Monday in Tavira

We were up relatively early this morning so that we could get a good walk in before lunch.

We headed out, at first looking for a French bread shop that we saw on Saturday on our way in, and soon found it. Naturally it was closed until Tuesday, but at least we know where it is now.

After following the main road out of town for a few minutes we turned north and headed through another residential area. This soon petered out into a gravel road through agricultural land, which was very picturesque. While we had no real idea of where we were in general, we were headed towards the ocean. The soil here is very fertile and, as we found elsewhere, the Portuguese like to grow things. We counted 12 different crops: potatoes, pomegranate, oranges, limes, lemons, chokos, passion fruit, beans, olives, peppers, avocados and grapes.

Eventually we came to a sealed road that went to our left and which wandered through a huge holiday villa complex. It made anything we have stayed at look positively small by comparison. Being the end of the season there was not much activity there but it was well kept. Amazingly, there was a plaque next to an olive tree, claiming that the tree was at least 2000 years old, and it had been kept as part of the development.

To get to the beach you have to walk along a path, over a bridge, and then for quite some distance. We decided that this was not necessary for Australians so we turned left instead and headed back towards Tavira, through the village of Santa Luzia. This little village is apparently the octopus capital of the world although how you would know that, and where they get them from, is anybody’s guess.

By the time we arrived back home we had done around 12 kms, a fair effort, and one that needed rewarding with a coffee and pastry.

When in a foreign country it is usual to try the local cuisine, but ... as seafood features highly in that list we have tended to eat plain fare. So it was this evening that we had a pleasant time at a little pizza place where we enjoyed the food and the wine. Our waitress for the evening was a Bulgarian wrestler, and looked as though she could handle herself very well!Read more