Portugal

This year for Christmas I got a cheap package holiday to the south coast of Portugal. It was the low season and it was pretty quiet. It was an ok trip, but I was a bit ill, so that put a damper on things.

A good bit of my time was spent either asleep or huddled around the mini-fan heater in my rented apartment. The sickness itself really wasn't that bad; the worst part was the amount of snot that kept coming out of my face. I didn't even realize I was sick until I dropped my bag off in my room and was about to go out, but decided to lie down for a minute before going. When I was finally ready to leave my room, I had slept for 15 hours and snotted my way through a roll of toilet paper. Pretty gross, I know.

I made it out the second day for a couple of hours, but being awake was still not what I wanted to be. I had a bit of a headache and was either freezing cold or only slightly cold but sweating. I made it to a town called Silves for about an hour and a half. The town was considered the Moorish capital of Portugal and a major city between 6-800 years ago. To me, it just seemed depressing. Looking at the town, it seemed that about 20% of the properties were nice, 20% were for sale, 20% looked average, 20% of the properties were abandoned, and 20% looked like they were abandoned, but weren't.

The town itself couldn't have had a population of more than 5000, and all of that was on a single hill. Maybe I didn't read up enough on the history, but nothing I saw really struck me as a shining example of Moorish architecture and culture.

On Saturday morning I woke up and felt much better. In case you wanted to keep track, I had slept 30 of my 40 hours in Portugal thus far. Not a great way to see a new place, but on the bright side, I had the most amazing and vivid dreams. I think not having the option of a DVD collection and internet connection to fall back on allowed me to get a lot more rest than I normally would. Not that watching YouTube clips of Hot Rod is a bad thing, but at times I think entertainment is better (or more 'entertaining') than sleep, when usually, it is not.

I spent a few hours Saturday at the beach in Albuferia and then made a trip to Faro. The beach was nice. It was raining when I first got there, but it cleared up pretty quickly and while it was never quite sunny, it was a pleasant day. Another plus was that the beach was pretty deserted. I saw a few people here and there, but for the most part, it was just me watching the seagulls eat some pretty disgusting things coming out of the storm drains. Well, that, and walking along cliffs and rocks. I also realized how much of a love/hate relationship I have with the water. Being wet and cold are my least favorite things, but I love being next to the water. If I could figure out a way to stay warm and dry while swimming, I may become aquaman. Until then, I'll be happy to make trips to the seaside as often as I can, but will stop shy of getting in.

Faro was a cool old town. At least the old town was. Portugal has decriminalized drug useage, and it looked like there were some locals getting their Christmas fix right outside the tourist/historical area. A bit sketchy, but once inside the bubble of tourist generated revenue, there were a lot more police and no visible signs of drug use.

After and hour or so walking around looking at the old buildings, stray cats, and cobblestone streets, I headed back to the hotel.

The trip ended on a mostly empty plane followed by a long drive home from Newcastle. All in all not the most exciting trip, but I'm glad I got a chance to see a small part of Portugal.