Tag Archives: Coast

Sorrento

10 Sunday Sep 2017

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Need I say anything?We ate lunch looking over the Bay of Naples, Vesuvius in the background, a six-masted cruise ship moored nearby and a ferry to Capri at the landing. Sorrento is charming for a stroll, shopping and lunch.

Houses dangle from the cliffs.
Italians don’t go to the beach, there isn’t any. You can still swim and sunbathe.

We had a lovely day. We did drive to Sorrento from Salerno, parking in the first garage we came to.

Cyclists who ride in the center.
Traffic.
Roads carved into the hillside.

Driving hazards include cyclists who ride in the center of the road, heavy traffic, and narrow roads carved into steep hillsides. it’s not a place where you can cruise. Walking is the solution. You will be offered free tastes of limoncello so many times in a day that walking might be mandatory. There is lemon-themed everything in Sorrento.

 

 

I had not seen majolica-covered domes on the top of churches before.

 

 

 

Recipe of the Day

Seafood is on the menu when in Sorrento, and all of Italy. Here’s Jonathan’s latest. It was delicious.

Neopolitan Dish of the Day: Fish in Crazy Water

Good to know about Sorrento

Trains and buses serve Sorrento, and distances are not great. There are great walks outside of town and out onto the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula. Everything is steep.

That said, the ads that suggest you base your visit to Pompeii etc. in Sorrento are insane as far as I can see. You would be in traffic every day for every trip in and out of town. If you were to visit Sorrento, Amalfi and their neighbors with Capri and Ischia thrown in, and nowhere else, you could stick to ferries and avoid traffic, but anything toward Naples means traffic. Ferry rates are €6-20 each way depending on where you are going. If you’re not interested in archaeology, it could work, though this is not for us.

We found local parking for €2 per hour next to a supermarket and intended to do some shopping on the way home (70 minutes of complimentary parking, too). Then we discovered that the grocery store is closed from 12:30 to 5 pm. This is a holiday town.

The Wild Atlantic Way

14 Monday Aug 2017

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Promoting the tourist potential of the west coast of Ireland is the Wild Atlantic Way, an initiative started in 2014 that marks 2500 km of roads, from Cork on the south to Malin Head, the northern tip of the country. I, for one, am not convinced that the west coast of Ireland needed to be flogged as a destination. It has a substantial reputation already. The Wild Atlantic Way does have a memorable stylized wave logo (vvvv). The route includes many scenic roads like the Slea Head Drive outside Dingle, and Conor Pass.

Along Slea Head Drive
Conor Pass

There are also lots of beaches. Since we love beach combing, we visited every beach on the Dingle Peninsula. Then we started north. This is Fenit Beach, northwest of Tralee.

It’s not all beaches. The arrows pointing down small country roads may encourage visitors to go just a bit further. We decided to find the ruins of Wardtown Castle. I later read that it’s the ruin of one of the first Palladian structures in Ireland.

Wardstown House

Sadly, it burned down and not much is left. It was a good ruin, in any case.We’ve followed the WAW around half of the Ring of Kerry, all around the Dingle Peninsula to Banna Beach in north Kerry. We went to Tarbert, on to Limerick, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and into Galway. We haven’t driven every kilometer of the route, but now we are extending our reach north from Sligo to the Slieve Lieg and beyond. Sometimes we’ve visited an area for one of the sights and been captivated by the scenery instead. That’s what happened at the “Ghost Village of Port”. The ruins are nothing special but the views are wonderful. There is another beach and another cliff around every corner.

We’ve seen birds on land and seabirds on the rocks. We’ve watched ships sailing by, sailboats tacking back and forth. We’re on the lookout for whales, but haven’t seen any yet. (Whale Watch Ireland 2017 is this coming weekend. I hope the whales will come out for it.) We pass ruins everywhere, from a 20th century Coast Guard station to neolithic ring fort and dolmen (tombs).

For anyone traveling with children, there is a Wild Atlantic Way passport you can buy and then get a stamp in the local post office of every participating town. If you get 20 stamps, they will send you a prize. I can imagine kids watching the map like little hawks to avoid missing any stamps. It could be fun.

