Arcos 21st October 2019

Monday, 21st October 2019

Today we went to Jerez to do a bit of shopping,

We decided to go to a different shopping centre than where we have been before. This centre has a massive car parking area, and when we were there, there was not a real lot of cars about. We start at the Karting place, which not only has an outdoor track, but an indoor one aswell. Then we stroll past the other shops in this block, consisting of home decorating, kitchens, a jump park,and Alcampo. Then we go over to the other cluster of retail shops, and it seems like it is a Discount retail outlet, with many branded shops. Addadis, Nike, C&A Decathlon, and all manner of stores, from footwear to clothing, and the usual food court.
This complex also has an Ikea included in it. So we decide to had  lunch break there. Then we continue walking the complex, with more of the same. After we have completed the circut, we head back over to where we are going to do our shopping, and all is completed.
We did walk a lot of steps today 

Tuesday,22nd October 2019

Quiet day today. 

Wednesday, 23rd October 2019

Today, Bob has decided we will trip around the country side looking at Castles in the area.
First place we go to is a place called Algar, it is bout a 20 min drive away. We see the ruins on the way into the village, and it is typical of the area, with small streets. So we find somewhere to park the car, and explore the surrounding area. We have parked near to the town square, and there is the Council office, a church, with a huge stork nest ontop of it, and a bar. All the essentials one needs for such a place.
We continue to walk about and go up a steep street, and look out at the surrounding country side. Then we retrace our steps, and go the other way and find the town mall. It is amazing, that no matter the size of the town/village or city, they all have a mall. This one predominately housed Bars, and as we were looking for a light lunch, it appeared that none of these places did food through the day. One could imagine just how busy this little place gets in the evenings though, as is the custom here. Everybody seems to go to the bars in the evening.
One our walk, we did find and admire a set of steps leading to somewhere, but they were very pretty, with a handrail up the middle and pots of flowers on both sides of the steps. The joining buildings were painted in the usual white and mustard colours. Algar is a white town, with its white washed walls and tan or red roofs.
So we go about as far as we can and head back to the car, to find somewhere else, that we can have some lunch at.
The next stop is called Olvera.
Olvera has a popultion of 8 549 and there are some that believe it existed at the end of the 3rd centuray BC
It has  a very impressive view, from the distance, as you can see the castle from some distance away, then it hides behind the hills, until you are much closer. We wind up the road to this town, and after following the road we are on, turn around as, it is taking us out of the township. So we follow the direction of where the castle is, and wind up the standard small road, only to find, there is no parking, and going back down, takes us the long way from where we have come from, but we might have missed a turn or two. Anyhow we find somewhere to park the car, and venture into what appears to be the heart of the place. Again we have the mandatory small streets, and inclines, as this place is built on a mountain, but it is all good for our fittness. We get to where we were before in the car, and go to the bar, that appears to be not so busy from the outside, but once inside, there is only one spare table. Mind you, it is only a small bar, but it will do. We order our food and beers and enjoy the moment.
We exit the bar, and head to the Church that is up the hill further, and there are a number of steps to climb to get to it. Once there, the view is great, and for a small fee, you can go inside admire the interior of this building.
We leave the church, and buy our admission ticket to go up to the castle, and the weather is starting to turn a little bit wet, but we still venture on. Again, as you can imagine, there are more steps, and steep ones, but it is all worth it. The views are awesome, and we can see the rain showers rolling in, and it is getting a little windy. I take a few photos, all the while holding on to my phone for dear life, because if it goes over the side, there is no getting it back. The wind unsettles me a bit, as I also have a scarf, trying to fly away too. We then go the extra bit, and clinb the small, spiral stairwell, to get right to the top. The steps are not even wide enough to put a full foot on them, and I wonder how the knights and fighting men got themselves up these steps when under attack. Bob assures me, the men were not as tall or as big as our modern day version. Again a couple of snaps are taken, and he head back down as a heavier rain shower appears to be heading out way. We did however bring with us an umbrella, and I have my shower proof coat on. We shelter in one of the lower levels for a while, and then make our way back down to where we came from. The beauty about this place is it was not very busy, well not on this day anyhow.
So we make our desent from the top of the castle, back down to the church, and the ticket office, and included in the ticket was entrance into the Museum. We took a quick look about, as all the detail was in Spanish, so we   then back to the car. On the way back to the car, a guy in a light truck, was trying to get up a street, and he must not have had a lot of tread on his tyres, as he got to a certain point and with the wet cobble stone road, he had not enough grip and could go no further. He tried and tried and tried, but to no avail. Me, my main concern was to get past as quick as I could, as if he slipped one way or the other, I did't want to be there. The traffic was lining up behind him, and eventually he must have gotten over enough to one side to let the cars behind him get past.  

All in all a great day, and now we head back to Arcos, as day is done.

Thursday, 24th October 2019

Washing day, and not much more is done. I do some more of my needle work 

Friday, 25th October 2019

Have had an amazing day. The day started with a tour of the Toi Pepe winery in Jerez.
We were to get there around 20 mins early, as we had to pick up tickets, and the tour started at 12. We left Arcos around 10ish, and arrived in Jerez 30 mins later. Knowing we were a little early, we drove about, headed in the general direction of where the tour was to take place. Finding the required place, we managed to get a park, nice and close to where we were going to, so that was a bonus. But, the real added bonus was that we found another part of Jerez, that we didn't know about. This appeared to be the older part of the city. There was a very large church, near to us, and some other historical things appeared to be close aswell. We also noticed, that the hop on hop off bus stop was at this very same spot. So we wondered around the immediaate area, and checked out the stonework on the church, and took the pics, that said we were here. Then we headed towards the ticket office to get our tickets, which opened at 11.30. So now we wait for 12 so the tour can start, and our guide presents herself , and we follow her to take in the tour of the winery. We learnt much during this tour, like, Sherry's don't need to be underground in cellars. They are stored in Bodegas, and also, Sherry should be served chilled. Our guide was very passionate about this and  that we totally understood what she was telling us. We were taken by a little train around the winery, and into the diffent stages of the aging process, and it was also explained about the yeast the grows on the wine, and how it eats the sugar out of the wine. We were shown the oldest grape vine they have, which is over 100 years old, and then we strolled down Ciegos Street within the winery, and is one of the prettiest tunnels which is covered with vines in spring, and gets posted over a million times on instagram every year alone. It was indeed very beautiful. We get to the tasting part of the tour, and we are given four wines to taste, of which three I liked, but of the three, two were more favorable, as they were sweeter. So with the tour all but finished, the only thing left to do was to go to te gift shop and check it out. While there, we were given the option to taste their Brandy that they make, and also the Whiskey. I did  like the Brandy, and after all the wine and spirit samples I was feeling the slight effect of it. We made a purchase, and decided to leave it there, so we could go on the hop on hop off bus, and then collect it after we had completed the bus tour of the city of which they told us it would be at the front office.
So off we go to find the ticket office for the bus, purchase the required tickets  and get something to eat, and fill in time until the bus arrives. It arrives, and once again, the bus is not to full, and the day is great for being upstairs, so that is where we go. It was great to see the old part of Jerez, and the new aswell. Once we got back to our drop off point, we get to the car and I head inside Tio Pepe to retrieve our purchase from earlier.  So Igo to where I thought the front office wasm and no  wine purchase there, but the man behind the counter takes me to  gift shop and I make enquires about our purchase, and another man tells me it is at the security office at the front. Hmmm, ok So he directs me to the security office, but assures me he will ring the security and tell him I am coming to pick up the said item. When I get there, I ask about the items I have to pick up in the name of Hockey, and he tells me there is nothing there, and I need to go to the front, but just as I walk outside thte gate, the phone rings and I hear the name Hockey mentioned, and hover and then return to the security man. He shows me all the items that are awaiting to be collected, and I see ours, and pick it up and make my way to the car.
We are headed back to Arcos, after a very enjoyable day.

