For our second and last full day in Lagos, were were up and at ’em and ready to call a Bolt for a ride out to the Ponto da Piedade. The ride out cost just €3.65, which seemed to be the base rate. Every rideshare we ordered, no matter how near or far, was €3.65.
The Ponto is the westernmost point of the Algarve, and is famous for its tall sandstone cliffs and rock formations. It features miles of wooden walkways and lookout points, as well as dirt trails you can take if so inclined. One source said there were 3.9 miles of trails in total, which seems about right.
There are also some pretty impressive staircases if you want to go down to some of the beaches.
It’s a very popular hiking spot, and it was a beautiful day for it. There’s also a lighthouse you can climb for a panoramic view, but I think our days of climbing multiple stairs just to get a slightly better view are behind us.
Especially since the scenery from where we stood was pretty stunning to begin with.
We spent the entire morning there, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It really is a must-see if you visit Lagos.
Another Bolt ride back to town, and we freshened up a bit before trying to catch lunch at the Portuguese restaurant we had missed the night before. It was called “Reyes” (Kings), and their symbol was two stylized King’s heads. It was clearly an old family-run establishment, and it did not disappoint.
I had the tuna steak covered with an onion cream sauce, while Rita (rather predictably) went with grilled salmon.
Completely stuffed, we spent the rest of the day wandering around town and seeing the sights, and settled for a light dinner of our leftover Indian food from the night before.
Our overall impression of Lagos? Well, we enjoyed the visit and it is a very pleasant town to walk around in. Plenty of restaurants of all types, and as always we love a place with a nice mercado with fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood. The people we met in the town were very friendly, and the weather in late March was perfect for us – highs in the mid to upper 60’s, which with the bright sunshine was great.
I can see how it would be attractive to many expats, but the bottom line is it was not really for us. Probably because we lived in a seaside resort in Ecuador for six years, so there was very much a sense of ‘been there, done that’. We felt like our three nights/two days was enough for us, and we were glad we decided to forego stopping at several of the Algarve beach towns, and instead go to Sevilla, Spain next.
We will be spending four days in Albufeira on the coast before we head to Lisbon, but that is to have a table in the Exhibition Hall and speak at the International Living conference there, so we will be mostly indoors during that stay and exhausted in the evenings.
But it was a pleasant and relaxing start to our 75 day odyssey. As we turned in for the night, we were mostly packed and ready for a leisurely breakfast the next morning before getting a short Bolt ride to the bus station to catch our 12:30pm bus to Sevilla, where we would arrive about 3:35pm local time and be ready to enjoy our first night in Spain.
What could possibly go wrong? (Hint: That was what we call “foreshadowing”)
You can find more pictures and videos of Lagos on the Travel Photos page.
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