Alcalar Dolmen

We were driving toward Sagres and thinking about spending a night or two there, as we had in 2010, when, west of Lagos, we saw a sign for the Alcalar Dolmen. We almost always follow such signs, even when, as in this case, we know nothing about the monument. There is much of megalithic interest in Portugal, and the sites seem much better identified and presented than on our previous visit. Alcalar turned out to be a late neolithic/chalcolithic complex, and the one tomb open for viewing was another tholos/beehive tomb, such as we saw near Antequera.

A complex of quite a few sites

All this in the little museum, with a video; larger displays in
the museum at Lagos, which administers the Alcalar sites

Out in the field now; obviously this is a classroom for
education about megalithic life (a school bus pulled up as we
were leaving)

Tumulus

And in English too

Neolithic classroom

Entrance

As we'll see shortly, there is a central chamber
with two side chambers; not huge, but corballed,
tholos-style; I did not go inside...it was a close
fit, and bees were buzzing about inside...the nerve!
bees in a beehive tomb!

Another site

Trying my hands/shoulders at megalith building; I think I might
have been more of a supervisory type...

Well, it was a medium-lith

Explaining the limestone kiln, which I am not sure was neolithic

It was relatively huge, however

Non-neolithic hacienda nearby; we wondered how the discovery
of nearby megalithic centers affects real estate values

Looking down into the tholos tomb...you can just barely make
out the corballing...

Cliffs Of Armacao De Pera

West of the beaches at Armacao de Pera are alternating cliffs and coves, and a trail system links these for several miles. Before leaving the area on May 16th, we had a nice walk along the trail, enjoying views of the coast, the sea, the cliffs, the beaches. It's the Atlantic now, not the Mediterranean, but Portugal's southern coast seems far less wild than its western coast.

A last look around the camping aire at Armacao de Pera.

Among the little coves, this one pretty well developed; others
less so

Out on a little point, a chapel

Big but less populated beach

The rock is mostly sandstone, I think, and cave-ins do happen

Serious fishing going on here

In a farther cove

Floatsam, jetsam

Vicki exercising her free-climbing skills

Looking back to the beach and fishing village at Armacao

Tractor pulling one of the fishing boats into the water

Neat place

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

Olhao Market

The writings of fellow Euro-campers led us to believe that the Saturday market in Olhao, Portugal, on the Algarve coast, was one of Europe's best. And so we drove on to Olhao, where we provisioned up, got ridiculously cheap Vodafone simcards, and found a pretty nice resort/campground that charged a whole €7.60 a night for us and our rig. The weather was splendid, life good. Next morning, we were on the 8:25AM Olhao Circuito bus--probably the youngest people on the bus--en route to the harbor-side market, forgetting that, on the Iberian peninsula, lots of market stands are still setting up at 9:30AM. The market was not all that great, although it was was certainly in the top 100 we have seen in Europe.  We returned to the campground and spent the rest of the day blogging, reading, resting.

The setting, at the marina, was nice

Snail break! Half the stands were selling snails, most often in
large bags

At the fry bread stand, this couple is making churros and fartusas

Here, unloading a whole skewer of fartusas fresh from the vat of boiling oil; of
course we had to try a fartusa, which, still dripping oil, is bathed in the sugar
bin (lower right) for a few minutes, then served in a paper napkin, also dripping,
etc. This comprised both 2nd breakfast and elevenses for both of us

Harbor scene, with well-fed birds

The fish market was of interest

Enough squid ink to print a newspaper

Something we have not seen before...conchs, with the conch
snails inside; some of these puppies were a foot long

Rays

More squid

Very large fish

Still writhing

Artfully presented sardines

And ever more shells