Pousada de Juventude
Willeke reserved a place for us the first day! There was a warm welcome at Pousada de Juventude. A very simple world recognised hostel. It is a long time ago I went to these hostels. The room is very simple. But there is a restaurant across the street, a bbq restaurant outside in the garden. Ideal to crash and eat fish and spare ribs. From all the restaurants in the city we go to this one, there is just to much choice here. It is very busy here too. We wait half an hour, and leaving the garden, there are still people lining up. Lagos is a bustling city with mostly tourists.
We got a fantastic breakfast. Unbelievable for the price we pay in Algarve. They serve it normally at 8:30 but we asked for an hour earlier, which is no problem.
Willeke brought me some nice products from The Netherlands, drop and stroopwafel which I of course miss in Portugal. I left it at the reception because I will return and bring them home. I will not carry them with me, on this heavy trail.
Leaving Lagos to Praia da Luz
It is interesting that we leave Lagos in total silence, such a contrast with yesterday evening where tourists, and locals went out to have a good (party) night. Because Lagos is a party city; That I already found out in the reviews belonging to the accommodations I wanted to stay.
We walk via Praia da Luz to Salema. You could walk this in two days, but we want to walk around 20 km a day so we paste the two stages into one. We follow the green and blue signs, going in both directions!
Praia da Luz, is a touristy village, so we could rest and have some luxurious snacks. Willeke of course needed her first coffee with a pastel de nata, a must in Portugal! The prices are more than twice as high as where I live in Central Portugal. But here we have a great variety in (foreign) foods, and delicious snacks. I am longing for ‘exotic’ food. If you walked the caminho from Lisbon, you will have an idea what I mean. There is not a lot of variety in food in Central Portugal: Just meat, rice, potato, migas and more meat.
Salema
A few weeks ago I investigated about all the accommodations on our trail. I didn’t reserve to be totally flexible. In Salema there is only one place far away from the route, but better than nothing. There is also an eco-camping and glamping site, 1,5 km north of the centre. Well the B&B appears to be full so we go to the camping. What a surprise: Ay Lin is camping again…
I thought it would be a cosy campsite with a few tents. How wrong I was; It is a big business, with already 3 or 4 people working at the reception, men working in the garden, and a lot of people going in little carts from one to the other side of the camping.
Mexican Food Truck
We have an outside dinner with snacks from the food truck and pizza from the camping restaurant. The Mexican quesadilla with pulled pork and chicken taco are very good. The pizza is good too, to my surprise. Again, if you buy pizza’s where I live, it is a disappointment when you had pizza’s from real Italians. Willeke doesn’t eat the pizza, I find out she bought this extra pizza because she is afraid that there will be no breakfast and lunch for our second walking day. She may be right….
Walking Day 1…
… shows us incredible views of the oceans, cliffs, and rocks. I think it will be boring the coming days because what we see here, is beyond words. I had to think of my journey on Great Ocean Road in Australia. Well we have this in Europe too, no need to go so far!
… is gentle. I was afraid of my left foot, which has a very weak ankle. Just a few months, I could walk anymore for four days. The day started heavy with stairs, but my foot adjusted and it turned out to be a good day.
… tells us we are alone on the route. With some luck there is a cafe where we could refill our bottles and ourselves.
… is fun. The experience with Willeke on my caminho Litoral Porto-Guarda-Vigo two years ago, was a perfect one, so I don’t need to worry at all. We have a lot of fun, and with fun I mean we really laugh loud about the things we experience,