An Idyllic month ends

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Ireland

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Colorful storefronts in Cloghane

I have learned a few things about Ireland in our first month here. Most people are friendly and everyone seems glad to be here. People often refer to our surroundings as “god’s own country.” There are many signs of prosperity,  even a construction crane in Dingle. Restored houses dot the peninsula, usually with well kept gardens. There are abandoned stone houses, but few abandoned storefronts in town, and no charity shops.

Seals near Cloghane

I’ve learned that life in Ireland can be very different even for people of the same age. I spoke to a young woman cutting hair. She was just back from some months working in Melbourne and plans to return to travel. We talked about what Australia was like and what she saw while she was there. New Zealand was one of her favorite stops along the way. She returned to Dingle when she heard there was a job opening–she has an excellent family grapevine in the area.

I spoke to another woman of about the same age who said she was not from the area. I asked where and she said, “North Kerry.” That means the other side of Tralee, maybe an hour’s drive away. She and her husband moved to Dingle for his job. They have two small children. Her friends and family look at Dingle as terribly remote because of the narrow roads. Tourists singing the praises of Dingle don’t impress her at all. “Why do you live there?” ask her family. She said they don’t see her family much, often three weeks between visits. I couldn’t tell her how close to her family that seems to me, since I see my family twice a year, maybe three times. She would think me heartless.

We’ve walked all the beaches on the Dingle Peninsula that are more than a few meters long.

Coumeenoole Beach

Our beachcombing has been a pleasure and we’ve enjoyed the wind and tides. Though Dingle is very popular as a vacation spot and the town is full of visitors, we often had the beaches to ourselves.

On the right is Coumeenoole beach, where the movie Ryan’s Daughter was filmed. That was in 1970, but apparently people still visit to see the location. Much of the coast is rocky and steep, another reason that in a month we managed to visit all the beaches.

Brandon Point

There are spectacular clifftop walks. We spent a morning at Brandon Point, looking out over the Atlantic. “Next stop, Boston,” joked a hiker we chatted with in the parking area.

Overlooking the sea at Brandon point are abandoned houses that may date back as far as the famines that began in 1841.

Archaeological sites are thick on the ground. Since everything is built of stone, my colleagues must tear their hair out trying to figure out which comes first. Everything from the Neolithic (8000 yrs ago or so) to the early 20th century is built of the same stone. There weren’t a lot of household goods, so there aren’t a lot of castoffs and broken pieces lying around. The pottery pieces that archaeologists rely upon to tell the age of a settlement are long gone or buried. We visited only a fraction of the 1200 or so archaeological sites on the peninsula, but we have enjoyed the fact that there is often an informational sign on sites even when they are not marked on maps. Many sites are melting into the fields, but how many stone enclosures can a person visit? How many can be restored when they all look alike?On Brandon Point, peat is still cut for fuel. The hillside is scarred from digging and someone had just set aside their tools, a peculiar peat shovel and a fork used to spread the peat blocks to dry.

In addition to the abandoned farmsteads and peat-cutting on Brandon Point, we’ve seen Ogham Stones, early Christian crosses, monastic settlements, beehive huts and many historic houses that collapsed in place after the famines drove people away. When the population of Kerry was over 293,000 in 1841, there were tiny farms everywhere. In 2016 the population of Kerry was 147,500. I have trouble imagining double the present population with no automobiles.

We will miss the lovely view from our living room, yet we are on to another adventure. We head to Bundoran, a summer holiday town on the west coast of Ireland in the north, nearer to Belfast than to Dublin.

 

 

Summer came on Monday–at Great Blasket Island

22 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by in Ireland, Paula

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The boatman made the quip as we left, “Tell them this year summer came on Monday!” That’s because the weather is never forecast to be as fine as it was on our trip out to Great Blasket Island last Monday. The sun shone all day long. The boat ride from Dunquin to Great Blasket was smooth and the 35 passengers smiled and chatted all the way.Great Blasket Island was an independent community lived there from early in the 19th century until Nov. 17, 1953. They were completely Irish speaking, cut off from the mainland as they were. The distance is short, but the water can be rough, and boats were the traditional naomhog, or currach, rowboats framed of wood and covered with tarred cloth.

