Historical Algarve Bus Tour

We wanted to see more of this area of the Algarve and weighed our options of a car rental for the day vs an organized bus tour. We opted for the stress-free bus tour for €39 each, which was about the same as the car rental. Gas is expensive here...about $2 a litre. It was a dreary, drizzly morning when were picked up at our resort and joined 48 other passengers, all from the UK except for four other Canadians. Our first stop was the historic town of Silves where there is a 12th century castle. We didn’t pay to go inside as we had read that the exterior was more interesting than the interior. We wandered through the town and got back to the bus early.

Next stop was the peak of Monchique Mountain, a range 20 km inland. The peak is almost 3,000 feet and the whole drive up the mountain was in fog and drizzle. Naturally we could see nothing at the top but were reassured by the tour guide that there were beautiful views hiding beneath the fog and low lying cloud. We were invited into a gift shop where they were giving free samples of the local liqueurs, which John described as tasting like shellac (although I doubt that he has ever tasted shellac!).Read more