Where's Frankie?

Portimao

Monday 23rd February

I’m sorry it’s been so long since we’ve blogged, not a lot has been happening and you don’t want to be reading about me sunbathing every day.

The best bit of news that we have is that my foot is better, almost completely cured, the bad news is that it has only been sunbathing weather for three of the last seven days.

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After leaving Loule on the Sunday we made our way to an aire at Felicia. This is a purpose built aire taking about 50 units and all set out very nicely amongst pine trees. It was €8 per night including electric and perfectly useable wifi but the main reason for our visit was to use the washing machines. Unfortunately there were only two machines and it took us two days in the queue before we could get to use one.

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500 yards away, along a tree lined footpath was the beach, huge, sandy and empty.

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Nearly. The wind was blowing and it was just a bit too chill to sit and sunbathe. We were here for three days in all and it was just a bit too windy to sit out for most of the time. We managed a walk to the local supermarket, mainly because we needed change for the washing machines but one look told you it was catering for holiday makers and the prices were rather extravagant – €3.50 for a large bag of crisps?

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Eventually with all the washing done and dried, all the tanks emptied or filled and the batteries fully charged we made our way to Portimao. I’d been told about this aire and it is really rather good. Obviously it helps if you have a Frankia as a neighbour, there is another in front of us and one behind.

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The aire can take 150 units, it’s €2.50 per night plus €2 for water and it is 200 yards from the biggest best beach we have seen so far.

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The view from the fort.

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The view across one of the harbour’s, we’ve got three. This is the fort at Ferragudo.

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And this is one of the breakwaters keeping the sand from washing away. The beach was created in 1969 using sand dredged from the neighbouring Rio Arade

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An arty shot – as arty as I can do anyway.

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This is another view from Portimao fort, our aire is just out of sight to the left.

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We took a bike ride into Portimao town centre. All the guide books recommend the shopping but they must have been written before the last recession. Many of the shops were empty, it was almost like walking through Basildon on a sunny day.

We had booked to stay here for four days, we’ve added another three days and it looks like we will be visiting Lidls tomorrow and then returning for another don’t know how many days. We are nearly at the corner to Portugal so going much further means that we are headed home, something we may put off for a bit longer. We have bought our ferry ticket home, we’ll be sailing on 16th June, Dover to Calais so you’ve got plenty of time to get the bunting out! It also means that we are now over half way through this foreign excursion.

8 thoughts on “Portimao

  1. Denzil

    I’m so gutted to hear you only had three days out of seven to sunbathe.

    Be brave my big soldier boy, Daddy is worrying about you.

    All looking good, love to Lu and You

  2. Dawn, Shaun and Jäger

    Hope you have a great time in Prior Rocha guys, I have many friends in the Marina there. I am very much looking forward to going back there for a month in April/May.

    We hope the weather holds out for you.

    Regards

    Us now in Benidorm

    1. Mark Post author

      Why didn’t you tell us about this place before – oh you did!! We’ve just booked ourselves another 5 days so we’ll be getting out some clothes that haven’t seen the light of day for months. We haven’t found a launderette in Portugal so far, the only place we’ve found to get washing done is on commercial aires but we think we can last until next week and then we’ll give Alvor a try.
      Have a great time in Benidorm, you never know, we could get “stuck” here.

  3. Elaine Moody

    Enjoying the reports and pleased your back on your feet Mark, save Lucy all that running around. Thought of you at Pleshy while walking 2 of the walks from the books you gave us. Enjoy. Elaine

  4. Andrew

    You may be better off going Calais to dover .It is a very nice beach, Val says the water is refreshing never been in myself . LIDL is near Aldi they have an Iceland and primark too I think , just like ss14 but without the J K vibe . enjoy your second half as much as your first ,safe travels .

    1. Mark Post author

      Just checking to see if anyone reads this!! Aldis is on the exit to Lidls, we managed to do both yesterday and fritter our way through €120 in the process. I’ve heard about the Primark but I think the nearest Iceland is just outside Albufiera, can’t be bothered to go there.

  5. Giorgio

    The contrast of the blue sea cold ocean water and the red backdrop offers many opportunities for very interesting photos. Try the fish market in Portimao and enjoy the big sardines and the king prawns.

    1. Mark Post author

      It’s certainly a lovely place. We’ve found the fish market and all the little restaurants by the quayside, some of them get very good reviews on Triposa, might give one a try one day.

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