Club, nother club, plane, no sleep

Today started in a club in Porto dancing to Gimme Gimme Gimme and with 1-2 hrs of sleep and wicked hangovers, somehow ended in Faro. Flying hungover with minimal sleep is one thing, but an Uber zipping around the Algarve limestone tile streets is another. The waves of nausea forced me to only look out the window at the horizon. Rolling red sandstone hills dotted with cork, orange and olive trees stretched away to the north. Glimpses of the aquamarine sea to the south between palm trees, blooming cacti and white washed houses with red roofs.

Once we arrived in Albuferia, we had our Uber driver drop us close to our AirBnB around 10AM, unfortunately for us, we couldn’t get access to it until 3PM, and hauling our suitcases to the beach in 30*C sunshine with minimal sleep and wicked hangovers was not in the itinerary. Instead, Vanessa had the idea for us to sneak into the nearest resort, which was quite successful. Not only were we able to enjoy their air conditioning, but we were even able to sleep in their plush leather couches for a couple of hours. As we left for our next stop prior to getting out BnB, the resort staff were even kind enough to mail our post cards!

Next stop was the oasis of the Al-Gharb Coffee Roasters - endless iced coffees, delicious food, and the perfect spot to read in the shade of an olive tree helped the next 3 hours pass by quickly. The staff were kind, and part of the fun was watching them interact with the kids of guests. Always with big smiles, and enthusiasm to join in on any games, including when one toddler began taking his trike for a ride between the tables and down the stairs, much to our chagrin. Well fed, well caffeinated and on the path to recovery from last night, we headed to our new spot.

Our BnB was a lovely 2 bedroom apartment with 180 degree views of the sea, and the best part, it was right next door to the dive shop!

A quick shower, and outfit change into our bathing suits and we were headed for the beach! A lazy afternoon ensued with lounging in the sun, floating in the gentle waters and reading. We stopped at a beachfront cafe for shrimp pizza and a bottle of green wine.

On our way back we stopped at the SuperMarche to grab breakfast foods and lots of snacks for our big days of diving ahead.

For sunset, we headed back down to the water, this time to explore the sandstone cliffs separating our “New Town” beach Oura from the “Old Town”. What started out as a simple stroll along the beach, quickly became a real hike. Unfortunately beach sandals are not appropriate footwear and dodging cacti became that much more threatening. We scaled the sandstone cliffs at one end of Oura an zig-zagged our way along the coastline. Many beautiful flowering succulents bloomed on either side of the well worn path along the cliffs edge. The sun was setting, turning the cliffs to a fiery orange and the sea to a deep purple. As we rounded the corner to Old Town, innumerable twinkling lights came into view along the opposite cliff face illustrating the other side of the bay. At this point it was quite dark and well past when we should have headed home. We hiked further up the cliffs to try to get back to a road, only to have to scale down again through a cacti patch. Both of us emerged unscathed, but more than ready for bed.Read more