PORTUGAL

Mon.8th/Wed10th October.
We set off early on Monday morning in the Smart car towards Gibraltar then turning at Los Barrios onto the Autovia to Jerez then onto Savilla using the sat-nav from the Winnebago to take us across the bridge at Savilla and on the road to Huelva above the border with Portugal.After four hours we crossed another spectacular bridge into Portugal.We then turned off the Autovia and dropped down into the small and very pretty town of “Villa Real de Santo Antonio” where we found a hotel in the centre of the town next to the shopping area and bars and restaurants;the Hotel Apolo was very reasonable and had its' own swimming pool just below our balcony.After refreshing ouselves and a light lunch we set off to check out two sites,the first one was terrible at Monte Gordo but the second one at Olhao was very good.Olhao is a very large fishing port below Faro and the site is just outside the town.As we looked around the site we met a couple,Frank and Rosemary who had a large RV and who were very helpful with all sorts of information and as they had been on the road all over Europe, they also gave us lots of advice on some of our technical problems,We exchanged our details and they were very interested in our 02 data card on the PC.They also do a lot of “Wild Camping” as they have solar panels on their roof and told us about their travels in Morroco and Sardinia.On Monday evening we went out for dinner in the old town which is traffic free and found the restaurant”O”Curacao do Marques” and had a beautiful meal of grilled sole.The weather was hot on Monday and very sunny and Tuesday was no different if not even hotter! We went down to Albufeira below Faro which was our hunting ground some 35 years ago when we first went to Portugal and met a loverly Portugese man Snr.Nunes who was the first person to sell his land to Charles Forte and from that the Algarve was started!! We found the site just a mile outside Albufeira and after touring around it met Peter Edwards who gave us lots of info.and pointed us over to a large RV on another spot-it turned out to be a “Georgetown” and was the same one that advised us about our brake problem after coming off the ferry,Gordan Jackson was out so we left him a postcard to say we called -its'a small world! We then found our way down to the old Square and front at Albufeira by the rock tunnel under the Hotel Solamar and had lunch overlooking the very busy beach.The spit-roasted chiken piri-piri had not changed but the rest of Albufeira has!! After some shopping in the “White Linen Shop” Brenda came out with some unusual baggy trousers and I acquired a white shirt but was not allowed to buy the matching trousers as I was told a looked like “King Faruke”!! We then went back along the coast road past Faro and then went down to Quarteira to look at a site,as we made our way down we came into what was once the small village of Almancil-its;changed -it is now a concrete town with strip joints-Snr Nunes will be turning in his grave!We went out for dinner to the same restaurant in Villa Real de Santo Antonio and had two superb Portugaise steak and eggs with fresh frits and the local red wine,Next day on Wednesday morrning we set off back to Spain but on the advise of Frank and Rosemary we headed for a site below Cadiz to check it out.We stopped in Cadiz for some tapas at the restaurant Arte Serrano which we had visited earlier in the year,its unbelievable as it has one of the largest selection of hot and cold tapas in Andulcia.The town of Conil de la Frontera is on the Atlantic coast and after a few false starts we found the site which is not in any guide books -we are going back in a couple of weeks to check it out properly.The drive along the coast road is very spectacular and passes the largest wind farm in Europe ,them we passed the beache's above Tarifa and saw the largest gathering of kite surfers taking part in a competion -What a sight!! We called into our local haunts to wet the spots on our way to our site were we caught up with some e-mails and started making plans for the visit of Carol and Chris next week.We have booked them into the Manilva Aparthotel which has just opened and is where Carlos now works.Sorry there are no pictures of our trip to Portugal due to a technical fault! Watch this space as we are going back with Vidal and Gissy shortly.