Chilly Weekend

    Easter Sunday saw a light covering of snow as the grandkids plucked candy eggs from the "Easter Tree" at my front walk. They were in fine form for our Easter lunch of roast lamb but the other family didn't make it as Lucy the dog was sick and had to pay a visit to the vet. They phoned in their apologies but we had already dived into the meal and there wasn't much in the way of leftovers. That said, I got two more meals out of the lamb leg and am going to make a Shepherd's Pie tonight with the last of the meat and some new vegetables.

    Today is still very chilly with rain and freezing rain forecast. In fact it will be a few miserable days but, thankfully, the temperature is going to rise into the low 'teens by the weekend.

   I calculated all my expenses for my Longstay in Portugal and it came out to just about the same as I have been paying for my 8 - 10 day trips with U of T Alumni. I probably did as much sight-seeing but interspersed with rest days which really suited me better than rushing around to a different place every day.

     One of my favourite excursions was a tour of Historic Algarve. We were on the road by 8:30 and visited four different towns. First stop was an old castle in Silves, then we climbed the mountains to Monchique at about 900 metres, where we had a lunch of Chicken Piri-Piri (a local speciality) after admiring the view. Next stop was Lagos on the coast - a quite attractive harbour and holiday spot where I saw a model of the ship Bartolemew Diaz, a 15th century Portuguese navigator, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope - it was tiny compared to the sailing vessels of today!

    Our last stop of the day was at Cape St. Vincent which is the most south-westerly point of Europe - a very windy spot with craggy cliffs and crashing waves. Then there was the long ride back to Albufeira, getting in around 7:30 after a very full, busy day. It was one of the better tours I had and only cost 17 Euro - a bargain because it is still off season.

Silves Castle - thought to have been founded in the 10th century.

 

One of the early kings of Portugal. His statue is outside the walls of the castle.

 

Lagos harbour

 

 

Me at Cape St. Vincent - looking rather windblown!