127. Travel // A Week in Portugal

Oh, it's good to be back in the UK, snuggled up in my cosy bed with a cup of tea and a slice of marmite on toast. I really do miss my home comforts whilst I'm away. 

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll know that I've just spent an absolutley perfect week in sunny Portugal. I thought I'd share a few of my holiday snaps and a quick run through of what S and I got up to whilst we were away. Warning: this post is very photo-heavy. 

We flew out from Newcastle International Airport, arriving at our gorgeous apartment (Quintas das Figueirinhas, near the fishing town of Armacao de Pera) at around 9.30pm. We quickly settled in, shared a bottle of wine and headed off to bed for a good nights rest, before our first 'proper day' in the Algarve.

We arose fairly early on our first morning and had a delicious continental breakfast, consisting of lots of bread, croissants, fruit and cold meats. Then we decided to take a dip in the pool which was freezing, I repeat: freezing, but lovely after a while. In the afternoon, we headed into town (taking full advantage of the free shuttle service on offer!) and had a wander along the promenade, taking in the scenery, checking out the local bars (I'd thoroughly recommend Pedro's - they do a mean Pina Colada and an awesome hot dog!) and dipping our toes in the sea. 

 

The next day, after our compulsory swim, read & stroll down the promenade, we decided it was time for lunch and we had the most amazing meal at a lovely fish restaurant called Bombordo, I opted for the tuna steak which was divine, whilst Shane had some weird big fish thing (I have no idea what it was...) and we were served a side dish of octopus which was... interesting... it was surprisingly nice actually, but very chewy! For dessert, we found a lovely little ice-cream parlour serving traditional gelato but in a huge variety of flavours, so I opted for one scoop of Kinder Bueno and one scoop of Ferrerro Rocher. My mouth is watering at the thought of it. Although it was a slightly cloudy day, it was still hot enough to relax at Pedro's with (yet another) cocktail and watch the world go by. 

On our third day, we decided to stay in the resort and have a bit of a lazy day. This consisted of me reading two books, messing about in the pool & sunbathing on our patio terrace. We were luckily just a minute away from the cafe, restaurant and bar, meaning that we didn't have to walk far for our next bottle (or two) of wine. 

It wasn't until the fourth day that we decided to walk down to our nearest beach which turned out to be an absolutely stunning cove beach, with the most incredible views and a lovely restaurant where I had a delicious vegetable tagliatelle. 

On the fifth day, we headed back down to the cove beach and swam around in the sea (which was even colder than the pool!) before sunbathing on the white, sandy beach for several hours and having a spot of lunch at a lovely restaurant on the beach, overlooking the rest of the holiday makers and the dazzling, blue seas. We also got to meet a little turtle, a huge snake and a massive lizard that day too - to say I was uncomfortable, would be a massive understatement!

Day six and I was suffering from some serious chaffing. Sorry, TMI I know, but my God it hurt like a b*tch. I didn't really want to go anywhere, so we just lazed about by the pool, finished off a couple more books, before deciding (it took S quite a while to persuade me...) that we'd take yet another wander down to the beach for a swim and sunbathe. We then had a delicious meal at the beach restaurant again, before heading back up to the resort for cocktails (I've lost count of the number of Pina Colada's and Sex On The Beach's I got through...) and a couple of games of pool.

We spent our final day on the resort, as we weren't leaving for the airport until after 5 o'clock. We treated ourselves to a tasty lunch and tried to soak up as much of the sun as we could, before heading back to Blighty. The resort staff were kind enough to let us keep our things in the apartment until 4 o'clock, which meant we were free to stroll around the resort, sunbathe in the gardens and relax on the patio, sipping ice cold lemonades, until we were ready to go. I finished off another book whilst S had a game of football with some of the kids who were on holiday.

To me, this holiday was perfect. S and I had agreed that we wanted a holiday where we did "nothing, except sunbathe, sleep and eat" and - to be honest - I think we were pretty darn close to that! It was a lovely holiday and I really enjoyed spending some quality time with S, without the distractions of daily life wearing us down. We were lucky that the weather averaged about 25 degrees throughout our stay, the resort and local area was stunning, and I've come home feeling thoroughly refreshed!

Now to plan our next holiday...