Carolyn. Thanks for the pictures of the apartment, especially the ones of the surrounding area. It really gives us a sense of location.

John, we would like to see more people take the time to appreciate Portugal also. But we are selfish enough to want it more to ourselves.

Sher - we had some trouble figuring out exactly which building the apartment was in so I thought the pictures would help. It is in the northwest corner of Praca Luis do Camoes.

We woke up on our second day in Lagos to another beautiful sunny day. I don’t think we saw one cloud during our whole trip! We went to the breakfast buffet (which was included, and packed with people). They had a large variety of food, which was just OK, mostly catering to the German and British tourists of which there were many. The coffee came from a machine like you see in a cafeteria…I guess we had been spoiled by the Hotel Albatroz but it was fine. We got our car and headed to Praia de Dona Ana, a few minutes away from Lagos. What an incredible, beautiful beach! We had never seen anything like it and the pictures (mine or others) can never do it justice, it is just something you have to see in person. Again to DH’s delight there were many, many topless women (when we got home he told all his friends that he had seen so many topless women on the trip that he started not to even notice them anymore, which I think he is saying for my benefit LOL – or maybe trying to make his friends jealous)…anyway, we spent some time there taking pictures (of the scenery, not of the topless women)

Then, since we were so close, we decided to drive to Ponta da Piedade. We did not regret this decision at all as it was a really amazing view looking down on the grottos and the cliffs. There were boats taking people all through the caves, which we briefly considered doing but we had wanted to get some beach time in so we decided not too. It almost reminded us of Cabo San Lucas with the little inlets and grottos but on a much more impressive scale. DH walked down the (160) rocky steps but I was in flip flops and it was a little slippery so I stayed put at the top. He did say there was a lot of garbage floating in the water in some of the caves but I guess that’s the unfortunate price of having tourists around.

We drove back to the Tivoli Lagos’s beach club at Meia Praia, a gigantic beach on the other side of the marina. We paid 2€ to park the car and this guy didn’t speak a word of English. I think he said we could stay until 7:00 pm but who knows. They also have a free bus that goes from the hotel to the beach club. We checked out the pool area and the snack bar thing and saw that even hotel guests had to pay to use the pool. What is the point of offering a beach club as part of the hotel and then charging, I wondered? Just another Tivoli Lagos mystery. We saw that the club had umbrella things and sunloungers set up on the beach, so we paid 8€ to rent two loungers for the day. They didn’t have anyone offering or even selling water or other drinks but I had a hunch it would be like that so we brought our own. We walked down to the water after getting sufficiently suntanned and went swimming for a while. The water was really warm and we enjoyed getting to swim on the opposite side of the Atlantic as we do at home.

We were feeling hungry so we dropped off the car back at the hotel, changed and went into town. We decided on the Restaurant O Charco where DH ordered grilled squid and I had fried hake, both of which were very good, although they originally brought DH fried squid which he had to send back so I was done eating by the time his came out. No big deal. We had the squid with potatoes and salad, hake with French fries and salad, a half liter of sangria, an iced tea and two waters for 20,50€ which I thought was a great price. We walked around for a few more hours and shopped a little bit before going back to the hotel to shower.

We walked around a little bit in town and considered stopping into a few different bars but we had had such a good time at Bar Vivante that we went back again the second night. We “checked in” on our local family but I think they had already gone to bed. We noticed that the majority of people in the bars were British tourists…we thought it was funny that Portuguese people would assume we were British when they heard us speaking English…to us American and English accents sound so totally different but I guess not to them! After spending way too much time at the bar we were feeling hungry and we had passed a pizza place earlier that looked good so we headed there. At O Cavaleiro we had two sodas, an octopus salad and a delicious pizza with salami on it for 16,20€. A little while after we sat down a bunch of kids sat down next to us and started talking – actually the boys were talking about a pretty girl that walked by and DH started smirking because he knew what they were talking about – and they asked if he spoke Portuguese and if he understood what they said, and he said he didn’t speak the language but he got their meaning! This started a whole conversation with all of them that we really enjoyed. They were all 16 or 17 and were from Porto on vacation in Lagos (with no parents). We discussed a lot of things – about the drinking age being 16 in Portugal, about opportunities for young people in Portugal and in the US, crime, travel, etc. The funniest thing was that when they heard we were American the two questions they asked were are we rich and do we have guns LOL. I’ve never even held a gun, let alone own one, but they thought all Americans are just shooting it up over in the US. We really enjoyed talking to the kids although it made us feel old haha. It showed us an aspect of the country we would have never otherwise seen. On that note, we headed back to the hotel around 1:30 am. Finally, one of the two free computers was free when we got back – there is no business center at the hotel and every time we tried to get on one there were kids on there IMing with their friends at home and it was just a real hassle.

Tomorrow: our first fight in Portugal and we finally get to Lisbon…

Love the pictures!

