Lots of driving - Monchique to Albufeira

For the past 4 days with our car rental we have traveled the whole of the Algarve pretty much from east to west coast and back. Portugal is not a very big country - 7 Portugal will fit inside Texas! We visited a few nice sites as well as a couple of markets - We have eaten well trying out lots of new foods.

After a nice breakfast this morning in our hotel we went on a walk in our resort, a valley  with thermal waters running thru it.  We drove to São Bartolomeu de Messines but there was not much to do , from there we drove to Flor Da Laranja near Albufeira. On the route there are orange orchards on both sides of the road.  In many areas the oranges have fallen and are under the trees.  We also see many stands where they sell 3 bags of oranges for 5€.  That is a lot of oranges for a small price. We did a short visit to Olhos de Água, Carmen took some great photos of the sunset and the waves. ​

We walked to some of the shops and she bought two pairs of earrings.  ​ Most of the village was closed down for the season. We were looking for a place for dinner but most were closed near us. We drove quite a way to get a pizza takeout.  We took it back to our Airbnb and had it while watching the Portugal world cup game.   We ended up getting a Pizza and eating it back in our room. We have packed and a ready to return the car tomorrow before taking our bus tomorrow to Seville. 

My final thoughts on our 3 weeks in Portugal - I did like Lisbon, some areas more than others - then again I think we would have to be there for several weeks to really get a good feeling for a livable area. The Algarve while the weather was great for November, I did not like as much, way too many expats, felt closed in and very crowded in cars for its infrastructure, large apartment building or resorts. Maybe it is a great place for the people that come spend winters here for the English or the Northern European where the temperatures are much colder or it is mostly cloudy or very little daylight.​ But for me, I want to walk out of my home and walk a block at the most to get my coffee. Not have to get into my car to have to get a few items or coffee, like I do in Houston.