It was an interesting drive up the twisty road from Monchique to the summit of Fola. The top of the "mountain" is covered with communications and military radar towers but there are enough clear vistas allowing you to see to the south and west coasts and as far as Sagres, 40 km away.
From here we drove west to the town of Aljezur stopping for a picnic lunch at the town of Marmelete.
Here we got to check out some cork trees. The bark is stripped every nine years to provide cork for, you got it... wine bottles! They also make a number of other products from it such as tiles, hats, purses, belts, shoes etc.
In Aljezur, we drove up to the fort. That was an experience. A one and one-half lane cobblestone laneway at about a 15-20% grade. Almost lost it when I had to pull over for an oncoming downhill vehicle. Just managed not to stall in 1st gear.
This was a moorish fortress from the 1200's. It provided a nice viewpoint of the town and countryside.
From here we drove to the west coast which is all National Park. There are about a dozen beautiful beaches along the cliff edge which are favourites with surfers. We stopped at Praia da Arrifana which is at a river delta.
There were no surfers here so we headed south to Praia de Bordeira a wide beach with a fair number of surfers. There were not a lot of big waves but the scenery was gorgeous.
We drove the rough unpaved cliff top road for several km taking in the rugged coastal beauty.
The last beach, Praia do Amando, apparently had the best surf as there were scores of surfer vehicles in the parking area and lots of people on the beach and in the water.
We drove back to Lagos and stopped at the supermarket to pick up some food for an eat-in dinner.
It was almost a full moon and we got to enjoy a stunning moonrise from our balcony.