As the Irish language fell into disuse in the 19th century, linguists and writers discovered the community on Great Blasket and visited to study the language or expand their proficiency. Visitors such as the poet Robin Flower encouraged the islanders to write about their lives and several did just that. The strong tradition of storytelling among people who have to entertain themselves on long winter evenings seems to have eased the transition to writing stories in a book. Best known are: An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. The remains of each author’s house is marked on the visitors map.

Most houses lie in ruins today, though one was being renovated during our visit. That’s puzzling because there’s only seasonal ferry service, no central water source, no electricity, no store, all part of the reason the island was evacuated years ago. We looked at the ruined community and hiked up the spine of the island. At the peak of the island, I could see the faint outline of  the Skellig Islands on the horizon to the south.

Blasket harbor–tiny
At the harbor

We waited for our trip home just above the tiny boat landing on Blasket. Arriving at Dunquin we struggled up the steep incline from the beach.                                               (This is an internet photo–see the upturned naomhog boats in the lowest bend of the ramp.)

An Epic Day: Star Wars and Puffins in the Skellig Islands

15 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by in Ireland, Paula

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Had my sister Paula not read in her guide book about an offshore rock group with an ancient monastery at the top, we might never have visited the Skellig Islands. We considered hiking to the top of the 600+ steps to see the domed stone cells that may date back to 600 AD. If that weren’t enticing enough, the site appears at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and in the trailer for the next Star Wars movie.

Skellig Michael in the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

It’s an intimidating place. 12 km off shore, a jagged triangle juts from the water. After reading about landing, where there is no dock and heaving seas may toss you in or out of the boat, we decided against it (Tours are sold out for the entire season, too). We decided to take a ride around both islands to see the steep steps and birdwatch. It was a wonderful tour!

We had total weather karma. The day dawned sunny for the first time since we arrived in Ireland and stayed sunny and warm ALL DAY. It took us just over two hours to drive from our house in Dingle to Port Magee, mostly along the Ring of Kerry drive, so you could say we were multi-tasking in the tourism department. Our boat left at 11:45 am and we were asked to arrive at the dock by 11:30 am. A friendly young man named Brendan, dressed in a dirty tshirt and jeans strolled out and ticked our names off a list on his phone. He led us to the boat where there were 12 outward facing seats hung with life jackets. Dressed, we took off, heading straight out to sea for 45 min. The islands, two triangular chunks of rock, stick up out of the sea and are easily visible from shore. Cliffs and hills line the coast on the way out to sea from Port Magee, then Puffin Island off to the south, then sea birds zoom alongside the boat or bob on the water. (What are they doing, just hanging out in the middle of the ocean?) We saw gannets and then puffins, the world’s cutest birds.

7.12.17 Skellig Islands-0287.12.17 Skellig Islands-027crMore steps wind up the face of the rock. Made of slabs of the island rock, it’s a long hike. The path on the right is not used today, though rock climbers can access the top this way. The safety video that is recommended for people considering a landing on Skellig Michael shows what the climb looks like in wet weather. (As I write this, the fog is so thick that we can see nothing beyond the front yard of our house. I wonder whether the Skellig boats will go out today.) The safety video shows the stone steps.

Skellig Islands safety video

One reason to make the climb to the top is the archaeological site, a tiny monastery of stone beehive huts enclosed by a wall that was in use at various times from the 8th century until the 13th century. Monks rowed out to the island, climbed to the tiny settlement and lived their hermit existence. The island was finally abandoned when the climate began to shift toward colder weather after 1300. There are beautiful views of the archaeological site on the Heritage Ireland website.

Skellig Michael history and photos

From Skellig Michael we went on to Little Skellig, a bird sanctuary. The entire surface of the island is alive with birds. This is home to one of the largest gannet colonies anywhere.Up close, you see the white area is all birds, calling, flying, wriggling and doing what birds do. The majority of the birds are gannets, but in the lowest most sheltered crevices we could see puffins.So many birds, so little time.

From Little Skellig, we sailed back to Port Magee, delighted by our brilliant day.