Saturday, 26th October 2019

We didn't do a real lot today, although we did go for a walk back to the old part of town, as I wanted to get a gift for my  daughter. We meander and mill around, and I make a purchase. We walk on and witness some very finely dressed people standing outside the church, and figure that there must have been a wedding taking place. We walk on some more, as Bob is intrigued as to where the street goes. We walk and walk and walk some more, with the road starting to go downhill, we stop and to make some calculations of what we should do. A decision is made to turn around and go back the way we came. Once we get back to the busy hub of the old town, we select a resturant to grab some lunch. The area is very busy, and it seems to be a day for bikers to be out and about, as there are a couple of groups of them gathered around tables, enjoying the day.
Eventually we get back to our unit, and call it a day.

Sunday, 27th October 2019

A decision is made today, that we go for a drive to check out the triangle of the Sherry growing districts. The triangle is an area within Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria, of which these cities form the vertices. First we travel to Sanlucar de Barrameda, a distance of 65 kms. Then we go onto El Puerto de Santa Maria, a distance of 23 kms. So this is the main area of the sherry growing grapes. Anything produced outside this area, isn't able to be called a sherry. As you can imagine, there are lots of grave vines, and also olive trees. El Puerto de Santa Maria is on the coast line, and we happen to get to the marina, which is blocked off for some reason. We drive through the tiny streets, and come across what appears to be the centre of the town, as there is lots of eating places. Once we escape the narrow streets, we take ourselves back to Arcos, and again the day is done.

Arcos de la Frontera 14th October 2019

Monday, 14th October 2019

Quiet day in,
I get a message to say my glasses are ready to be picked up, so this works well, as we will be in Jerez tomorrow.

Tuesday, 15th October 2019

Today is quite an exciting day for me. We are going to see the Andalusion Horse show in Jerez. This is something that I never would have dreamed of going too. Because for those who know me well, know I have a severe allergy to horses, in particular grey horses. As a child, I spent  good few nights in hospital due to asthma attacks, and some of them were from getting to close to horses. And my sister will tell you, that we had to leave a circus early because I started to get wheezy.  Even now, if I am around someone who has been on a horse, and they come close to me, eventually, I start sneezing and wheezing. So to attend this event, I have made sure I have got and taken some allergy tablets, taken my preventer asthma medication, and have my ventolin puffer with me.  The show is 90 mins long, and I do not want to miss a minute of it.
We travel to Jerez, again a 30 min drive, and the show starts at 12, but we have to be there about 15mins early, and because of our ticket bookings we have to be there before then to pick up the tickets. We arrive in Jerez around 9am, and find the area where the horse show takes place. We eventually park, probably not where we are allowed too, but it is only going to be for a short time and find where the ticket office is. We have to wait untill 9.30, as that is when the ticket office opens. There are three horse and carriages at the enterance, waiting for customers, their drivers are busy polishing the brass on the carriages, and brushing the horses down.
We get our tickets, and then head of to the shopping center to get my glasses.
By the time this is done, we decide to go back to the Horse show and fill in time there, as there is a coffee shop and gift shop that we can spend time in and also walk around the gardens surrounding the arena. After I explore the gift shop, and have a cuppa, I walk around the garden, and watch some of the horses getting warmed up for the show.  At the required time, we find our seats and wait for the show to start. The arena fills up, but is not full, and the show begins. It is translated in 4 different languages, well the start of it is, and we are told that photos are prohibited. But that doesn't stop some, with Bob daring to be caught, and the lady beside me also catchinng the odd pic, and she did get some good shots. This presentation was absolutely wonderful, and I got a little overwhelmed, that I was here, out of all the people I know, some of them horsey people, and it is little old me here, the girl from Roma, with a huge allergy to horses. Watching the horses doing their dancing and prancing and balancing was wonderful, and their riders were also good. The riders were mainly men, but there were a coulple of women performing aswell. Needless to say I made it through the show with only having to use my puffer once, but I could feel the allergies simmering beneath the surface so to speak. Bob really enjoyed the show also. A truely magical experience.
So now we are on route for our next leg of the journey for the next few days. We head off to Tarifa, which is a trip of 120kms, or an hour and a half.
We arrive, and there are lots of wind surfers on the beach. Tarifa is a coastal town, from which there is a ferry that leaves to go over to Tanger, Morocco. We follow directions via the gps to where our accommodation is, and cannot find it at all. She tells us to go down roads that are only one way, and then we hit a unsealed road, as we miss a turn, and the road gets narrower and narrower. Eventually we turn around, and head back the way we came, and find a park that is close to where the said abode is and walk about eventually finding it. We make a call to the host and she tells us someone will be there in 15 mins, and so we wait, and wait. The place we are at has only a front door and not much more can been seen, so we are getting this unnerving feeling of what have we booked here. Anyhow after some time, another couple arrive and make a call, and they are told the same time. Eventually a woman arrives and lets us in, and once we get inside it is a huge relief, as the interior is totally different to the outside appearance. We are checked in, and shown to our room, which totally blows us away, so much better than we were expecting. There is a resturant which apparently gets very busy. So after we settle in, we decide to go into Algecias because I need to get some credit for my phone. This is only a 20 min trip but on the way, we stop off at a lookout, and take in the views. It is truely astounding, and Bob has an overwheming moment, when he realizes that Africa is just there. We can see a large rocky mountain, and all the buildings on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, and the straights of Gibralter, one of the busiest water ways of the world. He is really quite rocked by this. We get back into the car after the photo shots, and just around the corner is The Rock of Gibralter. Again, Bob is overwhelmed. His head is in the clouds and spinning.
We get into Algecias, and locate somewhere to park the car, that is close to where the Orange shop is supposed to be. However, once again, the information we have is not up to date, as there is no Orange shop there, so we do another search, and find another one a little distance away, but close enough to walk. On our way we find a site of archeology of which there are ancient ruins being uncovered.
We get to the vicinity to where the Orange shop is, and we have two optioins, 1, we see if we can get credit from the phone shop near to us, or 2, go and find the Orange shop. We opt for option 1, and get some credit. We explore the immediate area, and come across the Orange shop, and we ask if they sell a sim card for mobile wifi, of which we are told in Spanish, no, this shop doesn't. Thats ok, we are not in need of it right now.
We head back to the car and back to Tarifa, and to our acccommodation, which incidently has parking available, which is a huge bonus. We enter the resturant, and are told all the tables are booked and there are 2 ahead of us waiting. We decide to wait, and have a drink at the bar, which is also very busy, with only two spare seats available. We are shown to a table in round 20 mins and enjoy a lovely meal, and then retire to our room.

