A Visit to the Algarve
This was the final week of our 2018 European Trip (click here to view that trip overview page). After Lisbon, the Algarve was our next "target area" to explore. We had heard stories from Celeste's parents about how beautiful the area is, and how good the food was, so our expectations were high and our zeal to start our exploration there was at a high level!
Portimão Coat of ArmsImage is the property of Heraldry of the World
Departing our Lisbon Condo: Our condo was located near the intersection of Calçada Galvão and R. Gen. João de Almeida which is pretty much suburbia north of the Jeronimo Monastery. After packing up our rental car, we drove north on the Calçada Galvão to where we could access the A5 and then merged onto the A2 to get to the 25th of April Bridge. From the bridge, it is 235 miles to the Algarve.
Getting There: The freeway from Lisbon to Portimão was easy to navigate and had very little traffic. We stayed on the A2 until it became the E2. Leaving the E2 onto Portugal A22 to Portimão, exited onto the N124 to enter the city. As the Tivoli Hotel & Marina was perhaps 10 miles away, we traversed Portimão on local streets with numerous round-a-bouts and traffic. Typical for Europe, but a little challenging for many Americans! Diligence & discipline in driving & navigation is required !
NOTE: Keep your Mapping App out and have it displaying the route, because the city streets are crowded!
Image property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC
Image property of Tivoli Marina Portimão
Image property of Just Traveling Thru, LLCTivoli Hotel & Marina
This is a view of the Hotel Pool area from the top floor of our apartment (the top floor is a private deck for our condo rental). As you can easily see, the pool is quite large (not deep though) and there were a number of lounges & tables for everyone to utilize.
The Tivoli is a very comfortable hotel; huge pool, nice outside cabana area for drinks & snacks and a good restaurant. The Praia da Rocha is perhaps 100 meters away, just past the Marina and a row of restaurants. The Hotel restaurant and snack bar are in the center of this image, adjacent to the Arade River.
Tivoli Hotel & Marina
This picture gives you a great idea of how nicely located our apartment was. The Tivoli Marina and Hotel are located at the center of this image, surrounded by the Tivoli Marina. The city of Portimão as well as the beaches, were readily accessible via a brief walk.
The Praia da Rocha beach is at the top right of the picture, and the city of of Portimão is to the right.
Tivoli Hotel & Marina Entrance
Without a good navigator (Celeste) and our cellphone Google Maps App, we would have never have found this hotel and might still be wandering around Portugal !
IMAGE CREDITS: Both images above are the property of the Tivoli Marina Portimao Algarve Resort
The city of Portimão is off to the left in image # 1, and the Tivoli Marina where we were staying is at the far end of this beach view. The entry to the Arade River can be seen in the top center of this image.
Image # 1 was taken from the top of the Viewpoint of the Three Castles ("Miradouro dos Três Castelos") on an early morning hike we took. As you can see, there are very few people on the beach, that will change as the day progresses.
Image # 2 is looking westward from a lookout point on Viewpoint of the Three Castle (Avenue Tomas Cabreira of Tres Castelos beach). You can see all of the beach chairs and lounges ready to be rented!
Image # 3 was taken from the other side of the rocks, where we descended to the beach to find a spot where we could play paddle ball, and were amazed at the cliff rock formations.
In image # 4 the rock formations & cliff on the west end of Praia da Rocha beach, you can see how small the people are in relation to the cliff. We took this picture early in the day, and the beach crowd had not yet started to arrive. After we spread our towels out and hung out for a while, the crowds were starting to build up.
Tres Castelos Access
This is one way you can get from Tres Castelos beach to Praia da Rocha beach! At low tide you can just walk around through the water. Speaking from experience, that particular cave was just barely tall enough for me to squeeze through.
Above Tres Castelos Beach
Looking back at Portimão from a lookout point above Tres Castelos beach. See the boardwalk in the center of the first picture? There are a number of small restaurants & pubs all along this walkway. Because of their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, each establishment offers really nice views of the beach & the Ocean.
You can see in the second picture that the beach is not yet crowded, this is because it was still early in the morning and the crowd would not begin to arrive for another hour.
Surfs Up Dude - at Praia do Beliche
Not sure if you can see them or not, but local surfers are out there in a large
group in the right center of this picture.
Praia do Beliche is a very popular
surfer destination in the Cape St. Vincent area. Its popularity stems from being sheltered from the prevailing winds
The motivation to go here, comes in two parts, ie; This was where Prince Henry the Navigator built his school of navigation in the 15th century. Part two is that the cliffs in this area are fantastic, and the waves coming in from the Atlantic will frequently be massive.
Beside the historical signficance of the Sagres area, the drive takes you through a larger part of the Algarve area - taking you into pretty villages, amazing coastline and then you arrive at the farthest southwest point in Europe!
Take a look at the map link below, we first drove to the Fontaleza de Sagres, and explored there first. We
then drove over to the Lighthouse of Cabo de São Vicente and explored there.
Click here for Map of the Sagres area.
Lighthouse of Cabo de São Vicente
We were standing in the Sagres Fortress area, looking over at the next peninsula which has a lighthouse on it (image # 1). That lighthouse was built in 1846 and was constructed on the old ruins of a Franciscan monastery. It now belongs to the Portuguese Navy. The lighthouse is the second most powerful in Europe (after Phare du Creach in Brittany) and the light beam can be seen 60 kilometers away.
The cliffs in the Sagres area are astounding, and the Atlantic Ocean pounds away at them constantly. Cliff heights here can reach 75 meters! As is usual in Europe, there are no walls or signs telling you to stay away from the cliff edges, Europe expects you to be smart enough to already know that!
Atlantic Ocean Pounding the Cliffs
You can see in this picture how the Ocean has pounded out a cave in the cliff. The waves
get extremely large in the winter here, for a graphic portrayal of winter storm
driven waves take a look at
this YouTube video.
This video is the property of The Local Truth via YouTube.
Sagres Fortress
This is the Sagres Fortress (Fortaleza Sagres). It is located at the southern tip of the Sagres Peninsula and was designed to protect the town from from North African raiders. It was from here that Henry the Navigator devised his 15th century expeditions to the uncharted seas around the western side of Africa, which heralded in the golden era of Portuguese exploration.
Beach below Sagres Fortress
Taken from the cliffs nearest the Sagres Fortress parking lot, some people are
enjoying the beach. We could see the trail that those people had to have taken
down there, and it looked like a challenging descent!
By the way, that word written in the sand translates to "you know" in English.
We had a great dinner at the Restaurante Almeida, located on the water front adjacent to the Tivoli Hotel where we were staying. The food there was fantastic, and the vibe of being next to the beach, with good wine, and excellent seafood, provided us with a memorable dinner experience.
NOTE: Below are some useful links where you can find even more information about the areas we have described on this page. There are of course, many other useful websites & pages, so for something specific, we would suggest using Google Search.
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