A terrific day in the Algarve

Today, the weather forecast was for a much better day than it has been lately.

So we were up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the weather. The crack of dawn in Portugal is around 9:00 AM. Around 9:30 we went up for breakfast. We go up because in this hotel, the lobby, bar, lounge and main restaurant is on the 5th level. Rooms are on levels 1 to 4 and the pool, other restaurant, lounge etc is on level 0. So we went up for breakfast.

The breakfast here that is included in the room rate is wonderful. Every thing you could imagine for breakfast except our type of coffee. There is expresso, cappucchino, white coffee and many others. So we purchased a jar of instant coffee and take that up with us. Not the best but better than the "on hand" stuff.

Around noon we walked to the beach area where there are lots of shops, restaurants, hills and narrow streets. We are finally able to travel away from the hotel without getting lost.

The 1st 2 pictures are from the scenic overlook just east of the place we were heading. In picture 1, you can see they have built an escalator to the top. It was not there 11 years ago. That is the only way we could have made it.

On our way to Fishermans Beach, we noticed there was a sand sculpture competition.
It's free to enter. Who could resist on a sunny day like today. Bonnie and I entered.
The gentleman in the middle is the one that we did.
The judging was later in the day, so we decided not to wait and headed for lunch.
We will find out the results tomorrow.

Over to the Cabana Fresca Restuarante for lunch.
We had something we hadn't had since the last time we were here.
Chicken Cataplana. It was excellent.
The picture below is the restaurant we had lunch at.

Back to the Sol e Mar and down to level 0 to sit in the comfy chairs and soak up the sun.
Sunset here is right around 6:00 PM, and I knew you all were waiting for the sunset pictures, so here they are. I would have included some earlier but the other days were completely overcast.
The 1st picture is from the beach area and the 2nd from our balcony.

Tomorrow is expected to another nice day. (sunny and a high of 17C)
We hope that is right.