Wednesday, 16th October 2019

Today is filled with excitement, nervousness, and anxiety. We are boarding the ferrry to Morocco, so the usual nerves abound, as we have to go through customs, and security scanners. Our ferry leaves at 11am, so we walk down to the ferry terminal, and fortunately for us, we secured an extra day parking at the place where we were staying, so that gives us peice of mind that the car will be safe, and we don't have to hunt for parking close to the ferry. The walk is only a 5 mins walk, and we have time, so we meander around the little streets checking what is about. We get to the terminal with time to spare, go to the ticket box, check in, and head to the next point. Security. We place our bags, which is just a back pack that Bob has, and a hand bag for me, and our hats on the scanner conveyer, and pass through the people scanner, and collect our belongings on the other side. Next we line up at the customs to get our passports checked, and although  I know everything is ok, there is still that nervousness of what if......... We pass through, get our passport stamped and are given a white peice of paper that is to be filled out before we get off the ferry on the other side. So we board the ferry, and go upstairs, following the rest of the folks, and when we get onto the deck, there is a huge line up, and we are not sure why. We wait for  a little while, but decide to get a seat, and then investigate what the line up is for. After some time, I find out, it is customs for getting into Tanger. Bob and I wait for a while to watch when the line gets smaller, and it does't appear to be growing any less, anytime soon. Eventually, after it gets to a reasonable size, I go and wait for my turn, after I have filled in my white peice of paper. When I get to the window, the man takes the paper and passport and stamps it, and I am all done.  By this time, Morocco is getting closer, so Bob now goes up, and waits in line, and gets his passport stamped. So we are set to go to Morocco.
We disembark from the ferry and line up again for the Customs man who is checking the passports as we exit. He is a very serious man, and looks over the passports and lets us pass. We did however, see some people pulled over to the side, and it appeared that they were not allowed to enter, and were put back on the Ferry.
We continue to follow the crowd, and eventually get through the terminal, but not without being hassled by guys trying to get us to join their tour or questioning us about where we came from and how long we were here for. Apparently, it isn't always a good thing to reply to these people when they ask you questions, as they just won't let up. We are told to keep an eye on our pockets, and personal effects, and that is just what we are going to do. Now, I thought that was bad enough, but when we get right outside the terminal, we are bombarded with men offering their taxi service, or their bus. We keep walking and trying to ignore these people, but they just don't give up. It is a way of life for them, and the only way of making a living they can have. Fortunately for us, we had a plan, which was to get the hop on hop off bus to look about the city, and find a stop that is closest to where our motel is. The ticket sales office was just outside the terminal gates, and  the lady behind the counter spoke some english,  so we secured a couple of tickets, and waited for the bus to arrive. I must admit, that I was glad to get out of the terminal, as the hasslers would walk beside you, even after you said no. And at one point one guy said to Bob not to raise his hand at him, and this was after Bob turned him down, and was just waving him off. It is unnerving to be somewhere, where you are not sure of the customs, and regulations, even more so for the women. While waiting for the bus it is of interest to watch the taxi drivers and their cars, which are mostely blue in colour and of various condtions. Some are very dented and dirty, and some not quite as bad. They are all small cars, mostly Dacias of various ages.
Our tour bus arrives and we go upstairs to view Tanger from atop.
It is a little bewildering to be in  a country where women are tradionally covered from head to foot with clothing apart from the face, everything else was covered, even gloves on hands. One part of the bus tour took us past the beaches of Tanger, but there we noone on them, and i guess, when you think about it, the women are not allowed to dress in beach wear like other beaches. But this is Africa, and it is what it is. It was a most unusual sight though to see the families that were there, the woman was dressed as usual from head to foot covered, not a sight that we have seen very much. One the beaches there are camel rides, and some horse rides, but as we are on a hop on hop off bus, and the stop is not near to where the rides are, we continue onwards.
With the first route completed, we wait for the next bus to leave, which is parked waiting for the right time to leave. This trip takes us into the old part of the city. And what an amazing tour. Not for the sights, but the streets that the bus passes. We go down small streets, that are only just wide enough for the bus to pass through, and that was with guidence from passerbyers. We travel right though market streets, where there are all manner of things to be bought. Fish in the fish markets,  complete with flies, that are right next door to the spice traders. An interesting aromic experience. Then there are fresh fruit and vegies, materials and rugs, shoes and all the usual suspects. At this stage, I am not sure I would go down this market, as there is  a noticable absence of women.   
Bob has worked out roughly where out stop is that is closest to our motel,  so we go around the loop once, and then go around again until stop six, and then we hop off. Now unfortunately, we have no phone service, and no way of finding exactly where the place is.  We start to look for an Orange shop, and we find one. Bob obtains  Morocco sim for his phone and also asks if the lady knew where the motel is that we are searching for. This woman spoke good english, and was able to give us enough directions for us to work out where we had to go. We leave and thank her, and find somewhere to  have a coffee, and a chance to regather, and forge a plan. At this point I am extremely aware of the place of women in this culture, and again notice there are no women in the cafe that we have selected, and also in the previous one we looked in. However the waitstaff bid us welcome, and my concerns are lessened. We leave the cafe, and head along the street. After some time, we find the street we need to go down, and at the end of it, is the motel we have booked in for the night. It is a welcome site, and looks very flash. We check in, and get shown to our room by a staff member, who explains where the breakfast room is and pointing out the Piano bar. Once in our room, we check it out, and have a great view of a beautiful pool, of which the seagulls are enjoying. We rest for a while, and then head down to the resturant for a evening meal. Our waiter was very attentive, and the food was good. There appeared to be a good variety of nationalities dining, and next to us was a couple of Australians.
Sleep will be welcome tonight.

Thursday, 17th October, 2019

We start the day with the hotel breakfast, and then go for a wander down the markets that we can see from the dining room. We appear to be a little early for some of the stall holders, although there are lots of fruit and vegie stands operating. We explore the market place, and venture down little streets. We return to our room, aas check out is not until 12, we rest for a while, then pack up our gear, such as it is, and check out of the Hotel, the Grand hotel Villa De France.
So now we go back to where we were yesterday and wander about the busy streets, and watching the people, and traffic of the day. Our plan is to fill in time, until the hop on hop off bus comes around in which we will get on board, and then get of at the terminal drop off. So we look at shops and there are lots of Jewellery shops and clothing shops, not to mention the cafe and tapas bars. Eventualy we end up at the cafe where we were yesterday and have some lunch and a coffee, which was very good. After we have finished eating, we make our way to where we believe the bus should be arriving at some point in time. We wait, and wait. We watch city buses come and go, and observe how the taxis are haled, to which some stop and some don't even if they have passengers already, they will accept another person. Our ferry doesn't leave until 4 and we really need to get the bus by at least 2-215, in order to get us through the required check points to get onto the Ferry. After waiting for about 45 mins, we decide to bite the bit, and walk to the terminal, which is approximately a 20 min walk. On our journey back to the Ferry terminal we manage to find ourselves in the market that the bus went through yesterday, and we walk through tem, taking in the wares and smells that abound. One place I stopped at that caught my eye was a shop selling all sorts of brightly coloured biscuits. On closer inspection, the biscuits looked nice until I saw all the flies crawling all over them, so needless to say, not that I was tempted, there was no sale made. On our way down the market, we have to get out of the way of the hop on hop off bus as it make it's way up the street. We pass many different venders, and notice there are a lot of silver teapots or coffee pots. We stop at a shop, and look at the variety that there are, and make a selection and a purchase. It was good to go through the market, and experience something different. We stopped at another shop that was selling rugs, and lots of fabics, and I could have made a couple of purchases there also, but one has to think of how to get items home, and I was mainly just looking.  Onwards we continue, and as we move on, I notice there is a vast array of earthen ware and ceramic on a lower level. We find the entrance, and I go in to look about, and was in awe of all the things there. Once again, the same problem, how to get home with it, lol. While down there another lady started talking to me, as she had just arrived herself, but her luggage hadn't made it yet, so she was questioning me about the markets. I must have been taking a little while longer as Bob appeared as he was waiting on the outside.
So this time when we get moving again, there is no more stops until we get to the terminal.
We go through customs with our bags, as is the usual routine, and then through the customs, and get the stamp in our passport and wait for the ferry to allow us to board. We timed it very well, as just after we got through, the crowd gathered to get through the official points. We board the Ferry and this time there is no line up for customs on this trip. Bonus.
We get to the other side and again disembark, and go through the official stuff, showing passports, and then we make our way up to where we are staying the night. This is at the same place we were in on Tuesday night. We get checked in, and settle for the evening. Our Morocco adventure is done and dusted. I am very glad we went over there, even though I was a bit anxious about it all, but it was well worth the experience.

