Lagos

I walked to where the bus picks people up to go to Lagos and that's when I realized there is an hour time difference between Spain & Portugal. I knew it beforehand but completely forgot. No harm though, I just checked out and got to Lagos a little earlier than planned.

It was hot yesterday and I finally made use of the hand fan that I brought while on the bus. I met a nice American woman on the bus. She lives in Florida now but grew up in Zimbabwe and has had an apartment in the Algarve for 30 years (she didn't specify which town). She said that this was the perfect time to come, and that in June all the tourists come and then by August all the Portuguese flock south for their beach vacation.

There aren't many stoplights around the Algarve - they seem to love their roundabouts. Grilled sardines are the most popular menu item. Rice & beans apparently are not. I thought I read that somewhere. I'll blame the old guidebook.

Once I got off the bus I headed towards the marina, took a right on the big road, walked past the Shell gas station (which is no longer Shell but luckily still a gas station), past the fresh fish market, past the taxi stand, took a right after the big parking lot, saw the Dois Irmaos bar. And that's where the directions no longer made sense. They didn't use street names in their directions, just landmarks. Only trouble is a lot of those landmarks have either changed names or no longer exist. So I started asking the locals on the street where the Travessa Gil Vicente was. All they could do was point in the direction, but didn't know exactly where it was. So I started asking the shopkeepers. No ideas. Hmm.

My bag was getting really heavy, shoulders were hurting, and I was starting to glisten. So I plopped down at a 'snack bar', sat outside in the shade and had a beer. A large one. After a good amount of people watching and once I felt cooled off I decided to head out again for this supposed hostel. I asked the woman that works at the snack-bar, no idea. This town isn't very big! All the patrons around me were older and not hostel-goer types. But just as I was about to leave two girls sat down and they looked like potential hostel-goers. I couldn't recognize what language they were speaking but hoped that they spoke English. Sure enough they did. They were staying in a hostel. But not mine. They were staying at The Rising Cock. Apparently there is one here too. They let me look at their map, and I was able to locate the street we were on and YES! the street my hostel was on. Not too far away but lots of little turns. I took a photo of the section of the map I needed (quite resourceful if I may say so myself) and managed to find it. I definitely wouldn't have gotten there with the hostel's directions, even if the landmarks were still in place. They definitely need to update the directions on their site. Actually the first thing that they asked me when I arrived was - "was it difficult to find?". I replied yes and told them about my attempts. The guy gave me a high five when I told him I stopped and got a beer during my search.

Shangri-Lagos is a very homey hostel. It's been open 3 weeks. It's also the cheapest hostel I've stayed at (10 euros a night). I picked it based on price and name. Kind of how I pick wine - by the price and the name/label.

Once I settled in I headed back out and walked to the ocean. I snapped a few photos and walked along the road taking in the scenery. At a little statue overlooking the water I ran into those girls. They were happy to hear that I found my hostel.

I walked back towards the little town, it's quite charming. I walked past lots of fish and sardine signs and settled into a pizzeria. I sat outside in the shade and they had this nice instrumental music playing. But I kept hearing this weird sound. I thought it was either a very vocal seagull or perhaps a cat in heat. Took me all of lunch to realize that there was a statue guy at the square about 20 meters from me and he had one of those obnoxious whistles in his mouth. He was using it subtly to try and get people's attention. I'd like to have a few words with the creator of those things.

Walking along the beach the water and sky were so blue that I got the song 'Blue Eyes' by Elton John in my head. And it just came on in the hostel. Coincidence? I think not!

After a short nap I headed back out to the Casa Rosa, the good & cheap place to eat where all the hostels say you must go to. I think they must all be friends recommending each other's places. It was a fun atmosphere with big shared tables. There were 4 veggie options and I chose the burrito because of my craving for beans. It was probably the healthiest burrito I have ever had and it was quite good. The Manchester United game was on so watched that with the other patrons, all tourists. M.U. will take on Barcelona in the Champions League final on May 28th. I'll try to see if I can watch it, definitely will be rooting for Barcelona.

There were four people sitting near me and when a girl walked in one of the guys at the table said "Sorry about last night" and she said "What about last night?" and his reply was "Oh good, you don't remember". Oh boy.

After dinner and several Cristals (beer that apparently the locals drink) I bar-hopped my way home. Lagos is known to be a party town, so I felt the need to check out some of the watering holes, even though most of them were quite empty. Party only gets stared around midnight, but then again there aren't enough people here yet I don't think. My last stop was a bar where only English was being spoken. Will try to find the Portuguese hangouts tonight, but this one was nice and close to my hostel. I spent about three hours chatting with the bartender and his wife. The crowd was older than me by at least 30 years which I enjoyed, nice change of scene.

A guy walked over to me and asked if I wanted to go to a bar. I replied that we're already in a bar. The bartender could not stop laughing. Apparently that's his pickup line. He left and told me he'd try to find a girl elsewhere. I told him good luck, he replied that he didn't need luck. He returned about twenty minutes later solo.

The bartender and his wife told me several interesting things about Lagos. They are British and moved here three years ago. They said it's basically England's Florida where lots of people come to retire because of the year-round sunshine. They also said that in July/August it resembles a small Cancun with all the stumbling drunk kids everywhere. Am sure glad I'm not here during that.

The bartenders wife didn't want me to go so she bought me another beer. I ended up staying there until about 12:30am, way past my planned bedtime.

I also met the very drunk head chef of a Thai restaurant. I promised him I'd go there for dinner tonight.

Based on the little bit of research I did I assumed that Portimão would be more quaint than Lagos because it is less touristy. But it turns out that Portimão is where all of the cruises dock. It also had tons of high-rise apartment buildings. Whoever makes those decisions in Lagos won't allow high-rises. Lagos is a walled town and most of the wall is still standing which is cool. My friends last night told me that someone bought a McDonald's franchise and tried to open one up inside the walls. Those same decision makers vetoed it, so there is one right outside the wall. I love that. Yes it is touristy with lots of little shops, restaurants and bars, but they are really making an effort to keep it low-key and quaint. I hope it stays that way.