We woke up early on Thursday, had a quick breakfast. I had a small panic attack since I couldn't find the camera charger (which turned out to be buried in the bottom of my bag) but we found it and checked out of the hotel. We walked down to the parking lot with all our bags, got in the car and pulled up to the gate. Nothing happened. We backed up and tried again (it was supposed to just go up when you pull up to it from inside the lot) and nothing happened. DH tried to lift it up, it wouldn't move. We backed up. Now another car tried it, nothing. So DH runs all the way back up the hotel and tells the guy at the front desk we can't get out. He comes down, tries it and it doesn't work. So he has to go back up and get the key (which he couldn't find). Finally, we are able to leave and the note we ended our Tivoli Lagos experience on was just the last straw!!

Anyway, we headed north. We had to return the rental car at 3pm and I wanted to stop at Queluz Palace before going back to the airport.

The directions I got from previous posts here were perfect and we arrived at Queluz Palace at 1:15 with no problems. We pulled up and I wasn't sure where to go in since we just pulled right up to the building two spots from the door. That didn't seem right but sure enough we paid for our tickets (4 Euros per person for the castle and gardens) and went in. I think we saw about 6 other people the whole time we were there - it was empty. We've been to Versailles and its definitely similar. DH was commenting on the lack of humidity control, protective plastic and glass over stuff, etc. and that we were lucky to go when we did because in a few years he thinks it will really deteriorate if they don't really make an effort to protect it. The outside gardens were just beautiful and not too big so we had plenty of time to walk around all the grounds in about an hour and 15 minutes. It was HOT though. No more sea breeze for us! And I hope you can tell from my pictures that the sky was this deep blue with no clouds at all. They were setting up for a party at the Palace outside which we thought would be really neat to attend.

We hit some traffic going back to the airport but not too bad. We made it there at about 10 minutes to 3. Now here's where the fight happens. DH swears that the car rental guy told him to go to the car rental returns and he would be there for us to turn in the car. For some reason this doesn't seem right to me, i think he said go to departures. "Why would we return the car at the departures terminal?" DH asks. I don't know, but he is convinced he is right. So we drive around. And around. No Easyautos guy anywhere. And the rental car return is really narrow and busy so we can't stop, just have to keep driving through, and then of course you can't turn around at the airport, you have to go all the way out to the roundabout, turn around, and come back in. After 4 or 5 times I tell DH this can't be right and of course I say something to the effect of "I knew I shouldn't have left it up to you to deal with the car guy." Obviously a mistake. DH pulls over and decides he is going to walk to a pay phone to call Easyautos Lisbon office to find out where the guy is. Now, I can't drive stickshift so what if I need to move the car? After a few more minutes of bickering I say why don't we just go to departures and see if he is there, if not I will run in and call. So we drive up to departures and what to we see? A man with a sign with our name on it from Easyautos. HA!! I knew I was right and DH had some egg on his face. But of course we are already cranky from arguing so when we go inside to exchange money, DH can't find his money. He put it in the bottom of his suitcase for some reason so he doesn't want to dig it out in the middle of the airport. Then we try to call Alexandra, Paulo's friend and can't figure out how to use the pay phone. What a day so far. I finally get through and she says Rachel will meet us at the apartment.

We went back out and got a taxi, I heeded everyone's advice and asked how much before we got in. He said about 7 Euros. It took us about 10 minutes and cost 8 Euros which was fine. He dropped us off at Praca Luis do Camoes but then we couldn't figure out which building was number 28. We have all our luggage with us and start walking but then I told DH to just stay put and I'd run around to try to find the right building. Turns out we were standing right next to it of course. Then we didn't know if we should wait outside for Rachel or if she was inside, should we ring the bell? Meanwhile don't forget we are bickering bickering. Finally she came downstairs and let us in - we put smiles on our faces and headed up. The building is beautiful...as nice as any we lived in in NYC and the apartment is really big, much bigger than we expected and bigger than it looks in the pictures. There were cookies, fruit and a bottle of wine waiting for us and the apartment was nice and cool. We paid the balance and finally sat down to relax. We watched a dvd and ate cookies and made up :)

One odd thing about the apartment is that the air conditioner (which works great) drains into the toilet everytime it kicks on - which is kind of loud. And if you are sitting down at the wrong moment you can get a steam treatment on your backside. A little awkward but probably good for the skin :) We got used to it. Also, all the lights in the hallways are on motion sensors so it is pitch black in there until the lights kick on. Just figure out where it is on the wall so you can run over and press it before you shut the apartment door and lose all the light.

Sounds like you had a great trip and looks like you had awesome weather. Your pix are great, wonderful color, and cute kitty. Thanks for the report.

Carolyn, I am glad you finally made it to the apartment. :-) Thanks for all the information about it.

We are also going to call Alexandra or Paulo from a pay phone at the airport. Would you give me the drill for doing so? Thanks.

I am looking forward to hearing about Lisbon.

Carolyn. I can just see the problems that would happen if we couldn't find the hall lights. Thanks.

I'm really enjoying your report. The pictures are beautiful.

As Carol said the lights are motion sensitive. After closing the appartment doors, it should be enough for you to do some rain dance for the lights to kick on. I do this every day in my home and I believe Paulo's appartment to be similar.

I will put rain dance practice on my before travel "to do" list.

When Lobo gives rain dance instructions at the next Lisbon Dining Club event, will somebody please post pictures?

Nikki. Maybe he can start a LDCII (Lisbon Dancing Club).