Friday, 18th October 2019

We start our day with the hotel breakfast spread, and then check out of our accommodation. This has been a lovely  place, and Tarifa is a beautiful place. 
Once we get our car out of the parking spot,  and we return the gate key, we now make our way to Gibralter, a journey of 44 kms or 50mins. Again we stop at the look out, but we are unable to see much, as there is a lot of cloud about, but still the view is remarkable. Onwards we go to Gibralter, which is an English territory, but is still connected to Spain. Our gps guides us to where we want to go, and we get in a line that has a sign above it stating vehicles with customs clearance and those that don't. So we hop in the line that don't have customs clearance, and are unsure as to what to expect. So I get the passports out at the ready, and as we progress in the line, it appears that passports of being checked but customs. Most vehicles are waved straight through, but as we are in a vehicle with French registration, we are asked for our passports, and then waved through. We are at Gibralter. Again, never would I have imagined that I would be here. We drive about, looking at the traffic, and noticing the registrtion on the vehicle. Most had the letters GBZ, and there was a lot of traffic. We follow where most of the traffic is headed to, then we turn off, and follow signs to the cable car, and keep on going. We manage to drive all the way around the rock. We even went through it via a tunnel.
After this we leave Gibralter, and head to Conil de la Frontera, as Bob has a chiro appointment tonight at 9pm in a neighbouring place called Chiclana de la Frontera. This is a 1 hr 40 mins trip, a distance of 126 kms. We arrive at our hotel and check in. This motel is on the outskirts of the town, so after a little while we take a drive to survey the surrounding town. We manage to find a park and take a walk around the town. Again I need to find an Orange shop as my phone credit has run out again. We find the required shop, and the lady is able to help us, and we explain that I not long ago put credit on it, so she looks into it, and explains that anything less than 20 euros will just get consumed. So I top up and Bob does also. Then we go and find some fruit to have for dinner back at the room, and we head back.
Bob goes to his appointment, and I stay behind and read.
The Chiropractor is not exactly what Bob needed, as he only used the hammer thing, and using stretching stratagies. So we are still in need of a chiropractor.

Saturday, 19th October 2019.

We check out of our room after we have breakfast, and try to find the post office, as Bob has discovered that he still has the keys from the room we stayed in on Thursday night. We find the said post office, and after some use of mobile phones and translation, the keys are sent back to their owners. It is wonderful that technology can help with the language barriers that once used to be.
We head back to Arcos, and spend the rest of the day just relaxing from the previous adventures we have had.

Sunday, 20th October 2019.

A day of washing and not and not much more.                                                                                                     

Arcos de la Fronteria 7th October

Monday,7th October 2019

We decide to walk the old part of the town today. Once again the weather is perfect, even though the temp says  30 and 31 degrees, it is still very pleasant to walk about the township. We wander about, headed in the vague direction of the Ancient part of town, and we find an optometrist, as Bob has been wanting to get some prescription sunglasses made up for when he is driving. Previous to this Bob has made a couple of phone calls to other optometists, but they don't seem to speak the same language we do. We go inside, and are attended to by a man who has limited English, but with patience and determination, we manage to understand each other, and get the message across of what is desired. The man looks at Bob reading glasses, and determines what the prescription is that he needs for his long distance sight. At this point we then hit a bit of a barrier, and the man says that his collegue speaks better English will help us further when he is finished with the people he is serving.  While we wait, this man takes bob over to decide which sort of frames he would like and a decision is made. Then the other genteman comes over and finalizes everything and tells us the glasses  will be here at the end of the week, or on monday of next week as Bob is getting his sunglasses polorized, it will take a little longer. This works for us, so a deposit is made, and we leave the shop. Bob tells me that the glasses are fairly cheap compared to Australian prices. So this is a bonus. We continue on our way up the narrow streets, and pass lots of eating places. The streets keep getting narrower, and I think that it is only for people to walk on now, but no, I was wrong. There is the occassional car that journeys past us, even though there is just enough room for the car only, as any pedistrains have to eaither find a door way to get into or squash themselves against the wall as the car goes by. And looking at the buildings round, they are residendents, so I guess they drive here all the time.
We have some lunch and continue on our merry way, and  get to the sandstone castle, which is owned privately, so access to it is not possible. At one end of the outlook there is a man with Birds of Prey, that one could get a picture with if they so chose, alas we did not, although I did wander over to have a look at the birds. There were a couple of species of owls and hawks and a Rapture.
 The old town, was declared a National historic-artistic monument in 1962 due to its impressive location and architecture. The  church and the buildings around this area are built on a sheer cliff face, which has an amazing view of the land all around. At every corner turn there is a cafe or resturant, and eventually there is a car park for the vehicles that travel up. We did read in the house literture that it is best to walk up. And that seems to have been good advice, as the car park was full. We wander into the half dozen gift and ceramic shops that are situated up here, and admire some of the things that are for sale. One shop had their own artwork and ceramics, with the daughter and son making most of the things there. It was wonderful looking at these items, and one could spend a great deal of money here, as it would be all athentic, and not made anywhere else.
We get to the point where we have to turn around because if we go ahead further, it is a lot of steps and probably a long way back to where we have to be. We notice that some of the cafes have closed, and the further we get back into the town center, a lot of shops have closed and will reopen again at 5. It is very different business hours here in Spain. 
 

Tuesday, 8th October 2019

This morning was relaxing, and very quite. Just before lunch time, Bob decided we would go for a drive to the shops. I just presumed he meant to the ones here in Arcos, as we needed a few food items. So I didn't bother to change or do much of anything else. Only when we we are in the car and headed out of town, did I question him as to where we were going. He said to the shops in Jerez. Hmmm ok. It got us both out of the house and the place was bigger than Arcos, so why not.
We get to Jerez, and I decide on a shopping centre to go to, but as we were on route to this one, we passed another one that seemed to be quite large. So we decided that this one would be good enough. It even had its own car park, which was a bonus. Once inside this place, it is just one huge store, but with individual brand names being sold. Much like a David Jones I guess. We wandered around just looking, and I found a postal place, so I was going to post  a couple of post cards I had been carrying around for some time in my bag. There was a bit of a line up, so I decided to come back later. Bob and I then went and had some lunch, and continued to look about, but after I had been to the postal place. You see, I had post cards from Portugal, that I had stamped, but didn't get around to posting before I left Portugal. This meant, that was I going to have to put new stamps on them and post them, but the young man behind the counter said it was ok and he put them in the mail. All this with no English being spoken, plus I bought 5 international stamps too.
So we wander about some more, and I note that there is an Optical place, and I have been looking for a glasses holder that I had seen sometime before that was magnetic, but didn't get it at the time, so hence, I was trying to find the same sort of thing, but no luck so far. We go into the shop, and Bob suggests I get my eyes tested, as at the moment I use just magnifing glasses for my readinng and needle work. He tells me how much better it will be with proper glasses. Previously, I had been to the optometerist back home and they said my +1 glasses were ok. So I make an appointment for 30 mins later. Agian, all done with limited languges. We fill in time looking around this shopping place, then go back to get my eyes checked.  End result, is I still need glasses for reading which I already knew, but with a bit of a nudge, I order some glasses. Bobs glasses that he is getting worked out cheap, so he said, and mine, I am not sure about, as I have never priced it all out. So now I have to wait for a few days for them to get in.

