While I had fallen for the Algarve during our seven-day visit, it would be the Alentejo that won Heather’s heart. The region that sits just above the Algarve and covers the south up to the capital city of Lisbon is a jewel. The region is described as “Portugal the way it used to be “. The country’s largest region and agricultural heartland, its rolling hills are covered with cork trees, vineyards and olive groves (all of the olive oil, and most of the wine we found in restaurants so far was from the Alentejo). In spring the countryside is covered with wildflowers of all colors. Our drive from Lagos to the seaside town of Vila Nova de Milfontes took us from the southern coastline through the hill country, past lush pastures of horses, cattle, goats and sheep, to the rugged cliffs of the west coast, where isolated rocky coves bore the brunt of the Atlantic ocean. At a stop at Praia da Arrifana we watched a horde of surfers brave the chilly waters, staring down from the cliffs high above the beach; at Praia de Monte Clerigo a couple fisherman cast lines into the breaking waves along an otherwise deserted beach; above a cove outside Zambujeira do Mar, we stopped for lunch at O Sacas, a ramshackle restaurant at the end of a potholed road. The place was doing a brisk business as it sat astride the Fisherman’s Trail, one of Portugal’s long distance walking trails, a section of which we would walk the following day. We ordered a couple of seafood dishes specific to the region: fried cod finished with onions and served with the perfect fried potato chips, and a sea bass stew in tomato sauce with prawns and clams. While the grilled fish in the Algarve had been wonderful, this, to date, had been my favorite meal of all. To complete the meal we took our servers suggestion to try the house specialty dessert – a custard pie doused with a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon, drizzled with honey and topped with a preserved white plum, a specialty of the region. With regret, we dragged ourselves back to the car to complete the trip to Vila Nova de Milfontes, where we would stay for two nights.

An unforgettable meal – cod and sea bass stew

An unforgettable dessert

The section of the Fisherman’s Trail north from Vila Nova de Milfontes runs twelve miles to Porto Covo along flower-strewn cliffs. Our plan was to walk about halfway, then retrace our steps back to town. We couldn’t have asked for better walking weather: 65, sunny skies and a fresh breeze. After breakfast in our hotel room we set out for the walk, leaving town along a country lane bordered by wildflowers and passing through large grassy fields. We strode past a small cove with a handful of fishing boats bobbing at their moorings and hit the sandy trail that would follow the cliffs for the remainder of the walk. With the ocean to our left, we marveled at the profusion of blooms that colored the low-lying vegetation covering the clifftops. Red poppies; yellow, white and red sour figs; pale purple asters and a host of tiny white, yellow and blue flowers kept making us stop to take photos. At our turn-around point we plopped down just off the trail to rest, eat our packed lunch, and marvel at the views along the coast and out to sea. During the return walk we had to stop several times to empty the sand out of our shoes, but continued to marvel at the riot of colors along the cliff top. When we returned to town we headed down to a restaurant overlooking the river to dine on steamed clams and a platter of pork strips sauteed in olive oil and garlic.

There were so many beautiful views from the Fisherman’s Trail . . .

Wildflowers frame the view

From the Fisherman’s Trail

Clams, bread, wine, river view . . .

A bonus was the stork’s nest right outside our room in Vila Nova de MIlfontes

The Obidos castle and walls from our accommodation at Casa d’Obidos

The manor house

Obidos is listed as a “city of literature” – the tiny town has 14 bookstores, some doing double duty . . .

You don’t even need to break your stride to sample some local ginja.

The breakfast spread – for just the two of us – at Casa d’Obidos.

Did I mention the billiard parlor at Casa d’Obidos? Or the complimentary port wine?

From Obidos we would drive northeast to reach the Douro Valley, Portugals most famous wine region. I thought this area would fit nicely into this post, but I hadn’t a clue as to how the Douro would blow me away – and our four-day visit would deserve a post of it’s own.

