Marg, Helen and Mike do Spain, Portugal & Morrocco: Silves and Faro

We left Lisbon early this morning to beat the city traffic out of town. A good idea as we had a pretty good run out of town and over the impressive 13 km Vasco da Gama bridge. Travelling south we passed rough the far less populated region of Alentejo where cork trees and olives are the main industry.

Stopped to check out the castle at Silves, a red sandstone construction dating back to the 10th century.

Silves is a quiet little town nestled in valley where citrus and pomegranate are grown.

Time to hit the beach for a little 'holiday' . We are staying at Faro, which, although the largest town in the Algarve, it is very restful. Our apartment is on a thin bit of the peninsula, ocean views from the front and inlet views from the back. This section of the peninsula is only wide enough for a road and one house, the water is so close we are almost in it on both sides! I don't think this photo shows it well, but that's our front deck and the house next door. Parking is, again, somewhat of a challenge, thank goodness Mike is here!

For my walk this morning I headed west. The beach goes on for miles, some sections more populated than others. The tide was out so walking was great on the way out, coming home I needed to get on some flatter land as the tide came in.

Lots of locals collect shellfish at low tide using this stick and wire net contraption.

Surf fishing is also popular.

These little birds remind me of our own hooded plovers.

Planes arrive and leave frequently, the airport is on the mainland opposite from where we are staying, but not really an imposition. Judging by the number of flights and the accents on the beach, there must be some pretty good deals available with RyanAir and EasyJet.