Trip to Portugal

I wasn’t planning on writing a post about my holiday – just my usual weekly Friday post but I decided I’d like to share some of the photos and what we’ve been up to on my blog.

We, as in Callum and I, booked this holiday very spontaneously in December when the miserable weather was taking its toll on me. I’m not a fan of the cold and rain, never mind the dark mornings. And so last Monday we went off to Albufeira in Portugal.

Since we’re both students this had to be holiday on a budget. This however only meant two major sacrifices – sleep, as the flights were very early in the morning, and excursions. We flew over with Ryanair to Faro, the flight was delayed by at least an hour in both ways but hey, we got there and back home safe and sound.

We didn’t really think too much about it when we were choosing our hotel, we just booked the one that wasn’t too pricey and had decent Tripadvisor reviews. And we got lucky. Natura Algarve Club turned out to be VERY good value for money. It was well maintained and, most importantly, clean. The staff couldn’t have been more helpful – we had a problem with the heating in our room and it was resolved the next day.

We spent most of our holiday walking around the old town and sightseeing. According to my Fitbit we walked at least 10km every day. The hotel was a good half hour walk away from the old town but neither of us mind walking, for me it’s the same as walking to campus. The town is so beautiful! I loved all the white buildings and cobblestone pavements. There’s so much you can do there but it just all depends on how much money you have to spend. We originally planned to go horseriding but didn’t book it in the end. The marina was a much newer area with colourful apartments and lots of boat and fishing trips to offer but I much preferred the charm of the old town. Despite the tourists and loud bars and restaurants there still was a sort of laziness about it. We spent two afternoons sunbathing on the beach and found ourselves a lovely little snack bar that sold by favourite drink of the holiday – fresh orange juice. Considering most bars’ Happy Hour lasts all day long that’s pretty boring, I know. Although we got tempted by port one afternoon, we were in Portugal afterall. 

View from Ricardo's Pizzaria where we went for dinner one night.

One of the streets in the old town.

Hand-painted tiles on buildings in the old town.

Praia De Albufeira.

Old town.

I tried posing but fell instead ;)

Port and lemonade and fresh orange juice.

The old town is full of touristy-type shops. But amongst all the tourist junk you can find some really beautiful things, especially pottery. I treated myself to new vase – I decided that I don’t have one and that flowers will definitely look nicer in a vase than in a pint glass (oh the joys of student living).

Would I go back there again? Definitely! Even though we didn’t get up to much and just enjoyed sight-seeing the town we stayed in, it was just the kind of relaxing break we needed before exams start.