Aljezur, Portugal - Day 2

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Today began at our bed & breakfast-style hotel called Monte do Sol Herdade in Aljezur, Portugal. The word “herdade” translates to “homestead” in English, which accurately describes this lovely piece of property in rural Aljezur. In addition to several apartment-style cabins on the property, there’s also horses, chicken, ducks, goats, dogs, and cats roaming around. Every time we open our patio doors, a fluffy cat comes running out of nowhere like he’s heard the dinner bell, and tries his very best to sneak inside our cabin. Tory likes to tease him by tapping her fingers on the glass of the patio door. The cat can’t figure out which door the sound is coming from, and paces back and forth looking for a way inside.

Breakfast is included in our stay, so the owners brought a tray of breads, cold meats & cheese, jam, fruit, and yogurt + coffee and hot chocolate powder to our door around 8:30am. I don’t know what it is about being served breakfast vs. preparing it ourselves that makes it taste more delicious. This spread wasn’t anything I couldn’t have prepared for ourselves, but it felt special nonetheless being delivered on a tray ready to eat this morning.

As I dished out plates for breakfast, Andi made a fire in the wood stove. It’s not particularly cold in Aljezur, but there’s a chill in the air with the recent wind and rains. Air temperatures have been hovering around 58-63 degrees F. The addition of the fire burning in our cabin this morning made it feel extra cozy.

The most southern section of Portugal is called the Algarve, which is known for its amazing coastline and beautiful beaches. Jagged, golden-colored cliffs frame the coast with lots of hidden bays and secluded sands. Wild waves make this area of Portugal an excellent place to surf.

The Algarve is a popular international travel destination, especially the southern cities of Lagos and Faro, but Aljezur feels a world away from the noise. This area is filled with farms, small rural towns, and quiet beaches that stretch on for miles. Despite the rain, we set off to explore the area in and around Aljezur this morning. We drove our car from the Monte do Sol property to Arrifana Beach just a couple of miles away. This beach is hugely popular with surfers of all skill levels. We passed a dozen cafes and restaurants along the quiet main street and pulled over at a look-out to get a better view. There was a better view, we just knew it, but we couldn’t see much with the current weather conditions.

Andi and I were kind of bummed about the rain, and not sure what we wanted to do this morning. We drove around some more before stopping our car in Aljezur town proper. The four of us walked along the sidewalk, ducking under the business awnings to avoid the mist of rain falling from the sky. Andi always likes to stop to look at real estate listings posted in the windows of reality offices. Not that we’re interested in buying property here, but mostly out of curiosity. We saw a cafe called Roots which reminded us of home, and of Grandpa, since Roots Coffee is his favorite place to go.

We continued wandering along the sidewalk, and eventually decided to have lunch at Arte Bianca, an Italian restaurant. None of us were particularly hungry, but there wasn’t much else to do in the cold rain. Inside the restaurant was warm and cozy. The waitress brought us some drinks and took our food orders. Aden and I decided to share a Hawaiian pizza, and Tory and Andi shared butternut squash gnocchi and meatballs. The homemade focaccia bread tasted heavenly, especially since Andi smartly ordered it sem (without) garlic. The Portuguese love eating garlic, but my breath does not! The four of us played Kings in the Corner while we waited for our food to arrive, and it turned out to be a lovely way to spend a rainy day.

After our meal, we hopped back in our car and drove to Praia da Amoreira. There are beaches upon beaches in this area of Portugal, so Andi and I picked one on the map, and drove there. What makes Amoreia Beach unique is that it is backed by sand dunes. Additionally, the mouth of the Aljezur River meets the sea here, and I’d read online that the shallow waters of the river are a good place for kids to play. I figured we could do some beach exploring and wading through the shallows since the weather wasn’t suitable for swimming.

One of the great things about the beaches in Aljezur, especially during the off-season, is that there are tons of them to choose from so they’re not crowded. Amoreira Beach is about 10 km from town and isn’t a stop on the bus line, so its inaccessibility makes it extra secluded. There was only one other family at the beach when we arrived, but they shortly left with a screaming toddler. We had the entire stretch of sand all to ourselves.

The ocean waves were powerful as the tide levels rose, washing in sea foam where the water met the sand. Tory and Aden spotted the foam and immediately ran toward the sea, scooping up the bubbles and tossing them into the air. “I should have brought a change of clothes for Aden,” I said to Andi just as big wave chased after the kids and nudged them farther up on shore. Aden narrowly missed getting wet, but his pants were covered in sand as he scampered away from the water. No worries though. I knew within seconds of laying eyes on this beach that Aden wasn’t leaving here clean and dry.

