Armacao De Pera

We spent two days, May 14-15, at the seaside town of Armacao de Pera, on Portugal's southern coast, the Algarve. From our perspective, there are two Armacao's: 1) the city of scores of higher rise condos and apartments, dotted with beachie trinket shoppes, cafes, gelato stands, restos, and so forth, stretching from the extensive beach back into the hills; and 2) the remnants of the fishing village the place was, presumably, some years ago. The camping aire is a huge sandy field owned by the futbol club of Armacao, actually the public parking lot for said beach. 100 RVs would not begin to fill it, though we have not seen more than 40 at a time. 24 hours of parking, which includes us RVs, is 1.50 euros. There are no amenities to speak of, but it is sunny, temps in the 70s mostly, and our solar panel gets the batteries to 100% by mid-afternoon daily. Life is good, especially if every now and then you can hole up to do nothing, and then rest.

Roundabout separating the parking lot from the town

Looking east; you can see the front rank of RVs in the lot, just
above the white building

Looking west from about the same spot; the beach is huge here,
long stretches, then cliffs and coves with more beaches...

Prices are attractive; I haven't seen coffee for 60 cents since
graduate school, the 70s

There is a gelato joint every hundred feet or so, but few
decorated so interestingly as this one; no Amorino's, alas

We're still wondering what Algarve cuisine with a Belgian
twist might be...frites with your fried sardines?

Haven't seen any of the sand sculpture for which
the place is known; but then we haven't looked
very hard

Mostly it's the fishing village remnant that is of interest

Always ask people holding sharp knives if it's OK to take a picture

Seagull feeding time

Flutterment