The Algarve, Portugal

We woke up extremely early today. We had to catch the 7 am bus to Faro. This is the only way to Portugal and we did not want to miss it. We awoke to a startling phone message from Shay's mom, who was a few minutes away from hopping on a plane to come find us, after not hearing from us for a few days. The cause of her concern?

Dozens die as Spanish train derails in Galicia

I hadn't been updating the blog regularly, and she wasn't quite sure what city we were in. All she knew, was that we were in Spain and traveling by train. Her texts were actually the first we had heard about the horrific crash. We were extremely grateful to have made it through Spain without any issues, and were deeply saddened by the event.

We walked through the eerie morning streets of Sevilla, flagged down a taxi, and made it to the bus station in no time. 

We had purchased our tickets online, but wanted to check in and see if we needed a printed receipt to board the train. The bus company, Daibus, wasn't opened when we got there, so we waited in line. The lady eventually took our confirmation number, and printed us a receipt, which was good, because the bus driver in the terminal required it. We lined up for the bus and got seats together.

Crazy big pterodactyl nests

"I sleep everywhere!!"

The bus stopped at one rest stop along the way, and we made it to Faro in about 3 hours. We took a taxi from the bus station to the airport where we would be picking up our car from Europcar. We got our car and drove directly to our hotel near Albufeira. Hotel Velamar had a nice outdoor pool parking, was walking distance to the beach and included continental breakfast. When we got to the hotel, it was 10 am, and check in was after noon, so we ate lunch in the car, and hung out at the pool for a bit.

Our room was nice, we had two twins pushed together, and a view of the pool.

Pool view

 We decided to head to the beach, which we could walk to. We stopped in at a market for some snacks and drinks, then down a long street that had a staircase that led down to the beach. Beautiful. I think the beach is called Praia Maria Luisa. We walked down two streets to get here, down a long staircase, and onto the powdery soft caramel sand.

Beautiful clean turquoise water!

Which way is the beach?

Free canopy beds! Or at least no one asked us to pay for them...

We walked back to the hotel, and cleaned up for dinner. We weren't up for Portuguese food, as we had had our fill of fish cooked in butter and boiled potatoes last year in the Azores, so we opted to eat at a delicious Indian restaurant, next door called Tiffany's. Very tasty, flavourful food, and nice staff. We were too tired to do much else today, and wanted a full beach day for tomorrow, so we returned home and packed up, getting our beach bags ready to explore more of the Algarve tomorrow.

Seville, Spain -day 2

We did some more exploring today. We strolled around town, and sat at some cafes drinking coffee and reading. We made our way to the Seville Cathedral, which we learned was the largest Gothic building in the world and the third-largest church in Europe (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London), and was built in the late 1400's. We hadn't really explored any churches on this trip, so we thought we would give this one a go. This is also the apparent location of the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Prepare yourself for many pictures of this unbelievable building.

Several city blocks long.

Several city blocks wide

Several stories high

Inside the church there was the tower, there was a garden with orange trees, and vast areas for worship and prayer, including tomb-like diaramas.

View of Sevilla from the tower

Overlooking the orange tree orchard

Climbing down the tower steps

The alleged tomb of Christopher Columbus

The largest pipe organ I have ever seen in my life

In the Orange Orchard

 Oh those crazy Moors!

A little concerned about their choices in souvenirs...

Outside the cathedral -Medieval Times type castle

After some more strolling, we headed back to the flat to make dinner. We had to be up early to catch the bus to Portugal! The streets are draped in canopies to add a little bit of shelter from the scorching sun, It is typically 38-42 degrees here. It is a very dry heat. The patios have mist sprays to keep you cool while you eat. But it wasn't unbearable, as long as you had a hat and water.

The drapes provide shade, making it possible to come out during the day!

Flamenco dress shops on every corner