles a church that we should check out. She doesn't speak much English and apparently our Portuguese isn't great either since we can't seem to figure out what she is trying to tell us about the church. As if we're in a game of charades, she is making hand movements up and down her arm. Ray thinks she said that I would have to cover my arms in order to go inside the church. I seem to think that she was mentioning how the church used to heal people who had skin diseases on their arms. We smile and say "obrigado" and continue on our way. We walk along the water, through the old town, and pass right by the Se'.
At this point we are starving so we happen into a pizzeria and I must admit that this was some of the best pizza I have ever had. They even served a delicious garlic flatbread thing to start that was just as good.
After lunch, we make our way back to the car since we only had a limited time on the meter. We notice that there is a phone store right in front of where we parked so we walked in to try to figure out my phone. I end up getting another SIM card for Portugal (so my total is now 3). By the time we figure it all out, the big church right where we parked is now open so we decide to go explore. We also realized that this was the church the lady at the school circled on the map, so we figured why not. We walked inside and saw a beautiful gold chapel. We stood in amazement for a moment, taking in all the ornateness and details that stand before us.
We walk through a hallway with some morbid crucifixion pictures and models and out into a courtyard/ cemetery. We see a sign and all of the sudden a lightbulb goes off. The lady at the school was trying to tell us that it was a bone church, like the one we had seen outside of Prague.
There's a small chapel behind the main church made completely of bones. Above the entrance there is the following inscription: "Pára aqui a considerar que a este estado hás-de chegar", meaning "Stop here and consider this state that will befall you".
The chapel is built of the bones of more than 1,000 Carmelite monks and 1,245 skulls.
Ray and I found many skulls that still had teeth attached and others that you could tell endured some sort of trauma. Kinda crazy how we just happened into another bone church, without even knowing about it. It was cool to see, but also somewhat eery to be in.
With my phone all figured out and our fix of bones, we got back in the car and made our way to Lagos.
Lagos is absolutely stunning with numerous picturesque beaches, amazing food and a pretty good night life too. We spent 3 nights here and I could have stayed for much, much longer. I'm going to start by sharing the photos of my favorite part about Lagos... the beaches!
I'm not even sure if the pictures do justice. These beaches were absolutely stunning. We enjoyed an afternoon at the Praia da Dona Ana and Praia do Camilo. These are pictures from Praia da Dona Ana.
As we had been walking around Lagos, we had noticed these big metal pots on some of the restaurant tables that looked a bit like clam-shells. We were determined to figure out what they were, we looked on numerous menus and peered awkwardly at people's tables that had them, but we couldn't find the answer. We consulted with Siri and of course, she knew exactly what they were 'cataplanas'. The next night, we searched for decent place and decided to try the traditional portuguese dish. What a spectacular meal that was! There are various types of cataplanas, but we settled for one with different types of fish, shrimp, clams, mussels and prawns. There were potatoes on the bottom, topped with tomatoes, peppers and onions and then all the delicious seafood on top. It was delightful. We finished the meal with another traditional Portuguese dessert, toucinho do céu. Yum!!
Oh and for breakfast we have come to love these little guys called pastéis de nata. I usually don't go for sweet things in the morning, but these are absolutely scrumptious.
On our second day we decided to drive out to Sagres, located on the southwestern most point of continental Europe. This place proved its importance during the Age of Discoveries, as well as hosting a nautical school created by Prince Henry the Navigator.
On the point of Cabo de San Vicente sits a cute little red lighthouse, which guards one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and is among the most powerful lighthouses in Europe. Apparently, its light can be seen as far a 60km (37 miles) away. I was able to catch one of the hundreds of boats that pass this point everyday.
Pepe testing his luck...
Us taking a rest...
From Sagres, we drove to Portimão, another town along the coast, just east of Lagos. Again, the weather was not cooperating with us, the wind was howling and it even threw out some rain off and on during the day. But we made the most of it and explored Praia da Rocha.
We, of course, couldn't leave the Algarve without going beyond the beach and jumping into the beautiful water. Along with a guy from Dublin and one from England and the Andre and Mattie from Dive Time, we made 2 dives. The first dive, at Praia da Ingina, including many fish, coral, sea anemonies, sea stars and my first nudibranch (well, in Portugal that is)! My dad has many books all about these wonderful sea creatures and thus it was super exciting to see one in real life. Unfortunately, my phone is not PADI certified so he could't come along and take pictures of these guys, but I googled some images so you can see what we saw.
