The past two days have been really busy—touring from Portimão and Cádiz—so I have a lot of catching up to do. Like Tristram Shandy the more I write the farther behind I get.
Monday Dinner
• Citrus fruit cocktail—diced apple, orange slices, and one small piece of grapefruit
• Bell pepper and tomato bisque—spiced with cumin and coriander
• Grilled chicken breast with vegetables and potatoes—the chicken was beautifully grilled but coated with a little too much rosemary
• Burgundy cherry ice cream—one of my favorites
Monday Evening: Weather Warning from the Captain
The captain’s announcement that we may not be able to go ashore tomorrow in Portimão has everyone in a tizzy. There seems to be two issues: the Eurodam is too large to enter the port, and water traffic in the port area itself is limited to 5 mph. So we drop anchor outside the harbor and will have to make a 45-minute tender ride and debark on a tricky pontoon docked at shore. Secondly, the weather forecast calls for light rain, heavy winds, and sea swells. So the question of the day is: will I get ashore for my excursion in the morning?
Tuesday in Portimão: the question is answered
Good news—the sun is shining, the sea is calm, and the captain was just crying wolf (shark?)! Portimão is the second largest city on Portugal’s Algarve coast. All I can see is high rise hotels filling the horizon from west to east. In the summer Portimão is overrun by tourists from northern Europe (kind of like snowbirds in Tucson in the winter). But we’re off through the countryside to visit two smaller cities, Carvoiero and Lagos. Carvoiero is a small fishing village, now pretty much dedicated to the tourist trade, with a lovely beach; Lagos has a large pedestrians-only city center with tiled streets and Moorish-influenced architecture. It’s a place just for wandering through the narrow, curving streets, originally built as part of the protection against pirates. There is a light drizzle as we sail away from Portimão in the late afternoon, but otherwise the weather gods are being kind.
It’s me in Carvoiero
Three photos of Lagos
A note about pronunciation: Cádiz is pronounced with a stress on the first syllable (Ká-dith) and Lagos is a city in Africa. La-goosh (with the stress on the second syllable) is the city in Portugal.
After returning to the ship, I have a room service snack on my verandah: shrimp cocktail and French onion soup.
Tuesday Dinner
• Peppercorn-seared duck breast cut into thin slices with apple-celeriac slaw
• Garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Penne with fresh Roma tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and shallots
• Strawberry ice cream
That’s it for now. I will continue with Cádiz, the white villages, and the Strait of Gibraltar tomorrow.
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