ADEU PORTUGAL

Bom Dia,
Finally in Portugal a few days on the Algarve at a place called Quarteira. Apart from a tasty shellfish plate and a nice pool at the campsite, there is not much to do.
A cycle to the harbour at nearby Vilamoura but this could really be anywhere.

Many thanks for my birthday wishes. The lack of a Nikon D3100 round the snout suggests this is not the Japanese lady, Deb. Think more likely Herr Juncker!

Enjoyed Portugal even though some of the prices were more than expected. Fuel was 20% more than in Spain, all motorways are tolls and in my experience the most expensive certainly in Europe. Public transport is more expensive than Manchester and only food and drink as far as tourists are concerned is cheap. But the people are very friendly to us and to each other. Quite formal on buses but strike up jolly conversations with each other rather than continual texting as in Spain or noses in books as in France. 

I feel a little sorry though for the last king of Portugal, Manuel 11. I'm sure growing up he dreamed of being dubbed 'the Great', 'the Magnificent', even 'the Terrible' would have been ok. But left with the epithet 'the Unfortunate' could only see him sadly portrayed by Charles Hawtrey in Carry  On Up The 

Tagus. 

My birthday was spent in Spain in the 'world famous' (not to us) El Rocio. It is an extraordinary place 

with roads of just sand

and alive mainly for 3 weeks of the year when there are pilgrimages where thousands of people visit the shrines and line the streets for processions. The rest of the year there are still plenty of visitors to see the church and its interior,

but the other reason for visiting is the National and Natural Parks which are home to many kinds of birds and the sadly elusive European Lynx.

The birds are great and we took a 4wd tour to explore some of the park. Storks, flamingoes, cranes and many birds of prey can all be seen.

And toucans! (Sorry wrong trip.)

And wild horses.

Sadly nothing too exotic for birthday lunch. A rich partridge pate being the best I could do. There are plenty of partridges in the parks. So we will start to head north through Spain to hopefully slightly cooler climes. It touched 37 degrees earlier and that is pretty hot! Thanks for reading and adios.

J&P