We have been staying with my very good friends RJP and Mrs RJP :), in the little pottery town of Porches which is along the Algarve, between Lagos and Albufeira (slightly better known towns?).
 
Being so central on the Algarve we of course took advantage of the opportunity to explore the nearby towns here.

Starting on the West coast with Odeceixe:

The main street has a number of restaurants and cafes but there is little else in the town other than the viewpoint at the windmill which is definitely worth a visit, although it's a bit of a climb. It was raining fairly hard whilst we stopped off there but it meant we had the viewpoint to ourselves!

The beach is approx 4km's out of town and popular with backpackers and surfers in the summer. Deserted at this time of year and extremely windy, there is a central viewpoint offering a glimpse across the bay which even in drizzle is a good advert to get you to come back.

Next we headed down to Aljezur, approx 30km from Lagos. Again it was raining and also lunchtime, so we literally stopped off for a bite to eat here.  

The town is split by a river with the old and new towns located on either side. The latter was actually built to move the people to following an outbreak of malaria in the 18th century. If we had had better weather we would have ventured to the old town as I have heard positive things about this place since being there. Instead we had planned a long walk nearby, which takes in the Costa Vincentina, along the coast.

The rain eased as we set off on our walk, which helped navigate the uneven terrain which ranged from rubble, to mud, to sand and rock. There was plenty of flora and fauna to take in too, but with my limited knowledge I was only able to identify a lot of parsley - which was by braving a mouthfull of it!

Heading South we couldn't resist a stop at Carrapateria which from the map indicated there were many viewpoints. We were not disappointed as not only are there viewpoints but they have info boards and neat little walkways too.  

It was extremely windy here and I soon found out just how cold the sea was, when a huge wave crashed up against the cliff and over onto the viewpoint where I was standing taking photos. The height must have been at least 30 metres (independently verified - I am not exaggerating!) and the force at which it hit me almost resulted in a wipe out! I wasn't impressed!

Cape St. Vincent, Sagres, was at the top of our to do list. As the most south west point in Europe I was wandering what all the fuss was about whilst here as the sun turned to torrential rain within a matter of minutes and that and the gale force wind coaxed me back to the car! 

Of course, if it's not experiencing bad weather this is a popular place to visit with great sunrise/set views. There's a castle close by in the town and a forte which dominates Sagres which looked fairly interesting - it was closing when we arrived so I can't confirm this.