Andi and I perched ourselves on a driftwood log and watched as Tory and Aden had the time of their lives playing in the sand. Over and over again, they ran to the water’s edge, scooping up as much sea foam as they could carry before the quick-moving waves rushed them farther back on the sand. We were so “in the moment” watching them play that I barely took any photos.

Soon, Aden pants were soaked which left him wearing nothing but a sweatshirt and his underwear. Surprisingly, he didn’t care about his modesty. He and Tory were having too much fun playing together to worry much about anything else.

A few people joined us on the beach to walk along the waterfront, but mostly we had the whole place to ourselves. I warned Tory and Aden to keep their eyes on the water because the waves were powerful and the tide was rising quickly. As Andi and I sat on the log, we watched a few groups of people leisurely stroll along the water’s edge, not realizing how fast the water was moving. More than once, someone went from splashing their toes in the water to soaking their pants below the knees. One lady bent down to take a video of the ocean lapping onto the sand. No more than a second after Andi muttered the words, “This is going to end badly,” did the lady get swallowed up by the waves. Since she’d been squatting down close to the sand with her phone, the powerful waves engulfed her in seconds. We watched her, as if in slow motion, tumble backwards into the water and struggle to find her footing again. Andi quickly ran down to the water to help her, but she was able to stand up on her own by the time he reached her. The lady was embarrassed, of course, and dripping wet. I felt so sorry for her — I hope her phone and everything she was carrying in her backpack dried out alright.

We had to tear Tory and Aden away from this beach when it was time to go. High tide was coming in quickly, and the visible sand surface was shrinking by the minute. The kids were covered in sand and smiling wide. I did my best to wipe the sand off their legs and feet, and then we drove back to our rental cabin to shower them properly.

Back at Monte do Sol, Andi laid down for a bit to rest while Tory changed and Aden showered. Around 5:00pm, we ventured out again to watch the sunset. Andi and I picked a point on the map between Amoreira and Arrifana Beaches, with an overlook high on the cliffs above the water. It was a gorgeous place to watch the sun go down. I’ve truly never seen ocean waves so pretty.

Once again, we had this whole coastline to ourselves aside from two local fishermen perched on the rocks. The four of us walked along the path, admired the view, and felt thankful for this beautiful day in Aljezur that refilled our spirits.

Andi picked a restaurant called O Paulo for dinner which offered sweeping cliffside views of the ocean, but it was closed when we arrived there. We’ve noticed a lot of the business and restaurants are closed around here which must be due to the off-season. The four of us drove around the area to find another restaurant, but nothing really struck our fancy. There was a burger restaurant open, but none of us really wanted to eat that. There was also a greek restaurant, but Andi said it had bad online reviews. “My stomach can’t take any more chances!” Andi joked. “Definitely don’t need more of the Marrakesh Express!” Tory retorted, referring to the nickname one of our Moroccan drivers gave traveler’s diarrhea. In the end, we settled for the grocery store where we picked up a baguette, some deli turkey, three carrots, a bag of chips, a cup of ramen noodles, and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream: the makings of a very random dinner.

Back at our cabin, Andi started a fire in the wood stove and I dried some of our clothes. There are no clothing dryers in Europe (or at least at the places we’ve stayed), and it’s not warm enough outside to dry them in the sunshine. (There hasn’t been a lot of sunshine the past few days). All of our clothes, even the clean ones, feel a little damp. The wood fire felt warm and cozy for all of us, and would hopefully work to dry our clothes, too.

I spent the rest of the evening uploading photos while Andi walked around outside talking on the phone and Tory and Aden watched Netflix on their phones. The internet signal isn’t strong enough here to call their friends back home.

Andi returned a while later and told the kids he saw some big toads on the property. Both kids are scared to go outside alone because there’s a lot of big dogs running around on the property, but Andi said he’d go with them if they wanted to see the toads. Surprisingly, only Tory was up for it. Andi was right; they were big!

Tomorrow, we say good-bye to Aljezur and continue driving through the Algarve to the city of Lagos. I’ve really enjoyed this area of Portugal, and would dare to say it’s been my favorite spot in the country thus far. I loved the rural openness, the powerful waves, and the rugged beauty of the coastline. Aljezur was a great place to spend a couple of days.