Lagosh that´s a nice beach - Lagos, Portugal

Day three of our trip saw our exit from Lisbon having successfully seen most of the city. Had we been able to stay another day, we would have liked to visit la Basilica Estrella, the Antiquities Museum, and ridden up the Elevator of Baixa to take in the view over a cafe con leche, as well as then explore the adjacent Carmo convent ruins.

After catching another breakfast at Poets Hostel, we made our way to the bus station for the fast-bus ride to Lagos, the city of choice in the major vacation destination that is the Algarve region of Southern Portugal.

Many people, or the otherwise excellent Wikitravel site, will tell you the train is a possible way down. Apparently you shouldn't listen to them. It´s ~28€ compared to the 21€ of the bus, takes longer, involves difficult connections, and uses unreliable regional trains in the Algarve. Instead we took the bus route, which is fast, efficient, and even has wifi-enabled buses (at least until it stops working...)

Finding the fast-bus station to Lagos was a challenge, however. Here´s how you do it (skip below this paragraph if you don´t need the nitty gritty details): walk to the Rossio metro station just north of the Rossio train station at Rossio square. Take the blue line to the jardin zoologico stop, which is also the sete rios stop. once there, follow the signs to the gardens, walking out into a bus stop with the gardens to your left, the bus station in front of you, and a busy multi-lane street to your right as you emerge up the stairs from the underground station. Now turn to have the zoo at your back- on the other side of this street is the actual bus station- notice the yellow walls. That is the back of the building, though, so you have to cross the busy street now in front of you, and then walk over to it and through the parking area, following signs for the billheteria. Here we bought our tickets for the 9am bus, which you can theoretically pre-schedule and purchase online at rede expressos.com. Extremely frustratingly for us, though, our American Mastercard didn´t work so we couldn´t book online in advance. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to make our trip. 

The bus ride was actually incredibly beautiful. Rolling green countryside with intermittent flocks of sheep, innumerable wildflowers, and savanna trees made the hours pass easily. I was planning my move to what was basically an entire region comprised of desktop-wallpaper-worthy photos when we started nearing Lagos.

The view from a bus in Portugal...

TIP: The snack shop near the bus station has wifi
Upon arriving in Lagos, we were actually quite underwhelmed. Kendra and I, whether we truly are or not, fancy ourselves something other than the stereotypical backpackers and tourists you find overseas. We think of ourselves more like "travelers," and upon arriving in Lagos, we were somewhat turned off by the overt embrace of tourism. Heading outside of the town center and its tacky souvenir shops, we found lodging at a nice elderly woman´s hotel/hostel on Rica do Jogo da Bola just up the hill (32 euro).

Despite the heavy handed tourism downtown, Lagos does have beautiful city streets, a little castle, and coastal charm

Eager to get away from the concentration of tourists and towards the stunning beaches of the Algarve, we took off walking along the waterfront.

On our walk we passed by the castle, because every Portuguese city is not complete without one.

... and each also needs a fortress.

 It was only a pleasant 1.5km or so walk, and 500m in, it began to become increasingly rewarding as the red dirt cliffs started to carve their way into the blue waters. This scene, of course, was framed by more wildflowers. 

Don't just settle at the first beach you come to... it gets better.

We didn´t want to pay for transit, so we went to the two beaches within walking distance, which we think were Praia de Piñhao and Praia Camilla. Near the first, Kendra and I were sitting quietly in a cove when a trio of young European ladies clad in bikinis appeared from nowhere and asked me to take lots of photos, as they pranced about in the water. Kendra took a photo of the whole affair and it is really quite hilarious. 

Rough life

At the latter beach, we sat for a long-time  at a restaurant (for a brief time if you're European...)  and had a drink while people-watching. Regarding other possible beaches, Praia Dona Aña looks very nice as well- we could see its cliffs further along the coast, but we chose to bypass the main beach Meia Praia, which was just a simple 4km length of sand across the inlet adjacent to town. Photos the coastline speak for themselves:

 The Portuguese embracing graffiti was appropriate here, though pre-dated a year

Back in town, we needed to find an electrical adapter as the one we brought was on strike. Asking around about where to find one, we were always met with the same answer- the Chinese. "Find the Chinese shop," everyone told us, "they have everything." And they did.

The day ended with Kendra and I having dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant, Maharaja, getting the best palak paneer Kendra´s ever had (including living in Hyderabad for 2 months), then getting gelato while listening to jazz music waft down the Portuguese alleyways.

Pistachio gelato, a cool breeze, jazz music and coastal city streets... not a bad way to unwind from a hard days' beach-going