Not easy on the first look in Portugal
We decided to drive directly from Tarifa to Portugal. The Algarve called and we had so many pictures in our heads. Pictures of buses standing on cliffs, of people enjoying the insane sunsets and the endless expanse and solitude.
To be on the safe side, we had first chosen a campsite just behind the border in advance and then wanted to make a route along the Algarve from there. This place, however, was a shock. We wouldn’t even be able to endure a night here. Ok, what now? Unfortunately, we hadn’t thought of a plan B and now we had to improvise. The apps, which had always guided us very reliably to beautiful places up to this point, didn’t seem to have much to offer in this area and the attempt to find another campsite was possible, but a nice one, but seemed to be a gamble.
In addition to the campsites, the app offered us a few farms to stay in the area, maybe that would be worth a try. Standing somewhere in a field, sleeping in peace and continuing the next day. But the given coordinates and streets that were titled Unnamed Road sent us to the absolute off.
What a start!!
Last resort, a parking space at a small lagoon where you could spend the night.
Well, and what came next we didn’t expect and to anticipate a little something, now it’s going to be positive. We arrived at a small parking lot at a lagoon, there was already a camper and some cars next to a few fishermen’s huts.
Due to low tide, small fishing boats lay dry and you could apparently walk to the sea. Small lagoon taxis were on the horizon. Okay, that looked quite good. The parking lot emptied and we wanted to stay but re-park. At that moment, a man from his house approached us. Our first thought was, okay, that will probably be the announcement, we can’t stay here. But things turned out very differently. First there was a cheerful and long-unheard Moin (a typical northgerman slang) and secondly he offered us the sharing of his Wi-Fi and his shower. And if we needed anything else, we would just have to get in touch with him… Please, how awesome is that?
We couldn’t believe it, quickly recorded the password and then he disappeared with his partner to the pub on the corner. Completely perplexed, we parked the fat guy in such a way that we could look out of the back, out of bed, onto the water, made a few updates and just arrived. After dinner we heard a friendly “Hello Hamburg” and the question, do you feel like having a barbecue on the roof terrace?! So it became more incredible every hour. Don’t grill, but we like to get up to a beer. And there we sat. Two hours after arrival on this pitch, on a roof terrace with Arne and Lena. Drinking a beer at the end of the day, learned that Arne has been living here for twenty years, commutes to Berlin again and again due to work and Lena works in an architecture office in Berlin. A short time later flamingos flew over our heads. To be honest, we were overwhelmed. A day that seemed so complicated when it came to sleeping space became a little dream. Very happy we went to sleep, the next day we wanted to see if it was time to try our SUP board and we wanted to shower especially.
Yes, we have now bought a SUP – an inflatable – in Tarifa. Unfortunately we had to have it repaired there before, but now it was fine again and the lagoon was perfect for it. We started with the SUP towards the water and then had to find soberingly, the repair had caused a new little damage. Oh please not, a little blubber let the mood sink first, but since the air doesn’t escape soooo fast, we still drove. What fun and the perfect balance training for windsurfers.
In the afternoon we went on the search for the flamingos, who set up their quarters nearby and made our way to the next location somewhat unplanned.
But where? Furthermore, we had the feeling that some people say that being free is in Portugal the non plus ultra, the others say that standing free is forbidden in Portugal. We were unsettled and somehow wanted to find this place on the cliff.
Unfortunately, the search for a place to sleep went on similarly difficult, the campsites did not have the force, if they exist at all and pitches, well. The good mood and the day were coming to an end when we decided to drive to a pitch in Albufeira. Thank God we had called and were one of the last three campers to get a place there. Ok, parking space, only sun, no shade and actually almost everything costs extra.
Well, first be somewhere and find out why we have such a hard time, what the reason is. In the evening the plan was to go to the beach and eat fish if possible. And there it was, one of the small many dream beaches that there are in the Algarve. That and a magical fish restaurant reconciled for the moment, even though it was clear that we could not and did not want to stay here.
But it wasn’t time yet. Next we went to a campsite near the sea, near Sagres. So we were almost through with the south Algarve. This, our desired place had parking facilities in the valley and on the mountain, the actual access road too steep for our fat one, we were guided to the emergency exit, arrived a bit jerky then on the mountain and found a nice spot between trees, with space for the hammock.
EcoSalema was the name of the place and it had a shop with many organic products, a restaurant with fantastic organic dishes and everything was designed to be as sustainable as possible. Perfect!
But, again a place from which we did not easily get away to go shopping or explore the area. We seem to have a knack for these places. 🙂 So it was time again for a rental car (not quite as sustainable, we apologize for this). Booked, delivered, perfect.
