August 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Camera mem card is full with no internet station in site…

The trip to Spain from Albufeira has been a hot one. It’s 37 C here and humid today. Only the ghetto-train went to the border…you know, the one with no A/C that stops at every single station along the way while the sun roasts the big rusty metal toaster of a train like it’s an oven.

There is no information anywhere about how to get to Spain from the final train station in Portugal. Trick is to hike in the baking sun about 1 km to the ferry station, take the ferry 15 minutes across the river, then walk another mile to the bus station in Spain. No signs describe any of this, yet it seems like people must do it all the time. I was part of a 5-person group that managed to make the trek without getting too lost.
The Let’s Go book was useless for tips on doing this.

2.5 hrs to Seville!
……….

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August 29, 2006 by zankbennett.

Leaving Albufeira. Had a great time there. The pictures probably will speak more than words. For everyone I’ve met over the last few days, the pictures will be up as soon as I get to a place with a proper computer: this post is being written on a Blackberry so I can’t do anything with the pics.

Sun night…the show went well at Al’Face. Great acoustics in the room made it even easier. Played about 15 songs, split over 2 sets. Very nice people there. The pictures and video shot by James came out well. Will be posted soon.
After the show, we went with some friends to the Kareoke bar downtown. Good times…of course, true to form, pulled out a little George Michael. Hilarious! Pics are classic. Later, walking around and running into familiar faces kept is out until about 5 am, and of course sleeping wasn’t an option until about 8 am! Up at 4:30 pm. That’s about the time I’d been used to at home in CA, with the time change, so it’s not as extreme as it sounds.

Yesterday - Monday - entertained the idea of continuing the journey to Sevilla, but it was not to be, and we booked another night at our ocean-view place. By then we’d discovered how to get up to the 5th-floor terrace with full sweeping views of the town and ocean. Sunset up there was amazing…pics coming.

Last night, played another, shorter set at Al’Face. Good, but not quite as good as the night before. Met a few more people and went to the amazing Caipirinha bar for the best I’ve ever had. It takes so long to make each one that the wait could be > 30 minutes.
Called it an early night and went to bed by 2:30.

More soon…and pictures!

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August 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

learning Dutch!

James borrowing sunglasses…

Night on the balcony

Our favorite waitress…who´s that IDIOT with the closed eyes!?
 
Me and James

What happens when a guy goes to the bathroom and girls grab the camera…!

 
My first one of these in years…great stuff!

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August 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

Arrived in the Algarve:
Took the train from Sintra to Albufeira without a hitch.  Stopped at the train station in Lisbon to retrieve my big bag and guitar from the lockers there where I´d left it.  Had three hours to kill waiting for the train, so I walked a block to the coast of the Atlantic and played some guitar and sat out under the sun and watched the boats go by and even managed a late-morning nap.  Not at all a stressful way to start the day.

The train to Albufeira.  With the addition of a Portuguese phone card, I had made arrangements for an ocean-view cottage and a pick up at the train station.  Once there, I met James, a cook and traveller who had left Canada to come here to do a sailboat delivery back to north-eastern Canada.  He was looking for a place, and I had booked something outside my budget, so it was perfect.  We´ve been doing the day to day here, which consists of going to the beach in the afternoons, going for a swim then getting into town in the evenings for the chaos that is Albufeira night-life.  The town at night reminds me entirely of Mykonos, Greece.   Narrow alleyways twist through the pedestrian part of the town and connect the main square to lots of shops-bars-restaurants and eventually lead to the ªtunnelª to the beach.
The sangria here is amazing and everyone makes it fresh when ordered.  People in general are friendly.  The people-watching is a good 9 out of 10, especially in the later hours. I´m likely the whitest person on the continent!
James, Jessica, me.

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August 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

Thanks to the advice of JR, the latter part of today was all about Sintra, the tiny town surrounded by hills just a short train ride West of Lisbon…in theory anyway!

Got into town and eventually found a nice hotel up the hill from the center of the old town. It’s an old spanish-style villa from another time. The window in my room opens like shutters do, and yes, it even has shutters on the inside to keep the morning light out.
From the hotel it’s a decent hike up to the two sites well worth seeing. They are: The Pena Palace and The Moorish Castle. They are a hilly, 20-min walk from each other, but the sights along the way make it worth it. There are a series of lakes between the two that make for picturesque hiking, complete with horse-drawn carriages and swans and geese. It was windy as could be at the top, so it was a good day to avoid the beaches. The pictures should be more telling, but at present it’s impossible to post them.
The Moorish Castle had a wall on the north side resembling a shortened version of the Great Wall of China. Beautiful and quite rugged. The path along parts of it was only about 18 inches wide with 30 foot drops to one side. In america there certainly would have been ropes and danger signs and the like. It’s nice that they let you figure all that out on your own here…I guess as long as no one falls off the edge!

More tomorrow from the train to the southern coast…reserved a room for there nights in … Well I can’t remember and am too tired to reach over and grab the book

Bon noite!

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