Albufeira

We had planned to go to Seville in Spain on Tuesday (September 18) but as I was still recovering from the migraine, we decided to head to Albufeira in the western Algarve and spend some time on the beach. Albufeira is one of the major tourist towns in the region – especially for the English. So we were a little apprehensive about what it would be like. There is a fair bit of modern development on the outskirts (multi-storey apartments, but most was white stucco so still somewhat in keeping with the traditional style). The old town is really pretty though many of the signs are in English and German first and then in Portuguese. There are also a number of English establishments – English and Irish pubs and a few places selling full English breakfast. It has narrow streets and steps that wind down to the water. We spent time browsing the souvenir ships and some of the lovely handcrafts – woven cloths and beautiful ceramics are the highlights.
We then went to the beach. It was pretty packed (you could only imagine how packed it must be in July and August) but lovely white sand and ochre cliffs. We sat beneath the cliffs near a small grotto that provided some shade and cool. The water was beautiful – warm, very gentle waves and again very salty. The girls had a great time, it was really easy for them to swim.
We noticed the prices here were more expensive than the eastern areas – the coffee and icecreams were about €1 more. All in all it was a great day – another gorgeous sunny day.
Carlene