Lagos Day 4 - Trip to Sagres

It was time for a little road trip so we struck out for the little town of Sagres which is an elongated town at the southwest tip of Europe. I'm getting really good at traffic circles, there is one about every 2 km on the secondary roads.

It has an end of the world feel with lighthouses and fortresses from an earlier era and is also now popular with surfers and other water sports at several fine beaches.

We started by visiting the Cabo de Sao Vincente Lighthouse at the western most headland.

It was a windy day with some significant haze but the rugged headlands were spectacular none the less.

We stopped at Fortaleza do Beliche and walked around some of the walls from an old fortress.

We did a brief stop at a surfing beach. The waves were not that huge considering the 25 kt winds that were blowing and the skill level of the surfers was nothing like Bell's Beach in Aussie.

After that, we drove to the Fortaleza de Sagres, an imposing fortress that apparently housed the navigation school of Prince Henry the Navigator. Most of what is there today was constructed in the 1700's.

There is a circular walk of a few km around the barren headland that provided some nice sea views.

It was definitely a lot cooler here than in the city with the temperature hovering around 20 C and a 25 knot gusty wind blowing. There is an interesting small church from 1570 within the compound.

It was interesting watching the local fishermen perched precariously on the edge of the cliffs casting their lines 35 m to the sea below.

One of the features was the Rosa de Ventos, a 50 m diameter representation of a compass in paving stone. Not sure if it was part of the navigation school.

After the fortress, we went into town for lunch and at a little local restaurant where the owner was glad to hear we were Canadian and not American.

On our way out of town we stopped by a nice beach "Praia do Martinhal". It was too cool and windy for sunbathers but the windsurfers were out in full force. We decided to sit at the local beach bar and enjoy a drink out of the wind and watch the action. Definitely some skilled windsurfers here!

We drove back to town and our apartment. It was much warmer there today with a high temp of 30 C.

We hadn't got our 10,000 steps in for today so we walked downtown for supper. No problem getting into just about any restaurant as I believe the tourist crowds are starting to drop off at the end of September. We chose Indian food and really enjoyed our meal.

We walked around a bit on the way home, enjoying the evening ambience.

Lagos Day 3

For some reason I was awake early again today, in time to see the sun come up.

It was forecast to be fairly hot today so we got an early start for the walk into old town Lagos, about a  km or so. We strolled the streets before things got busy.

Most of the shopkeepers and restaurants were just getting set up for the day's business. Here are some of the locals having their "morning meeting".

There are not any really old buildings in Lagos as the city was totally destroyed in the earthquake and tsunami of 1755. We made our way to the waterfront promenade.

We got talking to a barker for one of the numerous tour boats that take you on a voyage along the shoreline. Spur of the moment, we decided to take the deal for a "small" boat tour along the shore. It was actually pretty enjoyable. We went by several of the beaches and were able to get into many of the grottos despite the 1.5 metre swell that was running.

After that, we had a light lunch in an outdoor cafe in the heart of the town and then wandered the streets.

We stopped at a fish market...

Some of the street art was interesting.

Leaving the town, we did the cliff walk past Pinhao beach and Dona Ana beach. A beautiful day with the temperature reaching 31C.

We had walked about 8 km in the heat so it was time to retire to the apartment and enjoy the shade on our balcony.

Lagos Day 2

After our intensive touring of Lisbon and Porto and the long drive here, we decided that today would be a low activity day. The seagulls woke me up just before dawn and I managed to see the sun come up from our balcony.

We had a leisurely breakfast then headed down the street to Dona Ana beach. The shore is sandstone bluffs with many grottos. Numerous beaches occur at the inlets. There are four within easy walking distance from our apartment.

We set up our umbrella, mats and chairs and settled in for a relaxing afternoon.  I discovered a new spectator sport, topless beach paddleball!

We did get in the water as it was quite refreshing on a day that was 26C. I'm guessing the water temperature was around 21C which isn't bad for the Atlantic Ocean.

After returning to the apartment for a snack, we went a short distance down the street to Ponta da Piedade, a popular spot to watch the sunset. There is a lighthouse and lots of bluffs and grottos along the shore.