The North Coast 500

24 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Scotland

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There’s something I would not miss on my next trip to Scotland, but I just can’t do it this time, and that’s drive the entire North Coast 500. landingmap-modifiedThere is nothing new about this 500 mile circumnavigation of the Highlands other than marketing, but having driven the portion of the route that we can reach from our base in Invergordon (marked in green), I wish we could make it all the way around. We will have been up and down the eastern section twice, once to visit Wick and the Old Pulteney Distillery, and again to get to the Orkney Ferry from Gills, by John O’Groats. We will be driving the southern portion on our way to Skye the day after tomorrow. We visited Lairg very early in our stay here and have been back to that area for the Highland Games. This week, we pushed on to the far northwest coast. When we emerged onto the coast road at Laxford Bridge there was a great sign:north-coast-signWe made our way to Kinlochbervie (north coast), and had a picnic by the water. There aren’t cafes overlooking the ocean here, though you can see the Atlantic across the bay and around the nearby islands. 9-22-16-loch-shin-to-kinlochbervie-005The day of our visit, it was absolutely gorgeous weather, sunny all day. Why not put houses right out there on the water? I think it’s because that’s the OCEAN out there, the serious roaring-gale ocean during much of the year. It is sensible to put your houses and town in the folds of the land where wind and waves can’t get at them directly. We were there on a one in 100 day: mild temperature, calm water, bright sun. 9-22-16-loch-shin-to-kinlochbervie-006The coast is full of islands and inlets. I wanted to follow the coast all along the route. Once we were in Kinlochbervie, I wanted to go further north to Oldshoremore and then Durness. I also wanted to turn at that tempting sign “West Coast” and visit Scourie, Drumbeg and Lochinver. It would be easy to spend a couple or three weeks visiting all the great-sounding places on the map. Maybe even take a boat ride to the island of Handa. All too soon, we had to head back. 9-22-16-loch-shin-to-kinlochbervie-012The landscape changed back from rocky outcrops, heather, bracken and gorse, to green fields and sheep. The only down side to our wonderful excursion was the road that crosses Scotland NW-SE. It’s just under 50 miles from Lairg to Laxford Bridge and this major road looks like:

Yes, it’s a single lane. There are lots of pullouts, true, but it’s a one-lane road. We followed a deer in one place. The good news is that the actual North Coast 500 is all at least one lane each way–much easier, once you adjust to driving on the left, that is.

Not only did we have a beautiful drive and a picnic on the water, but we pulled in by a sign for a bird hide to have a look. The chirping of birds was so loud I thought it sounded like a recording….It was! We met a group catching birds and checking their band numbers or putting a band on them if they were unmarked. They had three redpolls and we saw two more in their mist nets. 9-22-16-loch-shin-to-kinlochbervie-002After checking their legs for bands, they pop each bird in a cloth bag for weighing, then let them all go at the same time because they are a flock and would be disoriented to be let go individually. It was fascinating to see, and the data on birds that is collected goes to the British Trust for Ornithology that coordinates all the collected information and uses it to study the survival of species in Britain and Ireland, as well as collaborating with EU-wide studies. (Banding birds is called “ringing” in the UK.)

British Trust for Ornithology

Here’s a close-up photo of a redpoll from the web. It’s an LBJ (little brown job) with a dark red spot on the head.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVPDL2Fyx6u1_A_vaXMfthykhcHXJVnLrFiwEJg21dhVW1Fuii

It was another great day.

Why here? A ten-second economic history

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

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We drive down narrow roads, rarely passing anyone, heading for the shore. Our only company is the landscape and the sheep and cattle grazing. 8.2.16 Rockcliffe-001

We arrive at the end of the road a few steps from the rocky beach. The tide is out so far that you can’t see the water. This is a huge mud flat.

 

 

 

8.15.16 Powillimount beach-013What do we find upon turning the corner? A car park for 15 cars, half full, with people camped on the beach for the day.

The immense tide flats were harvested of their cockles (small clams) for years. Today, cockling is prohibited along the Solway coast, with the promise that eventually it will be allowed under a strict system of permits to protect the clams from over-harvesting again. Even without cockling, when the tide comes in there is swimming, sailing, and windsurfing, hiking along the shore and beachcombing.

Where does everyone come from? Why are they in this place that seems remote until you get here?

