Today was sunny and windy, but we opted for beach visits and drove about an hour to Salema, a fishing village that Bryant and I had visited in 2002 with friends Martha and Steven. Those were pre-development days, when the scourge of condo construction hadn't yet reached the western Algarve coast, and the fishermen's boats were pulled up on the beach, filled with nets and pottery jugs that served as octopus traps. Today the boats have been relegated to the eastern end of the beach, and there are far fewer of them-with just a few octopus pots. New banks of condos cover the western hillside overlooking the beach, the little town square has been cobblestoned and curbed, and two residential hotels flank the center. The village, though, still winds its way up the narrow streets, and is tidy and winter-quiet. We couldn't locate the small house where we'd spent a night or two in 2002, but the restaurant where we had enjoyed a glass of Sangria back then was expanded and modernized.
We had a coffee break on the deck of the Atlantico Hotel Cafe and walked on the beach, admiring the architecturally interesting whitewashed new house backed up by tall stone walls at the beach's eastern end.
Our next destination was the isolated beach Praia de Castelejo, near Vila do Bispo, reached by a paved road over high moors then winding down to sea level. A few surfers were taking advantage of the waves while we appreciated the rocky cliffs and lack of tourist development at this windy spot.
On the way back we stopped briefly at the Fire Station in Vila do Bispo as David and Jean's son is a firefighter in NB. We had a tour of their equipment with one of the firemen who described the crews' role not only fighting fires but performing cliff rescues and saving fishermen.
Our next stop was the village of Monchique, well inland, which was frankly, a disappointment. The view over the valley was about the only positive point. While driving downhill from the village the ABS and Repair lights came on on the dashboard of our Renault Kangoo, so we pulled over to call the Renault emergency line in Paris. (A good reason to carry a cell phone in Europe!) We were pleased to reach a call center rep with good English skills who ultimately directed us to continue driving back to Loule, whereupon David and Bryant took the car to the Renault garage. As luck would have it, once they got to the garage, the lights went off, and haven't reappeared. We are very impressed with Renault and their roadside service! This is one of the benefits of leasing with Renault Eurodrive--this and also that there are no hidden charges for no deductible insurance, multiple drivers, and a replacement vehicle should we have lost the use of ours for a while.
This has been a long post! We capped our eventful day with a delicious dinner at a small, family-run restaurant in old Loule. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, so likely it will be a quiet day.
Sent from my iPad.
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