The second dive was a wreck dive at Burgan. I have to admit that descending down into a huge dark area was slightly unnerving. Once we hit the seafloor, there was a huge barge as far as we could see. Tucked within the barge was tons of life, fish swimming around, coral and anemones, octopi hiding in the holes and again more nudis. We saw similar orange ones like on the first dive and even these blues and yellow ones. Fascinating little guys! I loved just watching them move with the movement of the current.
With my phone all figured out and our fix of bones, we got back in the car and made our way to Lagos.
Lagos is absolutely stunning with numerous picturesque beaches, amazing food and a pretty good night life too. We spent 3 nights here and I could have stayed for much, much longer. I'm going to start by sharing the photos of my favorite part about Lagos... the beaches!
I'm not even sure if the pictures do justice. These beaches were absolutely stunning. We enjoyed an afternoon at the Praia da Dona Ana and Praia do Camilo. These are pictures from Praia da Dona Ana.
Here are pictures from Praia do Camilo. There was a long wooden walkway in oder to get to the beach.
A cool walkway through the rocks...
We found a spot away from any people, just to ourselves... So of course we decided that it was time to do handstands. Took me several tries to finally get it, meanwhile Ray had perfect form, right from the get go. Maybe I'll just stick to mountain pose.
We came across this tunnel through the rocks and upon entering saw this circular opening up towards the sky. It was really cool, made me feel a bit like I was in "Lost".
As you can tell, I was simply fascinated by the beaches and rock formations out into the water. And even though the weather wasn't perfect beach weather, it made for some pretty stellar photos.
While walking between the beaches, Pepe made some friends, who just loved to pose for the camera.
Another amazing part about Lagos was the food. The first night we went to a place called "Escondidinho" (recommended by our hotel). It was off the beaten path, up in the hills a bit, probably wouldn't have found it if we weren't looking specifically for it. We walk in and grab a table. The hostess brings us menus, but before we even have a chance to look at them, the fish chef comes over and tells us to come look at the fish. I must say that this is the way to order food. He grabs two different kinds of fish, I'm still a little unclear as to what type the were, but they looked tasty so we got them. They came out beautifully with veggies on the side.
As we had been walking around Lagos, we had noticed these big metal pots on some of the restaurant tables that looked a bit like clam-shells. We were determined to figure out what they were, we looked on numerous menus and peered awkwardly at people's tables that had them, but we couldn't find the answer. We consulted with Siri and of course, she knew exactly what they were 'cataplanas'. The next night, we searched for decent place and decided to try the traditional portuguese dish. What a spectacular meal that was! There are various types of cataplanas, but we settled for one with different types of fish, shrimp, clams, mussels and prawns. There were potatoes on the bottom, topped with tomatoes, peppers and onions and then all the delicious seafood on top. It was delightful. We finished the meal with another traditional Portuguese dessert, toucinho do céu. Yum!!
Oh and for breakfast we have come to love these little guys called pastéis de nata. I usually don't go for sweet things in the morning, but these are absolutely scrumptious.
On our second day we decided to drive out to Sagres, located on the southwestern most point of continental Europe. This place proved its importance during the Age of Discoveries, as well as hosting a nautical school created by Prince Henry the Navigator.
On the point of Cabo de San Vicente sits a cute little red lighthouse, which guards one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and is among the most powerful lighthouses in Europe. Apparently, its light can be seen as far a 60km (37 miles) away. I was able to catch one of the hundreds of boats that pass this point everyday.
Pepe testing his luck...
Us taking a rest...From Sagres, we drove to Portimão, another town along the coast, just east of Lagos. Again, the weather was not cooperating with us, the wind was howling and it even threw out some rain off and on during the day. But we made the most of it and explored Praia da Rocha.
Funny side note... I (quite) often attempt to take photos of the landscape or attraction, without anyone in them... Somehow, Ray always manages to sneak into the photo, without even realizing that I am taking it. In the beginning, I was just retaking the picture after he moved, but now its become funny to see how he manages to get in m my pictures, whether its his head, hand or foot... You'll start noticing little tidbits of him in more and more of my pictures.
The second dive was a wreck dive at Burgan. I have to admit that descending down into a huge dark area was slightly unnerving. Once we hit the seafloor, there was a huge barge as far as we could see. Tucked within the barge was tons of life, fish swimming around, coral and anemones, octopi hiding in the holes and again more nudis. We saw similar orange ones like on the first dive and even these blues and yellow ones. Fascinating little guys! I loved just watching them move with the movement of the current.
I wish i had more photos to share of our experience diving, but it was a great time and we are so glad that we went. Although we have been doing a lot of traveling over the past year, and seen so many wonderful things, it has all been on land. I find it crazy to think that the earth is made up of 70% water and we have just barely tapped the surface.
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