Last year we took a river cruise break on the Duro to celebrate our anniversary.
This year we had a few days at the seaside. The resort at Praia de Quiaios is small and fairly isolated, and even though there are miles of beach to enjoy, contains very few people, a few cafés and bars, and a small supermarket.
Perhaps we visited too late in the season and of course, the Covid situation has not helped.
We chose a four star hotel for the stay but unfortunately, we found the quality was not to that standard.
Our first allocated room was infested with ants, even though it was on the first floor. We mentioned this (not as a complaint) to reception and we were given a different room with no hesitation, just a few doors away but with no ants. The new room had a different bathroom layout with no storage or surfaces to place items but, it was only for a few days so we would muddle through.
Next, the TV had no power cord attached but as we still had the key to the old room I liberated the cable from there and now we could watch TV. The air conditioner worked - up to a point. Predictably, the remote commander was entirely the wrong one and did not work, but I could just reach the control buttons on the unit itself and managed to switch it on. Leaving it running for some length of time was a mistake, it eventually began making a lot of noise and then, when switched off, dripped water into the room as the ice accumulated in the device melted.
We elected for half board accommodation and took a chance with the evening set menu. Sadly, that choice didn't go too well. It turns out that each day there was always some form of bean in the soup starter and I am allergic to most types of bean. On the first night, even after explaining to the waiter that fact, I received a meal with beans in the mixed vegetables. So, no starter with the meal. On the plus side, the main dish was very good each day, and once we had established the 'no beans' policy everything was fine. For sobremesa there was a simple choice of fruit or some style of 'pudim' which changed each day.
Breakfast was somewhat better, with various continental and cooked foods available, the mini hot dog sausages, paper thin bacon, and scrambled eggs were quite acceptable for me.
On the first day, we treated ourselves to good a walk down the coast to Figueira da Foz, a trek of around 12km each way which took us through some great scenery and an abandoned limestone quarry.
The quarry is apparently abandoned but the signs are still here.
The next day we dove to Figueira da Foz to do some shopping at the shopping centre, much easier.
Figueira da Foz clock tower and Ferris wheel.
Saturday was our actual wedding anniversary and another day walking was the plan. This time we headed inland to follow an official route through the forests to a waterfall. The route took us through various layers of prehistoric rock and there was evidence of fossils almost each step during parts of the walk, mostly amonites but some of the impressions in the rock were huge.
The scenery changed from moment to moment.
After a couple of wrong turns, and a venture into the unknown ...
The sign below is self explanatory but on the tree is the yellow and red marker that signifies a public route, so who do we believe ?
We followed the official markers to the other side of the plot where a similar 'no entry' sign was. The land had been cleared rather brutally and there was no sign of other markers to pick up the route. Someone is obviously trying to prevent people from using the walking trail. We had no choice but to retrace our steps and follow a different track.
Finally, we found the waterfall which would have been more impressive if there had actually been some water present.
Now it was time to head back to the hotel, there in the distance.
The wind had picked up well by now and the waves were quite impressive. Walking up the beach into the wind was rather like having your face and legs being sand-blasted but we persisted and eventually found a sheltered spot in the dunes then spent some time sunbathing and relaxing.
We took a steady drive back to Vale de Prazeres on Sunday, avoiding the toll roads. It was rather pleasant although the IC8 is a little frustrating with mile after mile of single carriageway, a 90km/h limit and no overtaking during long stretches of the road. It was fortunate that there are few goods vehicles on the road on Sunday.
Overall, we had a very nice time away but it was good to arrive back at home. More images in the album ...