A Day in the Algarve: Staggering Beauty and a Brush With Death
Over the past few years, I’ve become very interested in living abroad during retirement. Part of this comes from the outstanding experiences that I have had during my travels. One of the most important things about travel is how it opens your eyes up to other cultures, other ways of life, and other possibilities. I’m from a very tiny town in the Midwest and I’ve been to places and seen things that young me would have never thought possible. Those experiences have made me a better person. (I hope!) But as I have aged, I have started to envision what those later years will be like and I’ve concluded, like many others, that living abroad will provide me with the opportunities, experiences, and life that I want.
After many years of research, I settled on Portugal as one of my primary targets. In the past decade, Portugal has become a hotspot for retirees from many countries, including the United States. My wife and I decided to take a ten-day trip to Portugal and see if the reality matched the hype. We almost always travel in the offseason because the crush of people and long lines make the trip less satisfying if you go during peak season. The downsides in the offseason are that the weather is often not ideal and some attractions may be closed. For us, the tradeoff is worth it.
We ended up visiting Porto in the North, Lagos in the southern Algarve, and Lisbon. I’ll write more about Porto and Lisbon another time. This article is about our experience in the Algarve and specifically one day of extremes.
We arrived in Lagos, Portugal by (tiny) car. It was a wonderful drive from Porto and didn’t feel like 5 hours, but it was. I drive 8 hours once a year for an annual convention. It doesn’t faze me. My European friends think anything over two hours is too much. We found driving in Portugal to be easy and low-stress. The roads are in very good condition and, thankfully, they drive on the same side of the road!
This part of Portugal is known as the Algarve and it is situated in the Southern part of the country, with the Mediterranean Sea lapping at its beaches. I know from research that during the high season, this part of the country is swamped with vacationers, both residents and tourists alike. We found empty streets, sparsely occupied restaurants, and a very sedate pace of life. It was wonderful.
Normally during vacations, I like to sleep in and start the day off casually. But on this day, we wanted to wake up early so that we could get to Ponta de Piedad before the sun rose to get pictures like the one above. Access to this area is a little hard to find as the road leading to it winds around a bit. When we finally parked and got out of our car, we saw one other car but no other people. It is immediately apparent why this spot is considered one of the most picturesque in all of Portugal.
We scurried up and down well-worn paths, with just the crunching of our shoes as we walked, the wind in our ears, and the echo of the surf breaking on the rocks below us to break the enchantment that had settled on us. Everywhere we looked was some bit of beauty. Small flowers struggled to survive in Portugal’s winter months but their color stood out in stark contrast to the rock and greenery. The ocean was flat with just the hint of ripples out to sea and some moderate waves closer to the shore. We took the long stairway down to the bottom, where we learned that once, centuries ago, the same spot had been used by smugglers.
Only a pirate or smuggler would have had to nerve to bring a boat into the grotto, past the soaring rock columns, and have the skill to tie up and carry their cargo up and down the side of the cliff. The water there was a lovely green near the shore with a deep, foreboding green out near the rocks. And amidst this landscape was a churning, swirling ocean that pounded away at the rock as it had for as long as it had existed. We had a lot of fun there and it was totally worth getting up early!
We spent quite a bit of time exploring more of the point and taking more pictures of the landscape. The entire time, we saw three people and that was just fine with us.
Generally, when we travel, we try to have two or three things each day that we want to achieve. Bucket list items. On this day we wanted to visit the Ponta de Piedad and then find the Benagil cave. If you’ve not heard of this spot before, it is the picture at the beginning of the article. I would guess that the Benagil cave is one of the most sought-after places to take photos and so off we went!
When you reach the cave location there is a large parking space at the top, suitable for both day trippers and those bringing RVs. This was the first time I had seen large vehicles in Portugal. Most everyone drives a car, with a sedan being the largest. Our tiny car was a speck in a field of empty spaces. Coming here in the off season was so great. Yes, we had rain and wind, but we had zero crowds and easy access to everywhere and everything. We walked down to the beach, stopping on the way down to eat lunch at a restaurant called O Pescador. The food was, as all our meals were, outstanding.
But the downside was the sunshine faded to clouds and by the time we finished, no more than 40 minutes, the sky looked like a flat frying pan. But we walked down anyway, watching the big tour company taking out boats of tourists.
We wanted to see the caves too but we wanted to get onto the sand and take photos from the inside. The big tours just go into the cave and let people take some photos from the boat. Our solution was to rent a kayak. It was only after we went all the way down to the beach that we found out we had to go back to the top, a decent hike, and rent the kayak there. Thankfully we didn't have to bring the actual kayak down just the paddles, life jackets, and the ever-important waterproof bag. Back down the hill and the attendant helped us get out into the water.
I've kayaked by myself in the ocean a few times. I love kayaking. But I have never gone with another adult in the same kayak. We made good progress to the cave, making sure to keep a keen eye out for the larger, faster boats, which apparently are a serious hazard to kayaks. We finally found our entry point and I thought things were going better than expected. My wife had tied down the waterproof bag to the kayak and all our wallets and spare clothes were inside.
I was nervous because the cave walls were pretty rough looking so we set our course straight down the middle of the entry and were right on track... until we crossed the point where the water crested and crashed towards the beach inside the cave. Because of the shape of the cave and the fact that there are two entrances, there are actually two waves created and we just got unlucky. The wave from our entry pushed the front of the kayak to the left, into the wave from the other entry and we flipped.
The water was shockingly cold and I was worried about my wife because I'd lost sight of her. I also hit my left leg pretty hard on the kayak and it was hurting. But I knew I had to get myself to the shore immediately before I could even think about helping her. So I swam and it wasn't too far. But the waves came in fast and tugged at my feet, which was unnerving. I finally was able to turn around and I saw our kayak already swirling away from the beach. I also saw my wife floundering a bit in the water, her eyes wide and every bit as scared and shocked as I was. But she's a trooper and she staggered close enough that we were reunited, castaways but reunited. In the chaos, we both managed to keep our paddles, which was probably a leftover from our white water rafting training in New Zealand a few years ago where they instilled the importance of hanging onto your paddle.
There were a lot of emotions going on but, in the end, we were both ok. I could see the kayak, upside down and floating out to sea... along with all of our valuables. So that was worrisome. Just then one of the other tour boats entered the cave and we were able to make them realize our kayak was floating away and they helped us! They went and got the kayak, and turned it over (Waterproof bag intact!) and after two tries, we managed to get the boat. By that time we had been watching the sequence of the waves coming in and we cracked the code on the timing, making it in the boat and back out.
It was a very tiring but good trip back to the shore. I have never been so happy to get out of a kayak. We changed clothes, cleaned and dressed the leg injury I had sustained, hugged, and made our way back to the car and back to Lagos. We took showers, rested some more, and then later we went on a walk down by the marina in town.
That day will always be one of my most memorable. From the morning beauty to the adrenaline and fear-laced afternoon, it was a journey of discovery. Thankfully, not all days are quite as harrowing as this one and Portugal has so much to offer. I look forward to sharing more with you soon.