I believe that the answer is in changing times. Southern Scotland was a political hotbed up until de facto union with England in 1603. That means that the peak construction and use of castles was centuries ago. Since 1603 there have been huge changes to the world. In its early days, the industrial revolution aided this region, the Solway coast, as ports were needed to move goods by ship. The coming of the railroads turned many of these small ports into ghost towns. 150 years ago the coastal town of Carsethorn was the shipping harbor for Dumfries. Railroads took over much of the commercial movement of goods. Today Carsethorn is a stop along a coastal walking trail, known for its pub.

For much of the same period and beyond, granite and slate quarries produced building material that was used locally, also shipped to London and beyond. Slate is still used for roofing in this region, while in the US it is costly, a premium material. Granite quarried here is not the figured granite used in contemporary counter tops, but granite used to build stock exchanges, railroad stations, and paving stones. Most homes in Dalbeattie have granite steps (below, left).

8.3.16 Gatehouse of Fleet-0078.6.16

There is some very fine work in granite. I like this combination of granite and small stones on the facade of a house in Gatehouse of Fleet (right).

Slate is also used creatively (below), as well as in roof tiles.

For much of the same period and beyond, granite and slate quarries produced building material that was used locally, also shipped to London and beyond. Slate is still used for roofing in this region, while in the US it is costly, a premium material.

Most of the quarries are no longer in use, and many, including two adjacent to the town of Dalbeattie, are now forested parks with walking trails used by walkers, runners, mountain bikers and other cyclists.

One of the solutions to the economic bust that followed the boom of the Industrial Revolution is the substitution of tourism for business travel. Though we don’t meet very many American tourists, we do see the occasional American, French or German visitors. We do come across lots and lots of visitors from elsewhere in Scotland and the UK. People have second homes in the Dumfries and Galloway region, they come in RVs/camper vans, they hike and camp or stay in B&Bs. And now they use Airbnb like we do. This explains why we see visitors at every archaeological or historic site we stop at, every castle, every beach. There are cafes in many places that have no other services locally. The festivals that seem to be taking place every weekend all summer in every small town in southern Scotland are a combination of annual reunion for those who have moved away and activity for those who are visiting.

Economic continuity comes from farming, cattle, sheep and pigs. DSCN5258smEndless green fields bordered by stone walls carpet the area and hundreds of animals graze across them as you drive by. 8.20.16 Drumtroddan rock art-020

These cows were grazing on the farm around an archaeological site we visited and seemed happy to check us out. Scots in this region have long been farmers and that is still an important part of the economy.

 

You’re where? June in northern Norway

04 Saturday Jun 2016

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Kjerstad, Norway is a degree or two of latitude north of the Arctic Circle. We have been here two days and already experienced the midnight sun–or as good as. Both nights Jonathan has said, “OK, going to bed now,” and I’ve said “What time is it?” and been a couple of hours off. It’s light all night as far as I can tell, so I close my eyes and then it’s dark. Works great, especially if you just had a long day or two of travel from Portugal.

6.1.16 Oslo to Evenes-001

Norway from the air. There’s lots of water.

We are here because of Airbnb. Almost a year ago, Jonathan was browsing places in Europe we might visit and called me over to look at a house in Norway. The house was attractive and the price moderate. He discovered that it was above the Arctic Circle; we could be in the Land of the Midnight Sun for a whole month. After some contemplating, he contacted the owner to see whether the house would be available in June 2016 and we signed up. This is the only time we’ve selected a rental on Airbnb on a whim. June is here and we’ll see how it goes.

View from the upstairs window.
Terrace facing the water.

The island where Kjerstad is located is called Tjeldøya, Oystercatcher Island. We have already seen the namesake bird here. This area is the northernmost (northeasternmost) end of the Lofoten Islands.

DSCN3980smThough it’s not the farthest north you can get, it’s pretty far north. Interesting factoid: The Lofoten chain has the greatest differential between actual temperature and the temperature expected based on latitude. That is, it’s relatively warm for the location. Lucky for us! Our first day in Kjerstad was so warm that I didn’t need a jacket. I found an ancient Norwegian tanning bed:

P1060695The temperature was in the 70s (about 20°C). Today the temperature was 9° C (the 50s), and I wore all my layers.

