The Only Way Is Down

Today we went on a little excursion inland and up into the hills to Monchique. It is the highest point on the Algarve and affords views of both the south-facing coast where Albufeira is and also the west-facing coast which makes up most of Portugal.

It was very windy and really quite cold at the top. People had made little cairn-like monuments to mark their visit and so of course we did the same. However, there were not many loose rocks left, so ours was a bit on the small side!

On the way down, we stopped at a lovely little restaurant clinging to the side of the hill, where we sampled the local delicacy of chicken piri-piri, tagged as Portugal's Viagra! The jury is still out on that one.

Further down was the spa resort of O Chalet Das Caldas, where there were supposed to be wonderful waterfalls to view. But not in midsummer, it would seem, as the rushing torrents were reduced to a dribble in August.