We really enjoyed our last couple of days relaxing and having fun in the Algarve. The weather has been great and it was just the type of fun that Clara was needing. If anything, we’ve just gotten a little too much sun, which has wore us out a bit.
Luz Beach
We have mostly spent time in the resort pool and at the beach here in Luz. The sand was nice and the views were great as well.
Portimao & Algarve Sea Caves
We did take a trip to Portimao for a boat trip to the Algarve sea caves as well. We decided to go with the Santa Bernarda pirate ship to take us out to the caves. They cruised from our pick up point in Portimao to Carvoeiro, where we then got into small little boats to take us to the caves. On the particular day we went (late May) we almost had our own private little tour as there were only 9 other people on the boat beside us. (The capacity was closer to 60 people.)
The caves were pretty amazing - they were literally caves on the side of the cliffs with water coming in them. I could see how if the water was rough sometimes you can’t go in the caves. However, the weather was on our side and the sea was pretty calm, so we were able to go inside all of them. We saw some amazing views and some cool little beaches as well! The pirate ship set-up worked really well with kids as well. Many of the other tour companies we saw you rode the entire way from Portimao on little boats. Instead, on the pirate ship you could stretch out and the main thing I liked about it was I didn’t have to wear a life jacket. It was hard to get a tired baby to sleep with a life jacket on both him and me in a small little boat.
Carvoeiro Caves
After our boat trip, we went to this area we saw from the boat that was near the Carvoeiro area. They had some cool areas you could walk down in the cliffs; and one rock where they had benches inside with a lookout to the ocean below.
Our Little Visitor
Because we were in a tropical destination there were some fun new creatures for us as well, such as geckos. In fact, one day when I was clearing out dishes from the kitchen sink there was a little gecko hiding under the pans. After Alex finished putting Connor down for his nap, we commenced with operation “Rescue Gecko” - the little guy couldn’t seem to climb up the side of the sink, so I grabbed a glass and he crawled into it where we then put him outside.
He still didn’t crawl out, so later that day we put down the cup on its side and eventually he crawled out. Throughout that period our daughter did multiple checks on him. However, the funniest part was that night, we ran out of gummy bears for our daughter’s potty training treats (and by ‘ran out’ I mean that Alex ate them); so we told her that the gummy bear monster must have ate them all. To which she replied “The gecko ate them all.” Daddy liked that scapegoat! :-)
Marinaha Beach
Our final day in Portugal we headed to Marinaha Beach, which was another beach we saw the prior day on our boat cruise. It was luckily on our way to Spain, but we had forgotten about the time change between Portugal and Spain, and had arranged to meet our Airbnb host at a specific time, so unfortunately we didn’t get as much time there as we would have liked. They had some amazing views and rock formations. There was also a little cave when you first arrived at the beach so we went in to explore. If you kept climbing there was a little walkway tunnel that led out to a little beach on the other side. When we were over there, no one was on that little beach so it felt like a private one. However, there were signs advising not to be too close to the rocks for danger of falling rocks, so we went over on the other side again. What amazing views there were around that area!!!!
After our side trip to the beach, we headed off for our 2.5 hour drive to Seville for the last leg of our trip! So long Portugal, we had a great time!
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