I don’t even remember where my initial destination was going to be on the Algarve, because I ended up just going to the same town as my BlaBla Car driver, Pedro. Pedro lives and works in Porto, but was going to a beach town called Portimao to meet up with a firend who had a vacation house there. During the drive, I booked the only hostel in the area that I could find for that night.
When we arrived to the hostel, I immediately knew why it had been available on such short notice. It was a rundown motel of a hostel hostel for adults and families who didn’t want to pay for hotel rooms in the touristy part of town, so they would stay in this building and drive to the beach each day. Pedro came inside with me to check me in and make sure everything was okay, and then offered to pick me up in the morning and take me to another hostel if I could find one available.
The next morning, Pedro and his friend Alberto picked me up, and we drove to a hostel very close to the beach by the tourist area. It was a super cute hostel filled with other travellers, and they had a bed open for me. Problem solved!
I spent the day on the beach with Pedro and Alberto, climbing rocks and jumping off of them. The beach in Portimao was one of the most beautiful I had ever been to, with orange and white cliffs lining the shores, rock formations precariously reaching out of the shockingly blue water. Also, a bird pooped on me, which is supposedly good luck.
After the beach, we did some bar hopping, and I learned an important lesson about pregaming too much to avoid paying for expensive drinks at bars. I also learned an important lesson about not climbing on things just to show off. This was three weeks ago, and I still have a huge bruise on my leg from the tumble I took off a ledge I was scaling. Oops! Isn’t this trip about learning stuff?
I spent another few days on the beach, but then got antsy again and wanted to use the tent that I had acquired, so I hopped on a bus to Sagres, the southernmost tip of Portugal.