We traveled to Faro airport in southern Portugal on Tuesday and drove to our new apartment in Praia de Luz. We love Portugal. The weather is warm, about 80 degrees during the day and down to about 70 or 75 at night. Every day is sunny and the sky is blue, almost the same deep blue as the Atlantic ocean near our apartment. We're staying in a beautiful resort apartment in a complex called Baia de Luz. We're on the second floor with a huge balcony that overlooks an Italian style garden with fountain and lots of cypress trees and other Mediterranean foliage. The whole complex is in the Italian style with soft gold, stuccoed buildings. There are two pools, one adult, one child, and a nice restaurant in the complex. We're very happy with it. One of the best things is that maids come twice a week to clean, change towels, and make beds. That is the height of luxury for me. The bathroom is also really nice with marble floors, a huge tub/shower and both toilet and bidet. Everything is very modern and high end. I'm glad we're here a month.

We spent the last two days on the beach and at the pool . There is a nice sandy beach about 200 yards from the resort and the water is so calm it's more like a lake. Lots of little cafes and bars line the tiled beach walk, as well as many little shops selling beach clothing and souvenirs. We've had two hour lunches in the beach cafes, complete with liter pitchers of sangria both yesterday and today. The sangria is amazing, so light and really tasty. It's been a bit different at each of the cafes we've sampled, so we decided we need to try each on along the beach to determine our favorite. We've probably enough time in the next month to do a real study of this. Last night we ate at the restaurant in the resort, lasagna and spaghetti de mara. Today we had tuna salad and an omelet in the beach restaurant.  

Today we both got much-needed haircuts at a very nice salon about a half block away. We were pleased with the woman who cut our hair and we look and feel much better. I also had a mani/pedi and eyebrow plucking, dying and eyelashes dyed darker. It was a full beauty treatment and I feel so pampered now. I'm going back next week to get my hair colored. It had been 3 months since had haircuts, and I was beginning to feel a bit like the shaggy cattle in the Highlands. Check the pictures and you'll see we look much better now!