Praia de São Rafael

Praia de São Rafael - the second beach discovered by pure luck. The weather was as it was until two weeks ago-rain, shine, Sun, rain and rain again. So I couldn't say I got to enjoy the beach and get tanned-no....but I was grateful for the colors I got to see, for the magnificent "show" the sky and the ocean get to perform every single day - a crazy combination of vivid, intense colors. Nice place to visit.

Praia da Falésia

Praia da Falésia - another hidden place and surprisingly beautiful beach. This is how it greeted me - with Sun, who changed his mind :-) after just ten minutes so we had to leave again.....running from one beach to another hoping that we will escape the rain-which we didn't :-)

Cabo Espichel by chance

I wanted to go again to Portinho da Arrabida, but you know how it is....life sometimes doesn't take us where we want to, but where we should be. This was not the first time that I got to go to Cabo Espichel-this time though I had to discover a warmer place and it had to surprise me again with its wild beauty.








There was a nice wedding ceremony in the church, a lot of dresses, too many people trying to show off their gowns but....this is how weddings are when they are too big. I like little, cosy ones...with almost anybody invited so that you could you feel the vibe of the moment.



There is a nice shop at Cabo Espichel-a shop full of shells of different size and shapes and colours and feelings. I felt in love with my ring, now very dear to me. Like it? :-)

Tavira & Isla Tavira

Tavira








Isla Tavira is almost at the border with Spain. I have no idea why I always have these crazy ideas to search for the borders, go as further as I can, run away from the place I'm in, get far, far and away. My dream was to see Vila Real de Santo António - of course at the border with Spain. I wanted to trick the driver and take him there but this time it didn't work. I like doing this. Tricking people to take them to amazingly beautiful places that will take their breath away. But maybe only my breath is taken away by such beauty.


We stopped wanting to visit Parque Natural da Ria Formosa-it was too late and imagine this-it was Friday and they were supposed to open again only on Monday-strange world. Isla Tavira was not at all in my plan but "chance" took us there. I saw boats, I knew I had to hop in one of them. I missed one, didn't know where to take tickets from and in the end managed to bargain a ride with a "taxi boat" driver to Isla Tavira-it was cheap and nice. Pretty adventurous. I was wearing high hills but managed to get out and in of the boats. Got there. Had to use all my negotiation skills to convince the persons that were with me that we will manage to get back somehow and we will not end up sleeping there.






I made it. We "visited" the island. Lovely as all remote places, all the restaurants had the same menu and the same prices, the wind was blowing like crazy and the sand was still wet from the rain that didn't know it had to stop pouring in June. We managed to get back in time, enjoyed the ride and the water.

Vilamoura in June

I love it when "my compass" never fails and manages to take me to mystic places. I was feeling a little bit low in Vilamoura after seeing some English guys screaming in the street, after looking at some English men whose only wish was to watch a football match and drink loads of beer. I was almost crying with sadness thinking about what and how Vilamoura is today and trying to imagine how it was 50 years ago. I still haven’t searched the Internet to find the answer but I found the “other side” of Vilamoura by myself. It was evening, the Sun was saying goodbye to a whimsical day, with loads of rain and only a few rays of Sun. I started to stroll all by myself in search of something nice.





I passed the “marina”, looked at all those fancy luxurious yachts, took some nice pictures and got to some kind of a barrier. I didn’t know what to do. Cross it or not. So I waited there for a few minutes, looking and wondering what was on the other side. The place was almost deserted so I didn’t really have the courage to cross it. I have this fear that some kind of huge dog will chase me, I will run and run and run and then he will bite me. So I gave up but was still longing to cross the barrier. I returned determined that... well, that’s it, what if it is a private property. Then I saw a couple approaching. A couple in their 50s, still very in love as one could tell and as I saw them kissing further. I followed their steps and crossed the barrier. There was no manace on the other side, just beauty.








A tiny harbour, a huge wall with “Marina Vilamoura” on it, a wooden bridge and ..... total bliss....a huge beach bathed in the wonderful gold light of my lovely Sun. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in exctasy. I was taking pictures and talking by myself wondering if all those English tourists knew the place-maybe they did but for a moment I thought it was all mine. And I guess it was. I walked and walked following a “wooden lane” and then the magic was over for a second-I realized that I was actually very alone there and was traped by the magic and beauty of the moment.....thinking....goodness gracious....I am a dreamer chasing the sunset. The magic was back again after just a few minutes. The place was too beautiful for me. I thanked the evening for offering me such light and went back to Vilamoura. On my way to the hotel I stopped to take pictures in a very tiny park. There were some Englishmen passing by-not interesting-a crazy woman taking pictures of some flowers in the most "trivial" park.