Spain and chicken feet !!

Up at 8am and we decide to head down to the beach to have breakfast overlooking the ocean again. We met an older couple from Yorkshire at our hotel and soon after we arive at the restaurant Sue and Eddie arrive to have breaky there too. They are ust hilarious to listen to - very broad yorkshire accent and Eddie spent 30 years as a coalman (delivered 100lb sacks of coal manually on his back)  and now has a screwed back and a very funny outlook on life.

After we eat Glen and Sue head down onto the beach to have a paddle in the ocean. Eddie with his screwy back and Rhonda with her fractured foot cannot go on the sand so they stay and have coffee and watch. Glen grits his teeth as he wades in expecting it to be freezing but the Atlantic ocean is surprisingly warm here. The tide is out and there are rockpools with little fish and all kinds of sea life which is very different to the BC coast. Glen finds some nice shells which will be coming back to Canada with us.

After the beach we get into the car and plug our destination into the TOm Tom - Pepe SPain. The border is about an hour away and we head off onto the main road and then the freeway. We pass the main town of Faro and the airport where we landed a few days ago. The weather is hot again and at 10am it is already 22 degrees but there is always a lovely breeze here. We eventually see a huge bridge in front of us and we know this is the border as SPain and Portugal are seperated by a river the size of the Fraser. AS we approach the bridge we see the sign "Espana" and as we cross the bridge we are in SPain. As it is Europe there are no longer any border posts or passport checks and you can drive freely from country to country. This sounds odd but as soon as we get over the bridge everything is very different from Portugal. The freeway is different, the land araound us is different and in the distance we can see buildings that are definitely different to the Potuguese ones.

The Spanish freeway has very well kept centre medians which are planted with roses in full bloom. As we drive we pass several maintenance trucks that are watering the roses. We drive 50km into SPAin and the roses are there the whole way - wow. We come off the freeway and head to the coast to a small fishing port. This area of SPain is very flat and there are no hills or cliffs like we have in Portugal. We arrive in the town and take a drive around. The buildings are far less ornate here and there is a feeling of a working town. We park the car and go for a walk along the seafront where all the fishing boats are moored. We stop at a restaurant on the beach for a snack and we order fresh tuna in garlic and a tomoato/onion salad. Mmmmm the tuna is on the bone and is so fresh.

We want to try something typically Spanish and on the way in we spotted a Tapas bar. In SPain Tapas means food on small plates. YOu can order mini plates of local delicacies to try at a very cheap price. We take a walk over to the Tapas bar and take a seat in the sun. The owner speaks zero english so we try and decipher the menu. We order 2 dishes Rhonda orders meatballs with potatos and GLen orders fried chicken feet (teeheehee). BOth dishes are very tasty (well Rhonda wouldnt know if the chicken feet were tasty she takes GLens word for that).

After tapas we drive to another Spanish town and take a wonder around. We see a petrol station and notice that the petrol is way cheaper here - only $1.90 / litre so we throw in 20 euros worth. We decide to drive back over the border and take a look at the Portuguese border town of  Tavira.

 TAvira has a castle and is built on a wide river. We head into the town centre and take a walk up a cobbled street to the castle. From the top of the castle we can see views across the rooftops of the town - it is lovely here and it turns out to be one of the prettiest towns we have been in so far. We sit in the town square with the castle towering over us and we find a wi fi spot (very rare over here). We have already written a few days of blogs but have been unable to get wifi to post them. Glen logs in and posts a few days worth. Just so you all know if we dont post it is simply because we have no wifi as we do a blog every day. We leave Tavira and head back towards our home town of ALbufeira.

As we drive we pass a huge castle set up in the hills. Back at the hotel we take some cold meat and local cheeses out of our fridge and we have a light meal on our patio. The sun is setting and the sky is brilliant orange. We decide to walk down to a local bar where we sit and share a jug of sangria before heading off to bed. Another awesome day.

Tomorrow we are planning to drive to the far west coast of Portugal where the landscapes and seascapes are supposed  to be just spectacular. See ya.

Portuguese Hills, Castles and Cathedrals - and PIRI PIRI !!

 We get up and head off from the hotel into Old Town Albufeira to grab a coffee and some breakfast. Glen spots an Irish bar that is selling breakfast which includes balck pudding and white pudding (blood and suet !) so we stop there for breakfast. Rhonda is hungry and orders cottage pie and gravy for breaky teehee - both meals are good. At breakfast Glen grabs the map and we look for villages and towns with castles up in the hills and we mark a couple down. We drive off away from the coast and soon we are going up into the mountains.

 Portugal is very lush and green and the roads are very narrow and windey. WE drive past lots of trees with fresh lemons growing and also lots of orange trees. We stop at the roadside and pick a lemon from a tree - wow the smell of citrus is amazing. The villages we drive through are very pretty, especialy the gardens - people keep immaculate gardens here and almost every garden has grape vines growing loaded with grapes.

 We head towards our target village called Salie. As we approach we can see the ruins of an old castle high on the hillside. We park up and have a wonder around the vilage and go up oto the old castle walls. The view of the valley and town below is awesome and the town is surrounded by lush green olive groves. We find a small bar and have a couple of icy cold beers - it is 27 degrees here today.

 WE head off again in the car towards a larger medeival hill town called Silves where there is another castle and an old cathedral according to our guide book. On the way we pul up and Glen picks a couple of oranges from a tree at the side of the road. We peel the orange and try the fruit - wowwzerrr - juicy and sweet - that is the best orange we have ever tasted and it tastes so much better cos we picked it. We cross a large bridge and Silves comes into sight. The castle in the middle of the town is massive. We drive straight to the town square and park then walk up to the castle. IT is very impressive and the castle walls tower 100ft in height. There is a giant statue of a medeival knight at the main entrance and Glen gets his pic there. We explore the castle then head down to the old cathedral.

 We have to pay 1 euro each to go into the cathedral but it is worth it to see the architecture of the interior. ITs a bit creepy in there as the floor is covered in tomb stones and all around the walls are numerous stone coffins housing the bodies of medeival royalty we are guessing. ITs oddly very cold in the cathedral as well but the building itself is amazing. We explore the cobbled steets a while then head back to the car. Our plan next is to drive to a tiny fishing village on the coast that someone told us about.

 It takes about 45mins to get to the coast and the village of Algoz. The village consists of a few dozen fishermans cottages along the clifftops and a lovely beach harbour set down below in a very deep gorge. There is a cafe at the top of the gorge so we park and walk up to the cafe where we enjoy a plate of Couvert (remember bread, olives, cheese etc). A fishing boat comes in while we are there and we are alarmed to see it race its engines and speed towards the beach. It hits the beach at full speed and slides up onto the sand. This is how they come in and once on the sand the fisherman uses a winch to haul the boat up away from the waves.

IT is now 7pm and we have had a full day. Our last stop is going to be in a town called Guia which is renowned for being the place where chicken piripiri was first made. Chicken piripiri is a spit roasted chicken covered in a hot spice and we are dying to try it. We have been told about the actual restaurant in the town which claims the first place to make it and we eventually find "Ramires" up a very narrow little street. We head inside and the smell is knockout. At the table we are immediatly served with couvert (you know what it is by now) and Glen orders a bottle of vinho verde (green wine). We order a ful chicken piripiri to share with a side of fries and a tomoato/onion salad. Glen is in love with the chicken as it is hot and spicy and falls off the bone mmmmmm. After dinner we head back to the hotel where we are going to have an early night as tomorrow we plan to drive across the border into Spain.