We had a lovely drive from Evora to Lagos. We really liked the diversity of the countryside – every time you looked out the window, you were passing by something different. We passed eucalyptus, cork, olive and orange groves as well as sheep and cows grazing, sometimes among them. It was quite beautiful and we were glad that there was an option other than the autoroute! As we arrived closer to the coast, there were blossoms on the trees! We weren't sure what types of trees they were, but some looked like they were a nut. As we came up over the hills, we could see orchards of pink stretching out in some parts. It was quite beautiful and we felt like it was springtime.

We set off from camp to visit Ponte da Piedade (rock formations) off the coast of Lagos, close to where we were camped. We had a lovely clear day which was wonderful. We parked at the top of the cliffs so we had great views of the coastline in both directions. The rock formations were really neat and sort of reminded us of the ones we had seen in Oregon. We had a great view down on the rocks with arches in them which we hadn’t seen much of before. A man waved to us from below and I wondered if he was organizing boat tours of the grottos. I had read about them when doing some research on walks in the area and thought that it would be fun to see all the caves by boat. I had read that fishermen will bring in their boats to take tourists for tours through the grottos. I didn’t actually think that there would be anyone there in January and figured it was a tourist season thing. I was wrong! Anoop popped down to ask about the tours and we decided to go. We climbed into his boat which had room for 4 passengers and we pushed off. At the last minute, another man decided to join us so we went back in and picked him up too. Anoop and I were sitting in the front of the boat with great views all around. The fisherman drove us around and pointed out the different formations (elephant, mammoth, gorilla, kitchen, cathedral…). He even took us in to a few grottos through some small openings that wouldn’t have fit a bigger boat. He waited outside until the waves were just right and then went through when the wave was with us. It was really strange to be inside a cave with the waves coming in all around. They were big rolling waves, not small choppy ones so it wasn’t bad being out on the water. It was amazing seeing all the formations from the water level. We got to see so much more than was visible from above and you certainly get a better idea of the size of the rocks from the water rather than from above. After about 25 minutes or so he drove us back to our starting point and dropped us off. We were really glad that the weather and tides had been just right so that they were there when we were!

We headed back to the van and pulled out our fixings for a picnic lunch which we enjoyed sitting in the sun. It actually felt warm in the sun and was the first time in a while that we had been able to sit outside without toques and gloves on. We then wandered out on the other side of the cliffs to have a look down. When we were looking out, I spotted some dorsal fins moving through the water and thought they looked like porpoises or dolphins. We zipped back to the van and grabbed our binoculars. Sure enough, there were several porpoises and/or dolphins leaping along. They were quite fun to watch and we saw them jumping along in small groups until they were out of sight.

Afterwards we headed back to the van and drove to the beach we had seen from the boat. There were stairs leading down to a nice sandy spot and Anoop had decided that it was warm enough out for a swim. So off we went, past other tourists wearing jackets, pants and normal January gear. Anoop was in his sandals and carrying a beach towel. We got to the beach and we were the only ones there. It was a beautiful spot and I would definitely have joined him if it had been a tad warmer. It was probably between 16-18^o C in the sun which was wonderful, but not quite wonderful enough to go for a swim. Anoop headed in and said it was cold, but probably about the same degree of cold as swimming in Hopkins, on the coast, at the beginning of the summer. He stayed in for a few minutes and then headed out. At this point there were a few other Portuguese and Spanish tourists who had made their way down to the beach. I imagine they were wondering what Anoop was doing swimming in January, especially since they were bundled up in their jackets. We then hiked back up the stairs and set off for our next stop.

We arrived at Cape Sagres which is a wind-swept cape with a huge parking lot, a fort, great views and lots of short interesting vegetation. Prince Henry the Navigator had a school for navigation set up here and Vasco de Gama, Magellan and Columbus all studied there at some point. We decided not to visit the fort since there wasn’t much remaining to visit and there wasn’t a museum or artifacts to peruse. Instead we enjoyed the views and watched the waves crash on the rocks below for a bit.

We then set off for Cape St. Vincent, a short drive away. This cape, not Sagres, is the most south-western point in Europe. There was a lighthouse, a man selling sweaters and lots of fishermen. The fishermen were the most fun to watch because they were fishing really high up on the cliffs and casting off into the water below. They must have been at least 50 m up! We didn’t get to see anyone reel anything in, but we did see one man packing up and he had quite a pile of fish in his bag. After enjoying the views, we headed back to camp.