In brief: A surprise weekend brought us together with old friends, opened new sights in the western Algarve, and delivered a homey touch of Nepal.
In late March, we enjoyed a kind of homecoming, a lovely day along the western Algarve reconnecting with Scottish friends we met in Melbourne, but hadn’t seen for 9 years. They were visiting some relatives in Portugal so we were able to connecting afresh with them. We resumed our friendship as if it were yesterday, with the pleasure of very lively conversation, good dining, and exploration together of Lagos’ beauty.
A charming plaza in central Lagos, a good stop for a coffee and more talk.
Exploring La Piedade at Lagos
La Piedade reminded us all of the 12 Apostles cliffs on Melbourne’s Great Ocean Road. Memory lane!
Good dining and lively conversation with new and old friends, under Krishna’s gaze.
When we left them, we took the opportunity to head north from the Algarve to Lisbon on the coastal road. We planned a whole day for it, but soon discovered that there was so much to see that we only went a small part of the way. But, before finishing, we resolved the mystery of a fine Nepali restaurant in the small town of São Teotónio …
We began at Cabo do Sao Vicente, the westernmost point of Europe, where we walked several of the finger-like jut-outs to admire where the Atlantic Ocean incessantly slams the sheer cliffs.
Then we wound through a beautiful landscape of bumpy hills, weather-beaten pines, scrubby plants and grasses, stopping at some of the splendid beaches and coves along the way – like the surfer haven of Praia do Amado.
Another lovely cove along the western shore
Bumpy landscape between the coastal road and Praia do Amado, which looked like parts of Vietnam to us.
Praia do Amado, a surfer’s haven
There we found the cliff-top vestiges of a Moorish fishing village from the 11th century.
With rain increasing, we skirted the edge of the huge natural park along this lower part of the coast. At its north end, we wandered the historic trading center of Aljezur. Its nearly vertical old town was topped by ruins of an 11th century Moorish castle, a site occupied since the Iron Age.
It was quite a view high atop Aljezur. It’s a steep drive, or hike, to the top through the vertical town, and tricky finding the through-roads down again.
By then, after five hours, we found ourselves still close to where we started in the Algarve, with Maps telling us it was faster to go back than continue north. We hate going backwards so we pressed on in the rain to the small, but fascinating town of São Teotónio – which offered a highly rated haven for Nepali food.
Why there? It turns out that São Teotónio is an agricultural center that has attracted a huge number of Asian immigrant workers – Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Nepali – who work the greenhouses here to build a foundation for their future. Their children have turned the schools into a robust multilingual mix.
And we found one of the restaurants that serve them, a Nepali kitchen with the best momos (spicy dumplings) and thukpa (noodle soup) since we had visited Nepal – all slow cooked and hand-made. It felt like being home. Locals can eat for a month here at only 2 Euro per meal. And down the street was a tempting Indian food restaurant.
With the rain and the dark closing in, however, we took the quickest route north to Lisbon…for now. But we plan to continue our slow journey up the coast, beginning with another meal in São Teotónio.
(To enlarge any picture above, click on it. Also, for more pictures from Portugal, CLICK HERE to view the slideshow at the end of the itinerary page.)
