Day 7 – Tavira, Portugal

Today had a great start but a sadly disappointing end. Then, it got good again. Today, we woke up early and went to go have breakfast. I had a delicious warm kinder bueno crepe and a refreshing glass of lemonade. After breakfast, we took a ferry to Tavira Beach.

The beach was beautiful. There were so many unbroken shells of different varieties on the shore. The water was very high tide, so the waves were unusual. You would float on top of a wave, and then it would crash on the shore. After that, it would gently suck you into the water.

Mom and Priscilla said they felt something in the water and asked Addie to use her goggles to look – it was a jellyfish! No one believed Addie until later when a man took it out of the water. It was huge! At one point, Mama and I played on the beach, and she buried my legs with sand and covered them with shells. They were everywhere!

When we finished swimming, we got ice cream and took the ferry back to the main square to our Airbnb for showers. After showering, we met my mom’s friend and her family for lunch. I had codfish fritters and some steak. It was tasty.

After lunch, we explored more of the old town, including a fancy church where we climbed the bell tower. On the way up, I discovered two birds and some eggs tucked away in the stone wall of the staircase! The view from the top was beautiful. We could see a lot of the town.

We also went to the ruins of the castle, which was built by several different groups of people. One of the walls was built by the Phonecians in the 7th century BCE! Over time the Romans added to the castle, and then the Moors, and then it was taken over by Christian conquerors. A lot of the walls are missing, but we were able to walk through them and climb some of the ramparts and walk along them.

I was so tired by then that I just needed the rolled ice cream we spotted the night before, but the vendor wasn’t there, so I had to settle for gelato. I was so disappointed, but Addie shared her cookie with me.

On the way home, we stopped for some groceries. Once we got back to the Airbnb, I stayed with Mama while everyone else went to have sushi for dinner. I was too tired to move until Mom texted Mama that the rolled ice cream cart was out! We went running out the door to get some delicious rolled ice cream. I had Kinder Bueno! It was everything I had hoped for.

Now we are getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is a big day, and we are traveling to Spain!

-Katelyn ßauer 🙂