Travel Diary May 2023: Portimão #Portugal #Algarve #travel #photography #beach #nightsout

This is my new feature, my photo travel diary, some of which will be in Portugal. We have a few trips planned, first off a short weekend away in Portimão, May 2023. 😎

As you can see Portimão has the most wonderful beach! Beautiful sand and rock formations. Absolutely stunning. And from here you can take lots of spectacular boat trips which we have done in the past and loved.

In the evening, we discovered a fantastic restaurant – ended up being our favourite. Lots of Portuguese cuisine, fish, plus good old lamb chops! All very tasty. The restaurant is aptly named Vinhos & Comidas, wine and food. Caught hubbies eye as he likes his vinhos!

A walk along the strip – of bars and evening entertainment took us to Santa Catarina castle fortress constructed in 1641. The fortress was built to protect from Spanish pirates and moors. From here, there are a lots of steps down to the marina. It’s worth taking a stroll to have a look. It’s low season at the moment, so the marina was quiet, most of the action and more frequented places to eat were around the strip.

It was more challenging going back up all the steps, especially after a few vinhos! But we made it.

ROCKS AND CREATURES

The rock formations on the beach are stunning, the one below reminded me of a cat! Plus there was a dinosaur head, or a sharp nosed man, a whale, and a screaming man… that’s writers for you we see inspiration everywhere!

BEACH ⛱️

Here’s hubby posing below by the rocks…

And me.

And a change of clothes

COFFEE AND ENTERTAINMENT

Fancy a Portuguese galao coffee… and a sea view? Don’t mind if I do…

It’s a great place for a weekend away. And a good spot for young people to enjoy the nightlife. Having said that, hubby and I did have a couple of late nights. The last of which began with his…”Shall we have one more drink?”

Oh, we should have known! This is reminiscent of our last trip to Lagos where a similar thing happened.

This time, in Portimão, we ended dancing at a pub, The Irish Rover, until the early hours with three lasses from Manchester who kept getting us up to dance to a very good rock tribute band.

Manchester girls really know how to party!

Oh, to be young again! We needed a day to recover…

We had a quiet last evening… kept on bumping into the Manchester lasses but didn’t dare go back to the rock pub… Instead, we lived dangerously and came across this fellow down at the beach.

FAREWELL

Farewell Portimão, some evening photos taken over two nights to say goodbye!

One last thing to note, the area we stayed in is built up with lots of high rise hotels/Apartments compared to the quieter area of Tavira where we stay part of the year.

This is our view from the Portimão apartment, Flor Da Rocha, which was well equipped and comfortable and had everything you’d need for a stay including a pool and a gym. Not an overly quiet option but this is a party town!

It is good to explore different parts of Portugal!

Rock on!