Praia de Marinha: Portuguese Navy Beach

Dear friend Erin Carney said Marinha Beach was a must-see, so we stopped in on our way from Albufeira to Sagres. So glad we did!!

Fun to see this cat colony shelter, very clever.

There's someone swimming near that last arch. I was envious of the kayakers.

The beach was a very popular tourboat site, also lots of vendors of fruits, beer, t-shirts, beach toys.

It's a long way down a lot of steps to the beach, no other way to get there.

Guzzle and Nuzzle in Albufeira, Portugal

 We read that Albufeira, once a small fishing village, is the most-visited town in Portugal's South Atlantic-facing Algarve region because of its beauty, beaches, and amenities, and we thought we'd give it a try since it was also pretty cheap. Turns out it's the Algarve capital of British and German "guzzle and nuzzle" tourists, those looking to drink alot and hang with their loves in bars all day long.

We really lucked out when our hotel turned out to be on the (much) quieter side of town and quite a bit up the hill, away from the downtown bars, t-shirt shops, and hucksters, plus we had a lovely view from our room.

Afternoon, sunrise, cloudy day, full moon...

Yup, our hotel's up there. Yay!

Escalators, elevators, and steps all are available for getting down to the beach.

There's still a working marina in Albufeira, but it's actually on the next beach over.

Our lively little hotel

My Finnish cousin, Olli, recommended a dinner place for us 9 km away, the Vila Joya. I made a reservation, and received a reply informing me dinner was 185 Euros per person before wine. Even at $1.20/Euro, that was too steep for us, so instead we found a great place at the end of the road beyond Vila Joya, good food, service, and a lovely beach. We liked so well we returned our second night.

My first prawns of this trip...enormous!!

Glorious sunset

Stopped at a beach recommended for a look-see our second night, Sao Raphael, so glad we did!

Last note - Portuguese post offices sell books and CDs, a very good idea, I thought! I browsed while I waited my turn to buy stamps (you have to take a number and wait your turn).

Liked these icons.

Tavira, Portugal

If we could do if over again, we would have definitely stayed in Tavira, Portugal, just a beautiful small city full of decorative tiles, soft colors, small places. We spent Sunday afternoon there, just a few hours, bookended by awful stays in Huelva and Albufeira. Oh, well, next time...

A local vendors' fair is held on Sunday mornings, local crafts and food products for sale and live music.

I bought myself a beautiful small crocheted "bucket" from this woman, loved watching her work.

Took a walk up the hill to see the church and get a view of the town.

A surprise garden has been planted alongside the church among ruins.

Main Street, most places closed because it's Sunday.

Olives, Make Up for Alhambra, Cordoba, Skipping Seville, Huelva

Lovely dumb luck again, we ended up following the Green Olive Oil Trail on our road from Granada to Cordoba. It's 100+ miles of olive groves, bike and hiking trails, just made for leisure. It certainly made for a beautiful drive.

We stopped at one quiet spot so I could see the trees up close. Harvest comes in autumn, so not much to see, but interesting nonetheless.

Then we saw this. Whoa!

Turns out we stumbled on the La Mota castle above the town of Alcalá la Real, originally a Moorish fortress dating back to the 1200's. Fortunately, we had all the time in the world this day, so we detoured here for several hours, and felt we enjoyed the experience just as much as we would have Alhambra.

The climb to the fortress was pretty impressive; alas, no elevators for those not able enough to climb stairs and steep walkways.

The entire town used to be inside the fortress wall, but now, of course, lies below.

La Mota is superbly restored, excavated, maintained, etc. And the greatest thing about it is that one could walk absolutely everywhere; there were no areas closed to visitors.

A large cathedral was added in the 1600's. Possession of the fort went back and forth among Moors and Spaniards a couple of times.

Old city and a bazillion olives in the background

 Yes, we did all 58 high steps to the highest rampart.

The cathedral was built over an old mosque crypt.

One of the entryway doors. Townspeople in, traders and farmers out.

On the road again, and Oh! the Poppies!!

Had to go see what these were, lots of orchards of them along our way. Turns out they're almonds. Did a little reading...the U.S. produces more than half the world's supply. Who knew? This girl didn't.

We can't get enough storks! Love their nests on top of powerline poles, industrial brick chimneys. Sometimes we've seen little heads in the nest as well as both mom and dad.

So we next headed for Cordoba, home of the Spanish Inquisition, a huge emirate, lots of Allen stuff.

But the joke was that I booked us a one-night room in Cordoba, Argentina, which we didn't discover until we wound our way through incredibly narrow streets in the old city to the address of our hotel, only to find no hotel there. That's when I went back through my booking e-mail and discovered my mistake.

(The new hotel was awful, explains why it was somewhat inexpensive in this expensive town, my least favorite night of our trip.)

Anyway, we were within walking distance of Cordoba's old city, so off we went.

At the end of April Cordoba does holds a floral crosses festival, so we saw lively sights like this around town.

Awful motel notwithstanding, we had a memorable meal for all the right reasons in Cordoba. We headed to a recommended place only to be turned away because Friday nights all tables are reserved in advance. However, the nice guy at the door recommended another place to us that was just wonderful. Allen's amazing local pork meal came in two minutes, no kidding, while I had an Andalusian cheese soup with pear pearls and trimmings.

And a full moon to boot.

We wanted to go to Seville, but the city was really expensive, 97% booked for the weekend, according to booking.com, so we waved at it as we went past after leaving Cordoba.

Of note near Seville were four of these towers way off in the distance. Turns out they're solar plants!

Solucar Complex

The Solucar Complex is a unique technological center, the only solar complex in the world to gather together the three types of solar technology (tower, parabolic trough and PV) in commercial operation, pilot projects, and R+D+i laboratories. The Complex, which is located just outside of Sanlúcar la Mayor, Seville, Spain, has183 MW in commercial operation.

Then, after being so disdainful of Huelva when our ship stopped there earlier in the month, we ended up spending the night there because it was a common-sense waypoint. Again, we didn't find a whole lot to do, but we did enjoy happy hour in the plaza featuring a prominent statue of Columbus, who apparently set sail for the New World at least once from here, and found our way into dinner at a local place full of families just out of Saturday night mass.

Window display

Encountered a multi-generational hen party having so much fun!

On our way out of town the next morning, so the Huelva bullfighting ring.

We love seeing where storks build their nests.