Portimao, Portugal

 We arrived in Portimao at just about dawn and we saw this outside our cabin.  I don't know what it is, but it certainly looked beautiful

After yesterday's 7-hour tour, we changed today's tour which was originally scheduled for 7 hours, to basically the same thing without lunch for 4 hours.  It left at 9:00 am and after a quick drive around town, which was less than impressive, we drove to Cape St. Vincent which is the most southwest point of Europe.  It's interesting that everywhere has to have some famous claim to fame.  Portimao is not the southern most nor the western most point, but it IS the southwestern most point.

There were some pretty parts of the city.

Then there were the continuous rows of uninspiring apartment buildings.

Supposedly some of these are vacation rentals.  Friends here on board said they stayed in one for a few months in another part of Portugal, so perhaps it's true.

The drive to Cape St. Vincent took us through some pretty desolate parts - very dry and lots of olive trees.  It wasn't possible to get a good photo from the bus.  It reminded me of how I had always thought of Portugal, but this year has been particularly hot and dry, which we have heard in many parts of Europe.  We did see lots of orange groves which were pretty green.  The weather was perfect so the views from the Cape were really gorgeous.

There's a little beach tucked in amongst the cliffs.

Here's the documentation of the Cape's unique location in Europe in several languages.

The next stop was at the fortress at Sagres which dates back to the 17th century, I believe.  

There's a pretty little Catholic chapel at the fortress.

And here is the compass rose that was discovered not too long ago.  There are two theories as to what it actually was used for back then - either a sun dial or a compass.

 Next we went to Lagos, a pretty beach town just up the road.  We had a bit of a walking tour, then free time.  For that we had a beer at a restaurant on a square and people watched.  There was a little performance by the same type of students we saw in Porto - all dressed in black - who were raising money for a trip or something.  They were pretty good and had people clapping along and dancing.  It was a delightful way to spend half an hour or so.

Some of the interesting tile work along the streets

The walk along the riverfront

I liked this building on the market square

And the jacaranda tree that was just beginning to bloom really complemented the green tile and green/purple tile design at the top of the building.

We got back to the ship around 2:00 pm so we just grabbed a quick hot dog (Michael) and chicken wings (me) for a light lunch.  At Trivia we got a lousy 7/15 again, but this time it was enough to get us one point for third place.  No one believed me when I said Mr. Spock's blood was green and who the devil would have thought that Marilyn Monroe was the inspiration for Tinkerbell??  I will look at her in a whole new light now.  We said MM was the inspiration for Jessica Rabbit which makes much more sense, I think. 

We all had dinner at Compass Rose and had a great time.  There's just a bit of movement tonight, which I like, and tomorrow is a welcome sea day.  We are actually thinking of packing up some of our stuff - the few things we bought and our cold weather clothes.  Hard to believe!