Wednesday,  9th October 2019

This morning was a quite morning, with not a lot done. I did a little needle work, and some relaxing. Just before lunch time we get ourselves together, as we are going to go to the lake that is here, and have a picnic lunch there. So we get our food stuffs together in an esky, add a couple of drinks and we are set.
We can see the lake, but getting there is not as easy as one would think, it's a bit like just follow your nose and you will get there, and we did.
The lake has a beach of sand, with a couple of table and chairs set up with beach type umberella covers over them, but instead of fabric, it is a straw covering, and there are lots of them with out tables. All set up for people to laze under while relaxing and enjoying the day. There were a few people around, but mostly taking their dogs for a walk. We had our lunch there, and watched the fish in the water close to the edge.
We pack up our things and then go for a drive, not sure where too, but end up in a little place not far away, but it is nestled at the beginning of the mountains that we can see in the distance from Arcos. Then back home.

Thursday, 10th October 2019

Today is planned out. We want to go to the French Consulate re our French Visa, and Bob has a Chiropractor appointment at 12.
We are going to Seville, as Bob has made an appointment with a chiropractor to get his regular adjustments done. So we travel for an hour to Seville, and I happen to check up on the French Consulate, ie where it is and office hours, and how far away it is from where we have to go for Bobs appointment. The Consulate is only open from 9am to  1pm  daily. So we need to make a decision as to which is more important, and the choice is made to go to the consulate first. We arrive at the said destination, only to find it is a no entry street, only for residents. So we think we will go around the block and see if we can find a park somewhere. Well, around the block is not possible, and we take the said directions given to us by Karen,( gps) and arrive at the same place, only to find the parking is limited hours. So we chance it, and park the car and walk into where the Consulate is. There are many people about, as there are Gardens around that are historic, and we arrive at our said point of interest, only to find it doesn't appear to be there. Bob has a look at my phone, as this is what we have been using to get us to where we are at this time. After he walks about a bit, and then enters a shop, as to enquire where the consulate is, only to be told that it used to be here, but are no longer there. Welllll. Someone needs to update informatioin online. So by this stage, Bob has already messaged his said chiropractor to say he will be late. So now we head back to the car to find the Chiropractor. Driving is Seville is one of the most difficult cities we have driven through so far. There are directioins that say to bear right or left, and then some you have to turn right or left, and quite often it is the same thing, although on the road it is very different as there are two or three options. You have to have one eye on  the road, and one on the gps. Anyhow, after a couple of missed turns and uncertainty, we get to the vacinity of where this guy is supposed to be. We are advised by our gps that " You have reached your destination" and we look intensly for the signage for the Chiro and also looking for a park. As I have mentioned before, parking is very difficult for those who don't know the area, and we drive onwards looking and serching for anything that is remotely possible to park in. But alas, we couldn't find such a thing, so we decide to not bother and head into the centre of Seville. We find a parking station, and a park is found easily, as a car leaves just as we arrive. Bingo.
We go upstairs and look about to see where we are, and Bob takes bearings of where we are, so we can come back easily. We walk along the street, watching the traffic and the horses and carriages past us by. I comment we should go in a carriage to look about, to at least make our day a little worth while. We get to the bull ring, which I mentioned in a post a week ago, as it being the second oldest Bull Ring. Our direction changes, as it is lunch time and we head away from the bustling street of traffic and head down a street in search of a quiet place to have lunch. One is found, and we make our selection and watch the world pass. After we have eaten, we head back to the main road.
When we get to the place were a few horses and carriages are parked we decide to select one and go for a tour around the sights. It is a lovely way to see things, with the rythum of the hores hooves on the road, at a nice gentle pace. This is the first time Bob has been in a horse and carriage, so he tells me. We pass by some of the sights, and go into the palace gardens, stopping a couple of times so our horse can have a drink at the designated points. Our driver tells us what things are, but his English is not so good, so we show our interest anyhow. The tour goes for about 45 mins, and it meanders through some small streets where no cars go. It was very nice.
We get back to our point and thank our driver and horse, and go on our merry away again back to our car. So, the day was not exactly as we had planned, but, it wasn't to bad.

Friday, 11th October 2019

Not exactly a very busy day today, but we did venture out in the afternoon for a walk. Bobs sunglasses arrived today, so we picked them up on our walk. He is pleased with them. All good.

Saturday, 12th October 2019

Today, we went to Cadiz, a city that is  70 kms away from Arcos.
When we arrive in the city, we look for some parking for the car, and the place seems to be somewhat busy, so we pull into the first public car park we find, and circle about the lot, to no avail, so we go through the boomgate, and collect our ticket. This parking appears to be for the Trian station, but we will take what we can, so we find  spot and  exit the car. We head into the train station to have a look inside, and we find trains, and also a city sightseeing information booth, so we make a bee line to there after a pit stop. We get the required information, and tickets and head outside to explore this city that is over 3000 years old. We were given directions to where one of the walking tours leaves from, as this is included in our ticket purchases, and we decide this would be an interesting thing to do, as it is only an hour tour. While we wait for the departure time, there is a puppet show running and it is quite interesting. There are 7 puppets working electrically, and the main male puppet, is being operated by the owner. Anyhow the time arrives for us to leave on our tour, and the guide talks in two languages, Spanish and English. We wander down little streets, and as always marvel at the narrow streets, and how the cars get down them. We see a couple of old churches, which you wouldn't know they were there.We go into a Cistern, that was used by Monks and Nuns in the past, and we are told, that the city of Cadiz, has still got so much history to be uncovered, but it is difficult to find, as it is all determined by who owns what. Be it private, Government, or some other enterprise, so there are many archaeological finds waiting to be discovered here.
 After our tour finished, we walked to where we thought the hop on hop off bus stop was, that was closest to us. After some time waiting and checking out the surrounding area for other places the stop might be, the bus eventually arrived. As it was a perfect day weather wise, we elected to go  and sit upstairs, and watche and listene to the city of Cadiz and its history. This place has a few nice beaches, and again is a city that has got some of the original stone wall. After our tour finishes, we needed to get some lunch, so we head to where the people are, and find a nice quiet cafe, called the Monkey Cafe. We ordered a toasted sandwich and I told Bob, I would just have a white coffee. When our food came, it was good. This man that was making the coffees took a lot of pride in his work as we watched him making other coffee orders, it was great to observe. As I was eating my food, my coffee arrived, and it was not just a white coffee, but it had four layers. It looked amazing. But not olny that, it tasted wonderful. It had condensed milk on the bottom, followed by Baileys, then coffee, then whipped cream. I am definately going to try and recreate this when I get home.   

 

After we have finished consuming our lunch, we wander around for awhile, as we are filling in a bit of time, because, we are going to do the other walking tour , of the Old part of the town.This tour is an hour and a half. We gather ourselves at the designated departure point, and we have the same tour guide as we had in the morning. We again wander through tiny streets, and see important historical buildinng, that are tucked away out of the main area, and one would never know the importance of them, if you were strolling about doing  your own thing. An interesting fact, was that when the wars were finished, Cadiz had many cannons left over, so the cannons were used to protect the building edges, by placing them on the corners of buildings as they were built. 

Our tour finishes, and instead of retracing our steps, we all catch the hop on hopp off bus back to tour point one.

We now head back to our car, and try to validate our ticket, and we can't seem to find where to do this, so we head for the boom gate, and nothing happens when we present the ticket, only telling us of the amount that is owed, and there is no card or money accepting thing at this point. So we pull a park and Bob goes to investigate, and eventually asks and gets the ticket validated and fees paid, we head out, present the ticket, and we are out of there. 

