Thursday

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Yesterday I typed up quite a story and for some reason it didn't attach to the blog. There were a couple of photos....one of Betty and Val waiting for a bus after we got kicked off the one we took into Portimao. We hoped to do the circuitous route from Ferragudo into Portimao and then back to Ferragudo....not to be! We pulled up in the bus in a crappy part of town and the driver said...end of the line....everyone out. We then had to wait for another bus to take us back to Ferragudo so it basically cost us double what we thought it would. What was interesting in the area were the car dealerships, Fiat, BMW, Chevrolet and KIA. My cars twin was actually sitting out parked by the sidewalk.

When we got back to the village we walked down to the area where the fishermen come in and watched them hauling in their nets pulling some pretty small fish out. The seagulls here are just as noisy and raucous as they are on the Island and were flitting about squawking waiting for tidbits! Sometimes one would get a piece and the noisy fight was on! You really need to be careful where you stand around the seagulls!!!

As Val, Betty and I had gone off leaving Sharon at home, we were beginning to get anxious when we returned to the villa and no Sharon.....she finally arrived home about 5:30 and said she had gone into Portimao, then caught another bus to Praia Da Roche, just up the road from there. She is quite adventurous going off by herself like that. We now know she had a much more interesting day then we did!!!

Today we all got moving fairly early and went by bus to Portimao, then caught another one out to Praia Da Roche, with Sharon as our tour guide. The pictures included today are either looking across to where we live or from the beautiful sandy beach and breakwater out into the ocean. The rollers washing ashore would probably entice some of our hardier body surfers out but no one was taking a chance today. We saw people fishing along the breakwater and also at the one on the Ferragudo side. Fish are a very important part of the Portuguese diet. It is amazing how many condo/apartments there are around the areas, but tourism is huge here. It is the Mediterranean of Portugal. We are told that come the beginning of March people will come from all over Britain and Europe.

We had a different view of the castle today from the other side. It is really quite large and is owned by a Portuguese business man. When there is a flag raised it means he is in residence. There is no flag up right now.

When we returned back home....by taxi from Portimao ( because we would have to wait 45 minutes in the cold for another bus) we decided to go to the butcher shop to see if they had chicken breasts as promised the day before.....and they did! I'm sure you can imagine how we communicated with the butcher yesterday when we tried to ask about chicken breasts!!!! They were fabulous with lots of fresh steamed veggies tonight. We all watched a movie and have now made our way to our respective beds.

It has cooled down a little again but the sun continues to shine.

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