Tuesday, January 13, 2015

23 Countries & Counting

Travelling around the UK by train and bus for the past two months has been super easy. Flying to Portugal from London's Gatwick Airport was equally enjoyable.


After a smooth 2 hour 50 minute flight we arrived in Faro, Portugal. Billy, an Irishman who's lived in the Algarve for seven years, picked us up and drove us to the front door of the Quinta da Barracuda complex in Albufeira. Like most of his countrymen he kept us entertained with story after story and he's been to Canada a number of times and even driven a snowmobile. Lovely man. 


We couldn't be happier with our accommodations. We're in the left building on the third floor. To view photos of the interior click HERE. The balcony provides an impressive view of the Mediterranean. The gardens at the front of the building include palm trees and a number of beautiful Bird of Paradise plants.


This may be winter in the Algarve, but there are still plenty of flowers about. I spotted this butterfly in a flower hedge that was at least eight feet tall. It hugged the sidewalk alongside the main road.


This is the centre of Albufeira. By the time we reached this point we'd walked for 2.5 hours and while John was gung-ho to explore I suggested we go tomorrow. (There's nothing worse than an exhausted and hungry retiree as she can get grumpy at times!)


Walking back to our apartment this tourist shuttle motored past. These Mediterranean style homes have a Disney-esque feel about them, don't they?


I love the detail of this building.


Further along a cat sat on the fence and checked us out. 


Shortly after 3 PM we arrived back home and decided to have lunch on the balcony. We opted for Portuguese bread, ham, olives, cheese and wine. Yum.


The fun part about today was John's reaction. Every so often he'd mention how impressed he was with Portugal. "It's perfect," he said. I pointed out it's also the 23rd country we've visited. That's cause enough for celebration...


Cheers from sunny Portugal!

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