Day 5 – Armação de Pêra

Kate is toast, so I am taking over blogging duties for the day. She would like everyone to know she used herself as a boogie board while we were swimming in the ocean today. It was quite impressive.

We are in Armação de Pêra, a small fishing village that now features many high-rise apartments. It’s a vacation destination more for Portuguese citizens than anyone else – we hardly heard a word of English today.

Today is Kendra’s birthday, and Priscilla (our fab friend) and the twins went on an early morning shopping trip and got Kendra a chocolate praline cake and candles – because cake for breakfast is the best! (We also had some scrambled eggs and freshly squeezed OJ, but the cake took the cake!)

After breakfast, which was more like brunch, we headed to the beach for a boat tour of the caves along the Algarve coast. It was amazing – the little speedboat could maneuver into caves the larger ships couldn’t get through. The entire trip took just over an hour. Kate was terrified at first but was dancing in her seat by the end. The air was so much cooler on the ocean – it hit 90 degrees today, about ten degrees cooler than it’s been the past few days.

After our trip, we had a delicious lunch a Restaurante Hera, a beautiful place right on the main beach road. There was lots of bread, olives, cheese, clams, salad, and fancy drinks and dessert. With full stomachs, we headed to the beach for a few hours to swim on this side of the Atlantic, taking time to explore Armação de Pêra along the way.

It was surreal to be swimming alongside the towering cliffs. We explored a bit and walked through caves along the shore before heading back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner.

Dinner was at Rocha da Palha, a small place overlooking the ocean. Naturally, there was more bread, cheese, and olives. We ate the most incredible warm goat cheese smothered in honey and walnuts. We also had grilled cod, steak, sausage, pasta, and prawns. The food here has not disappointed.

Dessert was gelato at a small shop with tons of flavors. We ate with another ocean view and watched the sun setting gently over the water.

Addie and I hit the grocery store on the way home to get food for tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch. After we pack up in the morning, we take the bus to Tavira for the next stop in our adventure.