Monchique - Thermal Baths

Last night we stayed near Portimao at an Airbnb which cost about 30E - It was a loft at the top of  home - very impersonal stay. The host just pointed the way to the door and that was it. Carmen even had to go down to get our bath towels - It was very cold all night, the sunset from the Terrace was very nice. We were up early, the bed was very uncomfortable - they placed a king size mattress over a small box-spring and if yu would get to the edge of the bed you tended to slide sideways - We did go into Portimao and got some coffee and a pastry at about 8am. I had found another boot-sale in Barão de São João - We did make it early and were there even all the dealers were set up -It was a very nice small village, at the sale there were many people speaking English as well as many expats and some dealers we had seen before. I found a small soccer chess game with many pieces missing and Carmen found the vase for a small Dutch lamp which we will bring back to life once we are back home.
We decided to drive to Monchique on the advice of our host a couple of nights ago. It turned out to be a magnificent drive and great village. Before getting to the village we took back roads that led to a community that was very exclusive and had their own solar power farm at the entrance to the huge Villas/Quintas.  The properties were all surrounded by large trees, tall cactus and flowering vines.  Once we arrived to the center of Monchique, we had lunch after the boot-sale in this new place at a Bike theme restaurant. - I had avocado toast with a soft boiled egg and pieces of bacon on toast - Carmen had a Salmon salad - while sitting in the restaurant I looked for a hotel nearby and found one through the Capital One app  a great hotel  called Villa Thermal Spa outside of Monchique - great price of 62E for the night with breakfast, We did the Thermal Bath option for about 20+ E more. We did have to buy a swim cap to go into the bath. This is a beautiful hotel in a valley where thermal waters run thru. Since we had bought both Breakfast and lunch we bought sardines and octopus with some breads and cheeses to eat in our  hotel. Tomorrow we return our car rental and head east to Spain on a bus.

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