Whether the weather ...

Portuguese winter weather is variable, but gently so. It's never bitingly cold, but often cool, but when the sun shines, be prepared to strip off those layers! It's actually very amusing to observe the sight of Portuguese people, bundled up in winter coats and clothes while, at the same time, Brits are striding around in shorts and t-shirts.

Architecture, avenues and opportunities

The Portuguese way with buildings is simple and unpretentious although their use of paint and materials in their building can be interesting. A standard home in Portugal will be built of concrete floats for flooring with breezeblock walls, all rendered with a cement finish that is painted white.

Waiting in Godot's

One of the strange things about Luz is that although there are plenty of restaurants and pubs, there are few real bars open at this time of year. However, we discovered one that spoke to our needs at the time - Godot's. It's a bar that's just a stone's throw from the beach and it's owned by a couple of folk who have their roots quite evidently in music.

Over the cliffs to Lagos

Like any other coastal scene, the Algarve coastline features cliff-top walks that allow the rambler to visit all of the bays and beaches that line this beautiful strip of land. The crumbling sandstone cliffs near Luz are striped in multicoloured layers that delineate where the different ages of sediment were laid down over the millennia. And even these vary as you walk relatively short distances, so that on the trek from Luz to Lagos for example, the bright orange sandstone is capped with a rusty red stone that also forms the dusty pathways across the headlands.

Salema, Sagres and on to the Westernmost point in Europe

This Algarve coast is just sensational and trudging the coastal paths is a joy. Going further afield needs a car though and sticking to the back roads, hugging the coast and missing out the main routes is what it's about.


Our jaunt today took us westwards to the pretty seaside village of Salema which hugs the cliffs with houses seeming to hang precipitously over each other. Like much of the rest of Portugal, Salema was largely shut, although we found a beachside restaurant that was willing to serve us a coffee while we gazed at the sparkling sea. The road to Salema from Luz, through Burgau, is super - windy and precipitous in places, particularly where it dips down from one steep hillside to a creek which is crossed by a cobbled causeway. The new road that winds down the hillside is worth the whole drive. Then, once across the causeway, up steeply again to gain height before plunging down into Salema.

Understanding the Euro's value

The problem for any traveller from the UK in large tracts of Europe is that the Euro isn't ... well, it isn't the Pound. And we should be very thankful for that. Particularly, we should thank Gordon Brown who kept us out of the Euro, despite pressure from that nice Mr Blair and others to get us in there. How Brown must now look back with satisfaction at the battle won!

Heading out West

The gentle Algarve coast lends itself to calm holidays in the sun, sipping G&T, not forgetting the lemon, and watching the sun go down on a peaceful seascape. Head out west though and it's a slightly different matter.

The West coast is a wild and woolly place. Wild because of the wind - it blows constantly, straight off the Atlantic and unhindered by any land mass. Consequently, the waves are high, the trees bend in a prevailing wind stream and the locals huddle behind windbreaks.

Lemons for free

It's a simple thing, but lemons are soooo useful.  We put them in our drinks, we squeeze them for zing in our cooking, we beautify and detoxify ourselves with them ... and, in Portugal, they're practically free!

When there's a lemon tree outside your home you just help yourself. Better still, if it's in the car park, everyone can help themselves. And they just keep on producing, lemon after lemon after lemon. The only downside is that the ones on the lower branches get picked quickly because they are easier to reach.

Portugal's motorway tolls and how to master them

Travelling to Portugal by car or renting one when you get there? You need to know about the motorway tolls!

Tourists and travellers from the UK in Portugal were shocked to realise that the Portuguese government was levying a toll on all motorways in order to boost their coffers. Since all of the non-toll motorways had been built without toll plazas, the only way to collect money was through image recognition technology that reads number plates.