Tag: Beach

Salema’s Sparkling Beach

Posted October 11, 2019

The Glistening Beach at Salema

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.

Steve with beer, leaving Lagos for Salema

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, Portugal

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.

Gorgeous sunset on the way to dinner in Salema

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!

  • My “Jane” at the restaurant
  • Jane Curtin photo – you be the judge!

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.

View just outside our Quarto entrance door

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 entrance to our Quarto, Salema

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.

Praia Salema

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.

Yellow Rental Lounges, 10 euros a day for two

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. 

  • Three cats sit on the sand on the right side of the picture,
    waiting for fish remnants

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. 

I didn’t get a picture of the dolphins,
so here are some seagulls instead

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!

Lagos, Portugal

Posted October 10, 2019

Low Tide

Praia de Batata

When I first saw the beaches in Lagos, they took my breath away. It was as if someone picked up the magnificent rock formations of Sedona, Arizona, and deposited them in south Portugal where the land meets the sea.

Then, as if the beauty of the gigantic rock formations weren’t enough, Mother Nature carved out cave-like arches and tunnels connecting one small beach to the next. 

We checked the tide schedule, so we wouldn’t get stuck on one of the beaches when the tide came in. Some of the passageways were up high on the sand. Others, that close off at high tide, were close to the sea.

Fortunately, low tide was conveniently timed for noon. We started at the first beach by the marina, Praia de Batata, with our REI travel towels, kindles, and sunscreen in hand.

Each beach was its own small cove, each with a slightly different look and feel. I’d say there were five or six beaches over a mile or more. 

Praia Dona Ana

We’d heard there were other gorgeous beaches down the coast, and we weren’t disappointed. Praia Dona Ana, about 15 minutes by bus, was heavenly, once I got down the 14 thousand steps (bad knees). For 10 euros we had two lounge chairs and a shade palapa for the entire day.

Praia Dona Ana

After a lovely day, it was time to head back to our Airbnb. The bus stop was at the top of the hill, high above the beach. I turned around for one last look at the coast and was treated to the striking view in the late afternoon sun.

Town

Lagos is a charming, picturesque beach town in southern Portugal. And, apparently, word has gotten out. There are lots of tourists milling about, even in the shoulder season.

Lagos, Portugal

Lagos is almost picture perfect, with its cobblestone streets that open up into intimate squares, covered in the customary black and white tile patterns. The squares are filled with bright, colorful tiled homes, fountains, flowers and trees, and the occasional talented street performer singing popular songs from home.

Our Airbnb

I was quite excited that our Lagos Airbnb had a washer. After almost two weeks we could give our clothes a “proper” wash. Unfortunately for us, there was no laundry detergent provided at the flat and we could only find large size bottles at the market, which didn’t make sense for a wash or two (and were too big to take with us to the next town). Major letdown. Well, more hand washing was definitely on the agenda.

Our flat in Lagos, number 32

Wins & Losses

Wins

  • After a day at Praia Dona Ana, we hopped on the bus. Unfortunately it was going the wrong direction. We did, however, get a good look at the beach further down the coast, for the win!
  • Ate sensational Mexican food all three nights in town, once at The Green Room, and twice at Beats & Burritos
  • Found a working toilet at a cafe with only 15 minutes of searching after a water main broke and left us with no water (or toilet or shower) for 12 hours on our second day in town.

Losses

  • Steve made it back to our Airbnb after a beach day without his high-tech, fast drying, grey compact travel towel.  Down one travel towel.
  • Our Airbnb was super teeny-tiny, had a distinctive mildew smell, and a loud bar across the street, open until 2 am. Hooray for ear plugs.