6/2 Lee and I managed to get all of my luggage to the bus station for the trip to Lagos. Our fare was only 17.50E. The bus was very nice with comfortable seats and video screens. It was crowded but not full. We debated taking the train but read that it takes longer and requires a transfer. The bus didn't stop between Lisbon and the coast and the highway was in great shape. There were lots of cool architectural projects including many neat bridges. There was absolutely nothing between Lisbon and the coast but scrub oaks, olive trees and vineyards (I´m not even sure there was an exit!). There may have been cork trees but I wasn't sure what they looked like. The coast has lots of cranes as many high-rise condo buildings go up (true across all of southern Portugal and I don´t know where all of the people are going to come from). There are posters everywhere for Maddie in the hopes that she'll be found OK. She disappeared from Luz which is only 6 km west of here. We picked Lagos because it has a nice old town and lacks much of the new development. We were met at the bus by a nice gentleman who said he had a room for rent. He said it was only 7-8 minute walk but he walked a lot faster than I did. The room was very spartan but only 20E a night so we took it. We headed out to walk through town and visit the beach. We walked and walked and walked before reaching the beach our guidebooks said was popular. Even on a Saturday it was practically deserted.



It was a beautiful, wide, sandy beach but the water was very cold!



We rested up after our long walk before heading back to town. Lee picked up a 2 for 1 coupon from Pizza Hut so we had a nice dinner of American pizza.  Our room has some deficiencies including being across from a popular bar that goes all night. We had to have the windows open to keep from suffocating and the noise lasted all night until the seagulls started shrieking. Lee managed to sleep through most of the commotion.
6/3 We walked around the town before heading out to the beach.











Our never-ending walk seemed even longer today despite taking what we thought was a shorter route. The beach was more crowded and it was a beautiful day but the wind was gale force. Lee bought an umbrella to give him some shade but after about 15 minutes it inverted and blew into the ocean (I wish I had captured the scene on film!). He rescued it but it was useless. The wind picked up as the afternoon went on and we felt like we were getting sandblasted constantly. We trudged back to town and headed to a restaurant Lee had spotted earlier called Nah Nah Bah. It was very cool and eclectic. We decided this was our best meal so far in Portugal. Lee even went again the next night.
 6/4 This morning we took a bus out to Sagres. We walked from town out to Fort Sagres only to find it is now closed on Mondays. We have 3 Portugal guidebooks and they all say the fort is open daily so we were bummed. There really isn't much there but the views would have been even more spectacular.









Fort Sagres and Cabo Sao Vicente are the southwesternmost points of continental Europe. During the 1400's explorers thought this was the end of the world and would depart from Sagres on voyages to places unknown.

We walked back from Fort Sagres to town to catch the bus to Cabo Sao Vicente. Lee figured out our bus stop and we thought we had timed the bus perfectly since they run on a very limited schedule. The bus dropped off across the road for the Fort (the stop where we originally got off) and we waited for it to circle back to pick us up. Unfortunately the bus doesn't follow that route. Lee was quite irritated since the next bus was 3 hours away. I thought his logic in choosing the bus stop was sound and didn't blame him. We decided the only thing to do was to walk to Cabo Sao Vicente. We could see it and the guidebooks said it was only 6 km. So we walked and walked and walked. It's hard for me to estimate distance but I think our walk was way more than 6 km. When I gave our trip a title I thought "Taking the Long Way" was cute but it has turned out to be really prophetic since everywhere we go we seem to take the long way.



We reached the fort at Cabo Sao Vicente to find it closed for restoration (there seems to be a pattern here). The lighthouse here is the second strongest in Europe with hundreds of ships passing daily from the north Atlantic taking the turn towards the Mediterrean. There were a ton of tourists there taking photos of the incredible views.





There were some food and souvenir vendors with Lee enjoying a hot dog from a trailer selling "the last hot dogs before America."  We worked on a few postcards and read while
soaking in the incredible views.







The bus ride back was quick and we headed to the Pingo Doce to stock up on trail mix.



On the way we noticed how storks have built huge nests in every tall abandoned smokestack in town.



I visited the Internet cafe which had become a second home to me but was continually bothered by all of the smokers. It's amazing how many people smoke in Portugal! The restaurants rarely have a no smoking section although the bus, train and subway systems are smoke-free. We noticed the fado bar across the street was closed so we thought it would be a quiet night for a change. Ha! All of the street noises seemed so loud perhaps because our street was like a canyon. There was no car traffic but it seemed that plenty of people had consumed too much port. We managed to get some sleep and looked forward to a new destination.
6/5 I was up early to visit the Internet cafe and managed to carry my backpack and gym bag without any help. It wasn't easy but Lee says it will make me pack lighter next time. Most of the weight is books and Power Bars neither of which will last long. Lee stopped by for his morning pastry and then we headed to the train station for the scenic ride along the coast to Tavira.