It has been an interesting day, and we have achieved many steps today. 

Sunday, 13th October 2019

Not a lot happened today, just a quiet sunday.    

Spain, 30thSeptember

Monday, 30th September 2019

We leave Portimao this morning, headed for Seville Spain. I have really enjoyed our time in Portugal. I found it so vibrant, and friendly and in parts of the countryside, a lot like Australia. Our journey today is a 2 and a half hour trip, but we have a stop we are going to make along the way. We plan to go to a Cork tour to see how it all produced. I noticed on the way to Portimao, what I thought was Cork trees, so it will be interesting to learn more about it. I have always liked cork, but never knew how versitile it is. After an hours traveling we arrive at Novacortica, Sao Bras de Alportel, and timed it perfectly, as the tour is about to start. The tour is an hour and a half long, and we learn so very much about the product, and how it is harvested. They can't harvest the bark from the Cork Oak tree for 25 years, and then only after that every 9 years. It is an amazing tree, and when harvesting is happening, the harvesters are not allowed to damage the tree in any way. The tree can live up to 300 years old, and because of the way the bark is harvested is how they can continue to keep getting the cork from it. It is a product that is fully sustainable, and yet the tree is not knocked over or cut down for its product. We are told about the difference in Corks for wines and Champaines and why. There is nothing that goes to waste with the cork that is harvested. Not only is Cork a great floor covering, it is also used in building for soundproofing, and can be used for insulation. There was so much informatioin, and in the reception area of ​​the office, where was a lounge covered in Cork fabric. Both Bob and I learnt so very much from this tour,
We continue on our trip, and when we cross the Portugal boarder, we loose an hour. We stop at a road side fuel stop and fill the car, and then ourselves. This part of Spain appears to be very dry, and reminds me of our own country and how dry it is out there.
We arrive in Seville, and after a few wrong turns and corrections we get to our next nights accommodation. Bob is still unwell, and I have done the drive today. Driving in these different cities, the roads are so very different to back home, and when the gps tells your to go left or right, and you look at the street, you wonder if it is even a street. And then sometimes, there are roundabouts, that are not on the gps, and sometimes you have to take the second left or second right, which can be quite confusing. But we muddle through.
Bob is not up to eating tonight, so I wonder down to the resturant, and have a lovely meal, and thankfully one of the wait staff is able to speak some English. Right next to the Resturant, is a stadium, with a running track and some atheletics things, as well as a grassed oval in the middle. It seems that this might be used for some events, as there is a lot of seating. Makes for an interesting view.

Tuesday, 1st October 2019

Wow, can you believe it is October already. Next it will be Christmas before we know it.
After a breakfast in the Hotel resturant, of which Bob particaites in, we head into the City of Seville. Our plan for this moring is to catch the hop on hop off bus, and maybe a cruise on the river. And once again after a couple of wrong turns, with me at the wheel, we get to a car park and set about exploring Seville with what time we have. We go to what we think is a shopping mall, but everything is shut. We are too early, as most shops don't open until 10am. But we do do find one shop open, the tourist information place. We get the tickets for the cruise on the river, and also information and directions for the Hop on Hop off bus. The river cruise doesn't leave until an hours time, and we have a 15 min walk to there it leaves from. We stroll along the riverside, observing the houses on the other side, and looking at the statues, and sculptures that are on our way. There are a multitude of poeple riding bikes or jogging or walking also. When we get close to our destination, we decide to take the Hop on hop off bus tour while we wait for the cruise, and besides the cruise leaves every 30 mins or so. Again we arrive at the right time to catch the bus, and we get onboard and head upstairs. The weather is perfect yet again. The bus tour was good, and there was so much colorful things to see, and many historic buildings. The tour was a couple of hours, and very enjoyable. When we get back to where we started from, we ask which boat is the one we need to be on, and we have fluked it again and arrive just a few minutes before it is due to depart. So we join the line up and board the boat, choosing to sit upstairs again. Looking at the seating onboard, we can assume that there will be no high speeds today, as all the chairs are green plastic ones that are not attached to anything. The cruise is an hour long, and is very relaxing sitting and listening to the audio telling the history of certain buildings and bridges. Seville, has quite some history, ranging from the Romans, the Arabs, Moorish, Gypsies, to name a few. A good few photos were taken this morning, and as we end our boat cruise, we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. as all the chairs are green plastic ones that are not attached to anything. The cruise is an hour long, and is very relaxing sitting and listening to the audio telling the history of certain buildings and bridges. Seville, has quite some history, ranging from the Romans, the Arabs, Moorish, Gypsies, to name a few. A good few photos were taken this morning, and as we end our boat cruise, we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. as all the chairs are green plastic ones that are not attached to anything. The cruise is an hour long, and is very relaxing sitting and listening to the audio telling the history of certain buildings and bridges. Seville, has quite some history, ranging from the Romans, the Arabs, Moorish, Gypsies, to name a few. A good few photos were taken this morning, and as we end our boat cruise, we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. and is very relaxing sitting and listening to the audio telling the history of certain buildings and bridges. Seville, has quite some history, ranging from the Romans, the Arabs, Moorish, Gypsies, to name a few. A good few photos were taken this morning, and as we end our boat cruise, we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. and is very relaxing sitting and listening to the audio telling the history of certain buildings and bridges. Seville, has quite some history, ranging from the Romans, the Arabs, Moorish, Gypsies, to name a few. A good few photos were taken this morning, and as we end our boat cruise, we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them. we disembark and make our way back to where the car is parked. We pass the Second oldest bull fighting ring, but do not go in, as we will more than likely come back to have a look at this and a few other buildings in Seville. There are also a couple of horse and carriages doing tours too. How wonderful it would be to go in one of them.
We have lunch at McDonalds, which is close to where the car park is, then find the car and leave Seville for Arcos De la Frontera. This is a trip of around 1 hour and 20 mins. We cross the country, looking at the vast difference in soil types. and how very dry it is. There is Cotton growing in paddocks, and some that has been harvested. It seems that there is alot of farming happening, as there is much land that has been tilled and plowed, and waiting for a bit of moisture to plant what ever the next crop is that they grow around here.
We are journeying through the country side, and look at what appears to be a castle on top of a hill, and then not 10 mins later we round the hill and a white town appears out of nowhere. The castle was part of the town, but one would never suspect it was there from the other side. We arrive at our next accommodation around 4pm and park the car to find exaclty where it is. We find the residence, and again we are shown around but the hosts grandmother, who does'nt speak or understand any English, and we don't understand much of what she is telling us. But we nod our heads and smile and hope its at the right times. This is to be our home for the next 30 days.
The town is built in and around hills and once again is very white. We take only essentials inside for the moment, and then settle in and explore what is about this unit. Bob is still not a 100% tonight, so it is a scratch dinner for us, which is good. I get to use up some of the last of the vegetables that we have.
  
Wednseday, 2nd October 2019

Today, is a quite day. We just chill out for part of the morning, and go for a walk about to see what is in our immediate vicinity. We walk up to a hill, which has a Cementary on it. We walk past it, as most of the cementaries over here are closed up and have high concrete walls around them. We have a look at what surrounds us, and see the city and it beauty of the old and the new blending in together. The stark white of all the buildings embedded against the landscape. Arcos de la Frontera is built in a valley as well as the hillside. It is very interesting to view. We find a small grocery shop near to us and get  a few things, and also finding a bar/resturant  that is handy to us aswell. We come back to the Bar and have a quite drink and a meal, although dephicering what is on the menu is a bit tricky, but we get something that feeds us.  