It’s an eye-opener to compare Norway to the other countries we’ve visited. It is smaller than both Morocco and Peru, with a population of 5.1 million (one-sixth or less of the population of Morocco or Peru), It’s population density 17 people per sq km, the lowest of any country I’ve looked at. Keep in mind that more than 30% of the surface of the country is classified as “other.” In this case it means “rock and mountains,” ruling it out as living area. Rather than being an underdeveloped backwater, however, Norway has one of the highest PPP (per capita income) recorded, $47,513. Compare that to Portugal ($14,101), Peru ($12,195), and Morocco ($8,165). Further, Norway has one of the highest scores on the Human Development Index, .934, meaning that an individual has a lot of opportunity for education and employment. We notice that the Norwegian language is used as a tool for incorporating immigrants. The night clerk at our hotel in Oslo spoke Norwegian to other guests, and though we couldn’t guess where he might have come from originally, his Norwegian had only a slightly different accent than the people he was speaking with.

Norway is a bit different than the countries of the EU. It is not a member, so uses the Krone (NOK) rather than the Euro. Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), and that provides free movement of people and goods through the EU. The only country besides Norway with this status is Iceland. It might sound like Norway has the best of both worlds, EU access without the Euro. That’s not necessarily the case. Though Norway has free movement of people and goods, it does not receive the benefits of EU price supports for certain products. For this reason, food prices in Norway are on average 75% (or more) higher than the same products in EU countries.

There were delicious breads and crackers at the breakfast buffet–at what cost?

High costs are offset by the fact that Norway has the largest oil and gas reserves and is the largest producer and exporter of oil and gas in Europe (though 21st globally). The petroleum industry is heavily regulated, and contributes about 45% of total exports and 20% of GDP. What makes Norway different than other countries during the downturn in oil prices today is that it holds the largest “sovereign wealth fund” in the world. That is, Norway has been saving money from the oil and gas industry in a rainy-day fund that will help it weather the present upheaval. The government can spend up to 4% of the fund each year to stabilize economic conditions.

I believe it is no coincidence that Norway is one of the world’s least corrupt countries. The top personal income tax rate is 47.8 percent, and the corporate tax rate is 27 percent. Other taxes include a value-added tax, a tax on net wealth, and environmental taxes. Summary: there are no bargains and individuals pay a lot of taxes, BUT they get what they pay for in excellent services and infrastructure.

We’ve already seen wonderful landscape and fun, quirky things. Here are a few:

 

 

 

A Day in the Algarve

31 Tuesday May 2016

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On our last weekend in Portugal, we decided to head south for a day trip to the Algarve, as the south coast is called. In particular, Jonathan wanted to see Cabo Sao Vicente, the southwesternmost point in mainland Europe. We planned to go on Saturday, but rain was forecast, so we opted for Sunday and hit the road by about 10 am, typical for us. The landscape shifted toward grassland, and we saw some flocks of grazing sheep and goats. Nearer the coast, the soil was sandy and scrub covered.

Our first stop was in Portimao. Based on my previous shopping failures, I had looked up every weekend market in the Algarve for something interesting to visit. I found “lota cool market,” an annual design-oriented event put on by local artisans. After I double-checked that it was actually going to take place (recent google mentions, facebook page), I looked for an address. What I found was “the ribeira” (riverside) in Portimao. I looked on google maps and didn’t see an area with that name. I checked further and kept finding the same information, then I found “near the velho porto” (old fishing port). Having never been to Portimao, I didn’t know what that meant and again, there wasn’t a label on a map that said “old port.” Finally, I followed a few facebook posts to, “if you’ve never been here before, we’re at the foot of the old bridge coming into town from Parchal.” None of the bridges were named on my map, but I found Parchal. The post included a photo of the old bridge, showing a blue, lattice structure below the bridge that finally let me identify the likely spot for the fair.

Riverfront in Portimao.

Ribeira/riverfront in Portimao.

