2016.09.27 (Salema)
Our studio apartment was very peaceful and conducive to a great night sleep. We had our usual pastry and coffee breakfast at a nearby café and went for a nice walk along the beach. We enjoyed some good time on our studio’s patio waiting to see, at a distance, whether the bus we planned to take tomorrow actually showed up at the expected time. We spent a few hours at the beach and actually got into the water which was fairly cool on entry but enjoyable after a minute. We had a good seafood meal at the restaurant where we tried to drop by yesterday. Later we took a short stroll where we encountered a few exterior exercise machines and had a small work out!
2016.09.28 (Salema – Tavira)
We had another relaxing breakfast at the same café. We relaxed in our studio apartment before heading out to the bus stop for the 12:38pm pick-up. Back at the small Lagos bus station, we backtracked on our route from the bus station to the train station, crossed the pedestrian bridge over the marina. We bought our train tickets to Tavira and waited a short 20 minutes for the train. Arriving in Tavira shortly after 4:00pm, we walked to our hotel located on the river front. During a short 20 minutes walk, we already started on enjoying the atmosphere of this small town. Jenny managed to secure a room with a large balcony. We took some time to book our hotel for our first stay in Spain. We were somewhat shocked by the hotel room prices in Seville recognizing that our visit coincided with the start of the weekend. Before supper, we dropped by the bus station to secure our tickets to Seville – a 3 hour bus ride. We had a great value seafood meal with an entertaining waiter. We made some purchases at one of our favorite grocery store: Pingo Doce where we got some water and snacks.
2016.09.29 (Tavira)
After our morning continental breakfast at the hotel, we took a self guided walk of town for a few hours, taking in some churches, a live Fado show and a camera obstura demonstration. Later in the afternoon, we took a ferry boat to the island of Tavira for some exciting beach time. The lifeguard’s flag was yellow which we guessed was justified by the heavy waves. The water was much warmer than in Salema. Jenny got to take some sea water when she got caught by a very big wave and she ended up on her four “paws” trying to regain the higher grounds on the beach. The 2 euros ferry boat back and forth to town was a really cheap cruise on river. We had our last Portuguese supper including grilled sardines and cod fish.