Thursday, 3rd October 2019

Quiet day today, In the afternoon we went and found a shopping area to get some food supplies, and found a couple of other little shops that were about. Driving about this place is very interesting, as the streets are up and down hills, and with some of the down bits, there is roundabouts at the bottom of them. It is going to be a great place for us to get a little fitter if we walk around the streets here. 

Friday, 4th October 2019

Not much done today, although with these few quiet days we have had, I have managed to complete my tapistry cushion cover that I was working on. Now to send it back to Australia so it can wait for me to get home and complete the rest of it. 
The weather here has been great so far, with clear sunny days. I did some washing today and actually had a clothes line to hang it out on. It was ontop of the building, but it was good to get the clothes out in the sunshine. 
In the afternoon we went for a walk up the street and up another street, which were all up hill, so this was good. The even better part is the coming back down the hill. We did stop however at the local bar near to us and had a quite drink to refresh us.  

Saturday, 5th October 2019

A quiet day today. We explored a bit more around the town on foot. We managed to get a little misplaced as to where the unit was when we were coming back, but it turned out ok, cause we did find it again. Bonus is, we walked a good distance, which is helping us to get fitter what with the up hills and down hills. We walked up the bottom end of the street we are in, and it is a real killer, and Bob mentioned to me, that he wasn't going to walk up this end of the street, but in this case he had no option but to do so. 

Sunday, 6th October 2019

Today we went into Jerez, to venture a look about this place. Jerez is about 30 mins away from Arcos de la Fronteria. Jerez has the Royal Andalusian School of Equistrian Art and I am wanting to go and see a show at some point while we are in the area. We drove about this city, as it has a population of 213000, and like a lot of towns and centres here, they have a lot of history.  It also is a Capital of Motorcycles, so we found out. 
We found a park and walked about heading to a cafe for a bit of lunch. We had just finished eating when this lady with her little dashound came and was about to sit next to us, and she said something, in which i replied to her, and she said, " oh your english", and we comfirmed her statement and then she listened  more to us, and said "your Australian" and we confirmed again. I invited her to sit with us, as it was starting to get a little crowded at the cafe, and we engaged in conversation about the area, and where she was from. She was from Ireland, and had been in Jerez for 18mths, but previously before that she was in Portugal. We learned much about her, but she was able to give us the heads up on some things around here, including where to sit when we go to the Horse show. After some timeshe gave me her email, and suggested that we catch up when we are back in Jerez, and we could have a coffee somewhere. So after that, we headed back to the car, and headed back to our accommodation.  

Portugal

Monday, 23rd September 2019

Bob  has made appointments to go and see the Chiropactor that we met on the train on saturday. We catch the train to where he practices from and after we leave the train station, it is a short walk to his chiropractic center, and we both get our backs adjusted. Things go clunck and click into place without to much pain, and after some more talking we are on our way again to catch the train to Cascais, which is the next stop after Estoril. Again our Aussie man Adam, gives us the heads up on what is good and where to go in Cascais. 

Once off the train, we head off in the directions that Adam has suggested and  get and set our bearings for where we have to come back to. McDonalds is the setting we use, but we do not eat there. We head of down one of the streets, and as it is well and truely lunch time, we start looking for a place to eat. We spot an Indian Resturant, and decide that is what we will have. The great thing about the Resturants over here, not only do they have seating inside, but outside also. So you can sit and watch the world pass by. We sit outside, and order our food and a beer, all very enjoyable. 

We walk aimlessly down the little cobbled patterned streets which are bright and unusual.

The streets are busy with foot traffic, and the usual hopeful shops selling their wares to the tourist. I stop in at one of these shops to check out the range of Cork products that are for sale. From  hats and caps to purses and wallets, back packs to bookmarks and a lot of things in between. I am amazed at what cork is make into. We walk further on, and look out over the ocean, and the little beaches that are around, filled with people taking in the sun, or taking the hoilday snap, or trying to get the great photo with the best possible pose sitting on rocks. It certainly is a lovely place. We head back to our bearing point, and walk down another little street, with much the same things as the other one, and wak on a bit further taking us past some more lovely beaches, and outlooks over the ocean, which has ships waiting to go into port. Once again we go back to our center point and work out what we are going to do to get back to Estoril. It is only 2.3 kms away so we can either take the trian back or walk back. We decide on the latter, as we could use the extra walking, and it will do our backs and adjustments good. But before we leave, I need to get  a hat, so we stop at one of the little touristy shops and after some hesitation, I finally make a choice and buy one. There was not a hat that was in my head size, so I just had to go with what was there.  So we walk back, and admire the views on the way, sunbathers on the beaches, lots of little gazebos set up for people to relax under with the sun lounge. Our walk took just a little over 40mins, and was good.
Once back at our unit, a rest is required, and that is what is done. We have to start to think about gathering our things up, as we are on the move again tomorrow. There are a few things on the clothes line, and Bob asks if there was anything he could do, and I mention to him that there are some things on the line that he could get of, if he wanted to. Now, let me explain about the clothes line. As we are on the third floor, the clothes line is one of those expandable lines that are attached to the outside of the building just out the window. My greatest concern while I was haning the washing out, is if I drop something, I have to go down three flights of stairs to retrieve it. And I did have to retrieve an item, but that was because the wind had blown it of and that was yesterday. So next thing I  hear from Bob is " I don't know why you let me do things around here", as he retreats from the window. I asked what happened, and agian he replies with the same statement. Of which I gather HE has dropped something of the line. And yes he did. But he was more trickier than me. He managed to drop a sock from our line onto the line below us. I erupt into fits of laughter, as I am so pleased it was not me that achieved this feat. Now, to get this one sock is not as simple as it might seem, as the distance between the window ledge and the line below is well out of arms reach, and even out of reach with a broom. Looks like one sock gets to have a permanent vacation here. At least we know where it is lol. But Bob being his usual self, comes up with something to knock the sock of the line, an electrical extension cord tied to the broom handle. Now this is long enough for Bob to reach the sock, but to knock it down is another matter. He tries a few times, but the sock is stubbon, and Bob retires from this battle for the night, as each time he tries to get the sock, he taps on the window below.  After this, we continue to pack up as much as we can tonight, so there is less to do in the morning.
 We have had a very interesting and entertaining day.

Tuesday, 24th September 2019

Today, I have woken feeling not to good. Not sure if it is as a result from the treatment yesterady or whether it was something I ate last night that didn't agree with me. So Bob has to do most of the carting of bags and things down the stairs to the car and pack it all. He makes me rest while he does this, and for once I do as I am told for awhile. After some time, I go to the window where the lone sock was, and Bob must have retrieved it this morning, he said he got it first time this morning when he tried, without hitting the window below.
We leave Estoril this morning for Portimo, a distance of about 300kms, but we are going to get of the freeway today and travel along the less travelled road. Bob has to do all the driving today, as i am just not up to it. We usually share the driving on journeys like this, but not this day.
We stop for some fuel for the car and a late breakfast for us, but I am unable to eat what I have selected,  so take it with us for maybe later on. We continue onwards, and our next stop is  road side fruit and vege stand. They have pumpkins here. We have not seen pumpkins since we left Australia, although they don't look anything like what we are used to, and after some language translations, we decide to get a half one, and some grapes, and a huge watermelon, and something like a honeydew melon, all for the princely sum of 7euro. Bragin. Again, we venture onwards, and our next stop is a road side bar/Resturant, and as we walk in, the place is very very busy. There are no spare tables or those that are empty, still have dishes on them. We use the facilities, and Bob enquires about eating, and it turns out there is a Resturant on the other side of the Bar. We go through and this place is also very busy, but there are a couple of empty tables. We take a table, and wait for the menu to be given to us. The guy comes over to us and tell us there are only three things on menu, Fish with rice, Pork with rice, and chicken and Rice. Hmmmm keeping it simple, so Bob decides on the pork, and I am still not up to eating. When Bobs meal arrives, he comments that the pork is very very good. Probably the best pork he has eaten in a long time. It is very tender and just falls apart.
So once again on the road, our next stop is Portimao. We message our next host to tell him we are down at the water front, and he replies saying that he is there waiting for us. So we set the gps for the address, and arrive to see a man standing outside, guess this is our host. It is, he shows us where to park the car, underneath the building, as this next place is a highrise unit. We go up to our unit, which is on the eight floor, and get shown around the unit. It is very nice, with a balcony with table and chairs.
I am still not up to eating very much, so it is a light dinner and leftovers for Bob.
 We are here for the next 6 days, and I am told that on Thursday, we are going boating. Sounds like a great plan to me.