With this homework, we arrived in Portimao and immediately lost sight of the water. My GPS reception was so poor that it didn’t even show the river. We headed toward the center of town to ask questions when I saw a sign, “Ribeira.” We got to the river and there in the distance was the old bridge with its distinctive blue structure. There was even parking. We strolled down to the event. It was small but interesting, with local food producers including a cake designer who had a Barbie-sized fondant figure on her demo cake (impressive). There was clothing, mostly for babies and children, toys, wood cutting boards, cork products including a bicycle and chairs with cork in place of upholstered seats and backs. Jewelry was made of coiled newspaper, laser-cut lucite and polymer clay. The earrings I bought have images of traditional Portuguese tile baked onto the clay. It’s a contemporary application of traditional tile designs that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

5.29.16 Portimao

These earrings are by “Love in Boxes.” See facebook for more. She participates in many summer markets in the Algarve including ‘lota cool’ market in Portimao, the Saturday market in Loule, and the ‘Mercado de Culturas….a Luz das Velas’ a candlelight market in Lagoa July 7-10, 2016.

 

 

Leaving the market, I ate an “artisan” ice cream of chocolate with fig and almond. It was a good stop, but we weren’t to the end of Europe yet. Next was Sagres.

5.29.16 Algarve-006

There are two southwesternmost points in Europe, 6 km apart. Sagres is home to a huge fort in the process of being restored. There is a long walking trail along the cliffs, signage about flora, fauna, and the ocean, with great views.

Visitors have built many small cairns of rock.

Visitors have built many small cairns of rock.

A small platform lets you look into a deep blowhole. Along the cliffs (40 ft, 60 ft.?), a dozen or so men were fishing using long poles, big reels and a heavy weight. I was curious to know what they caught when one man reeled in a slender fish about 12 in long. It looked small compared to his equipment but he promptly killed it, gutted it and put it in a cooler. We also saw a black redstart on our walk back to the car and wished we’d brought binoculars, because there were a number of birds in the scrub.

5.29.16 Algarve-011

Cabo Sao Vicente from Sagres.

Last but not least was the official furthest point out to the SW, Cabo Sao Vicente. The site is not quite as developed as Sagres, but on a Sunday afternoon, there was a line of food trucks and souvenir vendors that covered a much larger area than the overlook of the ocean. Much of the actual point is blocked off by a lighthouse, though some of this may be due to construction. As a result, you can look out over the neighboring cliffs.

5.29.16 Algarve-022

For looking right out to sea, imagining what it was like when no one knew what was beyond the horizon…….for that you visit Sagres. We picnicked along our route, and stopped for coffee on the long drive home. We got back before 8 pm. With only a couple of days left in Portugal, all our meals are leftovers, so it was quick to set the outdoor table, pour a bit of vinho verde and watch the sunset over a late dinner.

Two lookouts to the west: Cabo Raso and Cabo Roca.

19 Thursday May 2016

Posted by in Peggy, Portugal

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From Cascais, we drove to the westernmost point of land nearby to look out at the Atlantic. It was a bit gray out, and the waves broke and boomed. The view was impressive–there’s nothing between you and the New World except the Azores, which belong to Portugal, as it turns out.

Cabo Raso was windswept and there were a number of abandoned buildings and foundations, some with stairways to the water through unlit interior rooms. We explored the somewhat spooky remains for a while before going on our way.

We enjoyed our visit so much that a few days later when we were in Sintra and had seen enough palaces for one day, we decided to go Cabo da Roca, the point due west. We read that it was the westernmost point in mainland Europe. Why not!

How much difference a few measurements make! We arrived at Cabo da Roca to find an extensive parking area filled with cars, six tour buses and about 200 other visitors. It was Sunday, not Friday, and the sun was out, but we were taken by surprise to find this spot so heavily visited when the other point is largely empty. We walked down the road a bit and found a less traveled area. The view out to sea was as impressive as ever.

You can see some of our fellow visitors in the upper left corner.

You can see some of our fellow visitors in the upper left corner.

There is an official marker.

There is an official marker.

I was going to insert a few seconds of crashing waves, but my skills aren’t up to embedding even a short video.

5.8.16 Cabo Roca-004Both points have their charms. One comes with industrial archaeology. (I believe the abandoned buildings at Cabo Raso are related to the fishing industry.) The other has tour buses, a gift shop and cafe.