My Life on a Plate

Portugal at Last

As I sit here in a cardigan listening to the pouring rain, it seems impossible to believe this time last week I was enjoying the sunshine in beautiful Portugal...sigh. Oh well, I guess I have my memories and photographs to remind me it wasn't a dream.

Okay, I'll get the gripes out of the way first, although you know I'm not normally one to complain.

1. The cold I took to Portugal with me at the start of the holiday turned into a hacking cough later in the week.

2. There were just too many lovely things in the shops for those of us with limited funds.

3. The sardines served on the boat trip were gross. I could never eat something on my plate that was looking at me.

4. The hotel only possessed one C.D. After a week I'm still waking up with 'In the Navy, you can sail the seven seas,' 'D. I .S .C .O, and 'You better knock, knock knock on wood,' going round my head.

5. Our flight home was delayed by two hours.

But on the whole it was a beautiful place to spend a week and I'd recommend Portugal as the perfect holiday location. We stayed in a quiet, yet spacious hotel in Vilamoura in The Algarve. The shops,bars and restaurants are all set around a fabulous marina. We were pleased to have opted to eat out as there were so many different restaurants. During the week we sampled Portuguese, Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisine and all were excellent.

The weather was perfect apart from one shower in the evening and the people the most pleasant I've ever come across abroad. In contrast to the mad drivers of Greece and Italy, the Portuguese will stop at a zebra crossing and wave, even before you've reached it.

The men played golf three of the days, leaving Joy and I free to tour Vilamoura, walk the beaches to a gypsy market at Quarteria and make our own way by bus to Albufeira. I think we probably enjoyed ourselves more than the golfers.

Other days we visited the pretty inland villages of Alte and Querenca and took a boat trip around the coast to see the grottoes. I won't ramble any longer but if you wish to see some of the photographs, just click on the one below.

But now it's back to reality. Being Friday you know what that means. Off to find the bog brush.