Wednesday, 25th September 2019

Today is a rest day, as I am still not 100%, but am much better than yesterday, and it is a good day for Bob to rest after our tripping yesterday.   We do go out around 6ish to find the beach and see what is in our immediate area. We find some spectatular coast line, with huge sand stone cliffs, and rocks in and around the water. We walk along the beach, marvelling at how nature works away at the land and forms these amazing sturctures. Lots of places for people to laze and soak up the sun, and a few lovely sandy beaches for folks to swim in. I dip my feet in the water as we walk along, and the water does seem to be a bit chilly, so don't think I will be going in anytime soon, and besides, I don't have the appropiate swim wear. We take a few pics of the coast line, and the land formations, and enjoying all that we see.
We head back to our unit, and again I am not up to eating anything much for dinner tonight, so we call into the Spar convenience store for Bob to select on something for himself, and head back to our unit.

Thursday, 26th September 2019

Thankfully I am back to normal, which is a good thing as we are a little excited about our boating tour today.  We are going out to look at the sea caves that are around the area. But first it has been decided that I need to get something suitable for swimming. This is going to be difficult, given that it is coming into the winter season here, and everything is for the winter. But alas with some hunting we find some new foot wear. and some shorts and a tee shirt that might do the trick. But I  am a bit reluctant to do the swimming thing, as I don't have proper swim gear, but you have to make do what what you have available to you. So off we set to find the place where the tour boat leaves from, and manage to get a park fairly easily, and head over to where there is a group of people standing around. There are 5 or 6 boats being loaded with people, and we enquire as to which one we have to board, and are shown the one that is ours.
The boat is full, and we manage to find a couple of seats at the back of the boat. We are all given life jackets and put them on. Then after about 15 mins of waiting, we head off out on our tour. We pass the marina with lots of nice looking boats, and further out, we look at the houses on the waterfront, they look wonderful.
Our tour boat hugs the coast line, slowing down at various points to show the sand stone cliffs and some small caves and where the is huge formations standing alone in the water, that would have been at one time attached to the mainland. There is an array of various boats and jet boats buzzing about, stopping at the must see points. Abit furter on, we start to see bigger sea caves, and some of the smaller boats are able to go inside these caverns. It is truely amazing to see how mother nature and the ocean have carved out these areas, and the beaches that have formed as a result of thousands of years constant erosion. Further on we go, and the caves get bigger, and our boat is able to go inside a couple of the caves. There are some caves that have a hole in the roof, so it is like an amphitheatre, with a beach for the floor. There are a few people here, and they have kayaked to this beach, and why would'nt they. It would be awesome to be inside there, taking it all in. The water colour is almost a turquoise green, and is so inviting to swim in. But this is not the spot that our boat has designated for the swimming area. We go on a bit further and see more caves, then we turn and head back to where we have come from. After some time, the boat stops, and this is where we are able to swim for those who wish to. Bob and I decided not to swim, and not to many other people did either. About 6 did go in, but they were not in the water for very long, as I am guessing that the water was a tad chilly. But at least they can say that swam there in the Atlantic ocean off Portugal.
Once back onland we head back to the shopping center to get some lunch before heading back to our unit, plus we also have to get some groceries for the next few days.
It has been a great day, with many photos taken to look back on.

Friday, 27th September 2019

After a quiet morning, we do some research to find out where the Hop on Hop off bus stops are that are near to us, and decide to go into the main part of town to catch the Hop on Hop off bus. Once there, we head to the office of tourism, and ask where abouts the stop is, and we are directed to where it is, and just as we turn to go the man asks us if we want to try some cake that he has there, and we take a peice not knowing what is it, but it would be rude not to. I think it is a local food, and it is very nice, although probably not on the diet.  So make haste for the place we need to be to catch the bus, and we see the bus leaving the said bus stop, but this is ok, at least we know where to go, and this gives us time to have a coffee, since we have already had the cake, and besides it is only  half an hour wait. After our coffee, we head over to the bus stop and wait for the bus, and it comes right on time. There are a few others getting on aswell, but the bus is no where full, and there are lots of seats upstairs and the weather is perfect for the open topped bus. I also have my akubra today, so I won't get burnt.
We watch the city of Portimao pass by us with the audio telling up all about it, but the audio is difficult to hear above the buses engine, as there are no headpeices to listen to, it is just played through speakers on the bus. As we pass by and look wetake note of the stops because we will go on the bus again tomorrow to go to the things that have interested us today. 

Saturday, 28th September 2019

Today we get on the Hop on Hop off bus again after we park the car and fill in a bit of time till the bus arrives. There seems to be some sort of event happening in the area as there are a lot of Jet Skies about. The bus arrives, and isn't very full, so we go upstairs. Our first stop for us to get of is an area that is an old fishing village, and we take a walk around the area, and admire the views. Boats on water, people walking around and seagulls  circling , ever hopeful for a small morsal of something. We watch a man gutting a fish, and then another man setting up the outside griller getting it ready for the days partorns. After a while we have a bit to eat, then continue walking around the fishing huts where men are talking and doing what they do with fishing nets and lines and ropes. We then wait for the bus to arrive and go to our next stop of our choice. This one is for the shoppers. As there is market type stalls, but not are all open, but it is interesting looking, and I buy a dress. I don't think I have I bought as much clothing as I have since being away. At some point in time, before we head back home, there will have to be some discarding of items. I cringe at this thought, but I do have some things that I know I will leave behind. We look at all the Cork products that are for sale, and wonder at the authencity of them, s there are some many venders selling the products.
We decide to walk to the next bus stop, rather and wait at the one closest to us. We wander down the street, peering in at some of the shops. I find a shop that sells only cork things, and there was a wonderful array of items. Shoes, handbags, purses, wallets, hats, caps, artwork on the park of the cork. I would have bought a couple of things, but one has to have some self control, and besides, it is just another thing to cart around with us. We get to the next bus stop, but not before stopping and looking are the wonderful coastline that is here. Once onboard the bus again, we continue on the bus until we get back to where we started from.
Bob is a little unwell today, so we go back to the unit for some rest and hopefully some recouperation.

Sunday, 29th September 2019

A quiet day in today. Bob is unwell still.
We do ventrue out in the evening to Lagos, and have a bit of a look about this area. We arrive at the tail end of a market, as stall holders are closing and putting away their goods. But what we do see again is lots of Cork things. We walk along the Marina side walk, and then turn back to find something to have for dinner. We eventually settle for a chicken and rice dish, which we share, and I have dessert.
We start to gather up things again, as we have come to the end of our stay here in Portimao. It has been absolutely wonderful.