portugal - part one

we're back in the desert after a great week in portugal!!! we met my family at the vale do lobo golf resort in the algarve, just outside of faro. my dad hired a villa so that all nine of us could stay together under one roof. it was definitely the way to go as it allowed us to cook the occasional meal and spend time just hanging out in between day trips and dinners out. the villa was in a perfect location - only a 10 minute walk to the beach! although it had its own private pool, it wasn't quite ready for swimmers...just like the oranges in the back garden - not quite ready for picking, hehe, right mom!?! thankfully the weather cooperated - sunny skies for all 6/7 days! the temp must have reached the mid 20s - which was embraced by those from toronto!! let's just say that by the end of the trip we all looked a little more 'healthier'.

as expected, the week went by fast. mike was only able to join us for 3 days due to work commitments. i was grateful that he managed to come at all however, we all would have liked him to be around a lot longer. having said that the boys had booked a round of golf in on a nearby course on the tuesday, the 2nd day we arrived. tuesday was also my birthday...yep again! since we weren't together as a family for my actual birthday, my family thought of this brilliant idea...to re-live my birthday; to pretend that the 11th march was in fact the 12th feb.!! my birthday started with me waking up to the singing of 'happy birthday' and ended with a traditional family dinner (aside from the fact it happened in portugal), cake and presents! AND in between was full of great memories including some picnic table dancing!!!
the rest of the week was a perfect balance/combination of relaxation time and sightseeing. my dad hired two cars for us to 'boot' around in. my parents had been to the algarve before therefore, it made it a lot easier getting from point a to b. we visited most of the coastline villages - vilamoura, quarteira, albufeira, alvor, sagres and cape st. vincent's which is the southwesternmost point of mainland europe and was believed to be the end of the world until the discovery of the americas. my favourite place would have to be alvor which is a quaint fishing village. although it is a popular tourist destination, its narrow streets have kept development to a minimum giving it a great mix of old and new world. we stopped there on a recommendation from my mom's friend and in search of cork handbags. for those of you who don't know, portugal produces about half of the world output of cork. the trip was successful, my mom found a handbag and erinn and i both bought beautifully painted cork placemats.the highlight of the week (not!) was the catamaran boat trip...you will know why once i share the details!! we decided to all be a bit *adventurous* and head out to sea for the day! little did we know that the water would be as rough as it was AND little did we know that it would affect more than half of us the way it did!!! as we made our way 13 km off shore, no amount of gravol sustained our sea sickness. when it came time to fish and catch our lunch, the girls just sat there staring out to the horizon and holding our tummies, or barf bags in some cases. it was bad...even the master of the house was no match for the sea! the worst part of it all was that you couldn't do a thing about it...there was no where to go except overboard which wasn't an option! some however, endured the rough seas and did us proud. matt won the family wager for the first and most fish caught - bri won for the biggest fish caught. the fish were disappointingly smaller than expected but the most colourful fish i have ever seen! below is a pic of the poisonous scorpian fish...after what seemed to be a lifetime, we finally turned the boat around and slowly made our way back towards land. we found a secluded lagoon where we anchored for lunch. although we didn't feel much like eating, it surprisingly made us feel a wee bit better. it was suggested by the captain that we take the rubber dingy to shore for a coffee in hopes that the water will calm down in the interm. we were all over that idea as the thought of a taxi back far outweighed going back via sea!!! but in the end, we were troopers and we all boarded back onto the boat in order to see the coastal caves. in the summer months when the water is calmer, the crew actually takes the rubber dingy into the caves. unfortunately, this time we had to keep our distance and admire from afar. it was a great photo opp, take a look...

more tomorrow - stay tuned...