Algarve and Sevilla

Last week we took another whirlwind trip, this time starting out in a region along the southern coast of Portugal known as The Algarve.  I'd heard good things, and it's a more "resorty" area of the country.  The weather looked iffy though, so I was worried it wouldn't go well.

At first glance, I wasn't particularly taken by what I saw when we arrived...it felt like any old golf community you may find in a non-descript spot in Florida.  The hotel we stayed it was big and generic with a bunch of pools too cold to swim in, but generally nice.  The room was on-point size wise which was a nice change, finally we had not one but three bathrooms, and three bidets! Buddy tested them all. One of the perks of this place was a swanky spa that we had access too.  Evie and Erin even got a massage together, and I think Evie is now hooked on day spas.  That night we headed to the beachfront in Quarteira for tapas and some delicious Portuguese wine followed by some frolicking on the beach.

Our big goal on Saturday was to tackle the Seven Hanging Valleys Hiking Trail, regarded as one of the most beautiful hikes in all of Europe.  We kicked it off with lunch in Carvoeiro, a cute town just to the west of the trail.  (Erin edit to add: while this was a fun place to kick off the hike and we saw amazing stuff, it is quite far from the actual start of the hike. This meant we hiked for two straight hours before we got to the official start. The three of us were not super thrilled to learn of this development). The coastline here was all steep limestone cliffs with tons of unique geologic structures like caves, sinkholes, islands, etc.  The waves crashed violently into the cliffs which I never got tired of watching and listening to.  The real magic happened when it started raining a bit on us, which felt pretty nice actually...and gradually a faint rainbow appeared.  It got bigger and bigger, and more vibrant until a second one started to appear as well...and we could see both leading right into the ocean.  It turned into one of the most amazing sights we've ever seen.

Starting off in Carvoeiro

Evie doing her best impression of a sea cave

Having a sit

Epic beaches and limestone structures

Magical Double Rainbow

This probably goes down as the most beautiful hike we've ever taken...actually even beating the Grand Canyon (though it's close).  We caught a beautiful sunset, and had a well-earned dinner and beer in Albufeira which is more Moorish and impossible to drive in. Carnaval had let out so people were milling about in costumes and we were next to a sing-a-long bar where they belted out a very sloppy version of American Pie, which the kids apparently had never heard of(?)(!) After a little dance and an american music history lesson we all crashed hard.

Perfect Ending

Seville

Sunday we headed out of Portugal to Seville, Spain..stopping in a cute little river town called Tavira (where we yet again ran into another set of American ex-pats).  Getting into Seville was bananas, I have never driven down narrower roads in my life, with literally less than an inch clearance on both side mirrors.  We unpacked and ditched the car in a parking ramp so we could hoof it the rest of our stay.


Seville is definitely best experienced on foot, very flat (unlike pretty much all of Portugal) with charming narrow streets, outdoor eateries, gorgeous architecture...and orange trees literally everywhere!  That was the piece that surprised me the most...these adorable ornamental orange trees on every block, the whole city smelled like citrus :)  Just seeing row and row of trees with softball sized oranges hanging all over them just blew all of our minds.

We grabbed tapas and took a long stroll to check out the huge central park and one of the most impressive architectural structure I've ever walked around on, the Plaza de España.  In a future post, I'll espound a little more about my impression of Europe's approach to public beautification...but this is case in point.

Monday during the day primarily was taken up by a guided tour of some of the major city highlights (The Cathedral of Seville and the Royal Palace of Alcazar).  I did not realize that it was the 3rd largest cathedral in the world.  There were some very interesting artifacts and things, and our tour guide was this goofy spanish art history nerd, but we were quickly getting "museum legs" and just needed a nice sit.  Thankfully, our hotel had a lovely little rooftop terrace, so we grabbed some drinks and enjoyed a bit of a sit in the warm Spanish sun.

Outdoor eatery (anywhere Seville)

So hard to capture all the beautiful architecture. most streets were windy and narrow.

Big church stuff

Alcazar, a blend of Moorish and Catholic design

Resting legs on rooftop terrace. it was 75 degrees!

Our night was one of the most fancy planned evenings of our entire 3 months here...a Flamenco show.  To be completely honest, I've been extremely excited ever since booking this weeks ago.  The venue was just a non-descript little entrance on a small side-street and the room was very cozy.  Probably about a dozen tables and a small stage.  The food and drinks were fantastic, and when the dancers and musicians took the stage it was absolutely captivating.  The rhythmic precision, dramatic movements, and music steeped in centuries of tradition were just incredible to take in.  The venue prohibited video recording, which I completely understand...I watched some videos after the fact and they come nowhere close to capturing how cool the performances were, I guess you had to be there.  We all agreed that it was the highlight of our trip to Seville.

One of the biggest disappointments of visiting Seville was when we swung by literal Barber of Seville to get Buddy a haircut (which he sorely needed) but the barber was all booked up.  We sadly headed back to the car ramp to find that my car was completely parked in on both side, requirement to climb in from the trunk in order to get out.  Yay Europe!

On the way back to Sintra, we passed through the town of Loulé, Portugal...which happened to be the home of the oldest Carnaval festival in the country...and today was Carnaval!  Obviously we stopped and the parade did not disappoint.  Samba Schools, satirical parade floats, an ungodly amount of confetti, and topless women!  Fun!  It seemed like it was literally going to last all night, so we did have to pull the plug and hit the road since it was actually a school night.