Salema’s Sparkling Beach

Posted October 11, 2019

Getting to Salema 

After three nights in Lagos, we packed up our backpacks and walked 25 minutes across town, heading to the bus station. We had scoped out the bus schedule for Salema the night before, so we had our plan all set. We stopped for an early lunch (we skipped breakfast), so Steve thought it a good time to have a beer.

Little did we know, until we arrived at the bus station, that our planning was flawed since this particular Saturday was a Portuguese holiday, Republic Day, which celebrates the overthrow of the Monarchy in 1910.

With an extra two hours to kill we parked ourselves at a small outdoor cafe with a great view of the bus terminal, where Steve had another beer (haha). Back at the station, I had the great pleasure of using the bus station women’s bathroom, and I would not recommend it. I’ll spare you the details, just trust me.

Once we were successfully loaded on the bus, things got a lot smoother. It was only a 40 minute drive to Salema. 

The Fishing Village

Salema is a tiny fishing village with two streets that comprise the entire town, both paralleling the wide, long white sand beach. Rick Steves (travel writer) labels Salema as his favorite beach retreat in all of Europe, and that was a good enough reason for us to give it a try. 

There are about 5 nice seafood restaurants, an Italian restaurant, a tiny market with very limited hours, a morning pastry shop, and a pizza place in Salema. And that’s it.

We went a bit over budget eating in Salema, but had some amazing seafood, and saw Jane Curtin (of Saturday Night Live fame from the 70’s) eating dinner at the table just behind us on our last night. Or at least I think it was her.

Steve was horrified that I kept taking his picture during dinner, but it was the only way I could get a picture of “Jane”. I was a bit obsessed with Jane throughout dinner, even googling her for more personal information. Her husband has a ruddy-red look and she’s 72 years young. Everything seemed to fit and it was all falling into place!

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My bubble burst at the end of our meal, when we heard “Jane’s” husband had a very Scottish accent. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Our Quarto 

To offset our overspending on restaurants, we opted to stay in a Quarto, a rental room in a local’s house. Our room was teeny tiny and contained two twin beds, a side table, and good lighting.  It also had an en suite bathroom, that was also very small but functional, and all ours.  And all of this for $44 a night.

The very best thing about our Quarto was the 10 second walk to the beach! Hard to beat that. And we loved listening to the waves lulling us to sleep at night.

We had our own private entrance, access to a shared refrigerator and coffee maker, and even our own laundry lines just outside our window, where I hung my hand washing to dry in the heat of the day.  We felt just like locals (well, kind of). 

The Beach

Praia Salema is pretty darn ideal, with powdery white sand, the turquoise blue ocean, and an uncrowded beach (at least in October). A local rents loungers with palapas (for shade) for $10 euros a day.

We made the most of our rental investments each day, arriving first on the beach every morning and staying until 6 or later.  We had no problem filling our entire day with reading, sunning, and some quality napping.

It was close to 80 degrees every day, with a nice breeze. When we got hot enough, we’d brave the Atlantic, which was quite brisk, but refreshing nonetheless.

We chose to sit at the far west edge of the lounge chairs, so we had a good view as local fishermen’s boats were dragged up onto the sand by a tractor to unload their catch.  The town cats would gather by the boats and patiently wait for scraps from their haul. 

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The Dolphins 

Dolphin watching excursions are advertised all over town, but we were lucky enough to witness our own (free), dolphin sightings. 

Early in the morning, while having breakfast on an outdoor deck just up from the ocean, we spotted about 10 dolphins swimming by. 

Then, later that same day, in the late afternoon, everyone on the beach had a real treat when about 15-20 dolphins swam up and down the beach putting on a show. I think I was more excited than the little kids.  Dolphins were leaping high out of the water, flipping and playing. Others were jetting around at high speed, creating white water like speed boats. I even saw two jump high into the air, in unison, and gracefully dive back into the depths, like something you’d see at a dolphin show. It was magical. 

Wins and Losses

Wins

• The beach, the beach, the beach
• The sparkling ocean
• Meeting Mandy & Harold from Napa, Happy 30th!
• Staying in a room that’s a 10 second walk from the beach

Losses

• Steve stubbed his little toe on the sharp tile corner in the bathroom, drawing blood
• Hours later, a bee elected to sting Steve in the same wounded little toe. That little toe must have done something very bad in a former life, is all I can say
• The only bus out of Salema had a pick-up time of 6:45 am. The only bus. It wasn’t even light out, but we were on-board!