Sunday Drive....

OMG!!! We have had SUCH a great day!!!! I am so exhausted after our adventurous road trip, so I hope to do this exciting day justice as I try to capture the things we saw, heard, learned and were deeply touched by! Here goes......

When Lawrence & I were children.....each of our families tended to go for Sunday drives, to look at the crops and see what might be happening in the areas we lived in. Today, with our cute, rented Fiat Punto, we decided to take a 'Sunday drive' ...... pick a highway and just head in a certain direction with a loose plan but, be open to see where the wind might blow us! (Actually, today, when we woke, it was unusually cold and windy! We had been told that cold, rainy weather was blowing in from the north [Britain, to be exact] and it has turned out to be true! )

Our day's adventure started with us driving off the main road, toward a sign that we thought indicated a beach area. We found the most amazing beach/beach community called Manta Rota!!! It was soooooooo beautiful! This community lies directly on the Atlantic Ocean and the soft, sandy beach goes for miles and miles and miles!!! It was a very windy day, which made it a bit cooler than usual but the sun was shining and the view was exquisite!!! We walked the beach for quite awhile, just marvelling at how very beautiful it was.....we visited with a fellow who was fishing off the shore with a giant fishing rod and we talked about how much we would like to bring Orion to this beach someday!! I could go on and on about how beautiful a beach it is but it really would get nauseating!! So enough said about it.....here are a few pictures (I probably took about a hundred of the same scenes over and over again....wishing I could seal the memories!!! :).......

We got back on the road and as we drove through a town named, Castro Marim, we saw signs indicating it had historical significance and so, we decided to make a quick stop. Wow!!!! It turned out to be an amazing place and we ended up spending a few hours there, exploring the amazing castle that remains in fairly good condition, enjoying the Andaluz Garden and having a very interesting/enjoyable visit with a young man, named Paulo, who was a curator at the Garden site! Wevlearned so much from him about the Algarve area, Portuguese values, traditions and food AND his own history /family ! We loved our visit with him because, once again, through him, we experienced how very proud Portuguese people are, of their country, their traditions, and their families.....it is very moving and powerful!!

Castro Marim is one of the oldest places in the Algarve region of Portugal! The castle is situated at a very high point in order to defend the village port! The castle with all of its magnificence, in terms of architecture and purpose, made us imagine the medieval warriors fighting for their ideals and protecting their people!! The view from the turrets was incredible and made us understand how this view was an essential tool in preparing to protect those inside it's walls, from approaching enemies! I was amazing!! We took soooo many pictures, it will be hard to choose just a couple to include in this blog!!

I found a friend, who lives within the castle walls.....

The white cluster of buildings, on the far horizon is Spain. The water pockets are salt pans.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Andaluz Grden, along with an informational poster about the gardens....

From Castro Marim, we drove through some incredibly beautiful scenery.....through the rolling, green hills of Portugal! We were driving parallel to the Spanish border, heading to a place called Alcoutim, which we were told was "a very pretty village". OMG!!! Alcoutim is far more beautiful than the description we were given......it is EXQUISITE!!! Honestly it is sooooo beautiful and 'traditional'....it is a precious gem within Portugal! I actually don't have the proper words to describe it's beauty and quietly powerful charm! It is on the shore of the Guadiana River (which houses the Portuguese-Spanish border) and it looks directly across, at a small Spanish village on the other side of the river! Within Alcoutim, is a small tributary river which creates a beautiful river valley that has orange trees and other lush vegetation along its banks. You can just feel this community's warmth and goodness!! It is soooo peaceful and beautiful! We had a great meal in a local restaurant walked around a bit, saw that it, too has a castle to explore...took a million pictures and decided, right there and then, that we WILL come back to this 'off-the-main-road' village someday and we will stay longer! If any of you are coming to Portugal, you need to make this a destination spot!!

On our way back to Tavira, we accidentally took the 'scenic' road out of Alcoutim and were blessed with even nicer scenery than what we had experienced on the way there. W were on a very narrow and winding road that took us around mountainous-like terrain. It was breathtakingly beautiful as we witnessed the sun setting and felt this rural area's peaceful energy! Here are a couple of pictures.....

The highway conditions and signage are EXCELLENT, allowing us to drive with ease and confidence. I am VERY grateful for this! Lawrence, more so, because when I am not freaked out, it makes driving much easier for him! :)

We have had a WONDERFUL day and are looking forward to more car travel adventures throughout this week!!

Post script: we have had great difficulty publishing this blog post.....tried 3 times in our apartment with no success and MUCH frustration, so.....we are now in the beautiful town of Silves in the northern hills of the algarve, sitting at a Internet cafe and will give this a try. Here's hoping!!

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