It’s not easy getting from northwest Colorado to . . . just about anywhere, especially the southern coast of Portugal. After twenty-six hours of travel, with a stop in London, we arrived in Faro, the capital of the Algarve region, and bleary-eyed, we dragged ourselves out of our hotel room after checking in 7:00pm to stretch our legs by wandering along the town’s waterfront, eventually finding a seat at a table inside O Coreto, a welcoming cafe overlooking the towns marina. The servers were friendly, smiled at our feeble attempts at Portugeuse and insisted on using English to recommend some dishes and take our drink order. After a couple sips of cold and crisp white wine we began to come out of the travel ‘funk’ and started to feel human again. Then the platter of steamed clams, fried potatoes, salad and grilled bread arrived and we were invigorated. We were impressed by the delicious food and delectable wine and that set the table for our expectations of the important things to come – food and wine. A good nights sleep followed and we were ready for some sightseeing the following day. It doesn’t take long to see the main sights – the Arco da Vila (the arched entry to the old town), Igreja de Santa Maria (the 16th century cathedral that looms over the square of the same name), and the cobbled streets of the walled town, as well as another walk along the marina left us plenty of time to relax at the Olde Tavern with mugs of Sagres beer and glasses of white wine to wash down the chilled octopus salad and platter of leafy greens, veggies and local cheese. Another night of sleep got our internal clocks adjusted to local time and we were ready to pick up our rental car and head to the beach.

Our first Portuguese meal sets a high bar

Colorful tins of preserved fish (of all varieties) at a shop in Faro

Storks nesting above the Arco da Vila, Faros

Lagos, our home for the next five days, can get pretty busy during the high season. But in late April, we felt like we had the entire three-mile stretch of Maia Praia, the main beach across the Bensafrim River from town, all to ourselves. Just behind the beach a boardwalk traverses the dunes and provided the perfect opportunity for morning walks, easily reachable from our accommodation overlooking the sea. A handful of restaurants were nestled in the dunes, offering a bounty of fresh seafood, fantastic wine and cold beer. In town, along with the tourist crowds, were an endless array of restaurants, gelateria, gift shops and charming squares. A walk out to Ponta da Piedade, at the end of the peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic from Lagos town, provided plenty of viewpoints from which we admired the limestone pillars and cliffs that fronted the ocean. After the seven mile roundtrip we found a small pizza joint and feasted on southern Italian-style pizza, salad and wine. After strolling around the old town on another day we found a table at Adega da Marina, one of Lagos’ most famous fish houses, to dine on grilled sea bass and swordfish steaks. On evenings out at the beach we enjoyed stewed baby squids and grilled turbot at Quintal do Peixe and more grilled sea bass at Gaivota Branca. One day we drove west out of Lagos to Sagres on the southwestern tip of Portugal to visit the town and the lighthouse on Cabo Sao Vicente. In Sagres we couldn’t resist the smell of barbequed chicken over a charcoal fire and had an impromptu lunch before getting back in the car for a short drive to the seaside village of Salema. From the fishing village we walked a couple miles along the clifftops to Praia Boca do Rio before returning to town and finding the lovely little terrace of Olhos N Agua, right on the waterfront. It seemed wrong not to stop for a pitcher of sangria, munch on a bowl of olives and indulge in a starter of baked goat cheese topped with honey and toasted walnuts, followed by a bowl of linguine tossed with shrimp. And yes, it was all delicious. Everywhere we went we found fresh seafood at reasonable prices, friendly service and outstanding views. The Portuguese wines were lovely at prices that couldn’t be beat. Before I knew it Lagos had won me over.

There’s a lot of empty beach outside Lagos

The view over Maia Praia from our rental

The landscape at Ponte de Piedade

Looking back towards Salema while walking to Boca do Rio

Waterfront dining at Salema

All too soon our week on the Algarve was coming to a close. We loved the lack of crowds during the shoulder season, but would have loved for it to be just a bit warmer (temps hovered around the low-to-mid 60’s) and for the wind to have died off (there was a definite chill to the north winds that were blowing) so we could’ve enjoyed that uncrowded beach a bit more. Alas, as we loaded the rental car for our drive out to the wild western coast of the Alentejo region, the wind did die off and we departed under a cloudless sky. Hopefully that’ll hold out until we return for our final three nights in another week and a half. In between we’ll undertake a coastal walk in the Alentejo, visit a medieval hilltop village north of Lisbon and explore the Douro Valley before our return to the Algarve.

A pour of complementary port wine from a very large bottle into very small glasses following dinner at Gaivota Branca