Algarve - Olhao

It is going to be a quiet day in the Algarve. We are going local. I am up early but Laurie is sleeping in this morning. I read and relax, catch up on the news. When Laurie gets out of bed we have some coffee and head to the market. Olhao is home to the biggest fish market in the Algarve and on Saturdays it is supplemented with farmers from the surrounding hill towns who come in with various produce. We buy some berries and some honey for our friends who we are visiting on Monday. We take a look at the fish market - there is an interesting assortment of fish - lots of sardines, eels, mackerel, and fish I have never heard of.

Olhao is home to a fish canning factory and we head there after the market to pick up some anchovies and sardines to take home and then at the local bakery to pick up a loaf of bread.

A quick lunch and we head out for the western Algarve. We drive through the hills and arrive at Lagos, it is busy - much busier than Olhao and the eastern Algarve. We decide not to stay and make the journey back home. We relax and siesta until supper time.

Rested we walk down the end of our little street to the corner restaurant Mosse, it is quiet and we sit outside. They have two English menus which are in use by the other tourists, two families are having a meal - it is a microcosm of the area. The service is slow/relaxed, we enjoy a bottle of 100 Hectares Douro white with our salted cod and chicken vol au vent and when we leave our pocket book is barely dented.

The Algarve was meant to be a relaxing time in advance of the Camino. Day1 - mission accomplished.Read more