Leaving Lisbon was sad, especially since we had to cut our stay there short by a day or two when we were doing our planning, due to some logistical constraints. There was so much more to see, but then there always is, right?
We were up bright and early packing up, which is never an easy feat with four kids. But the kids have become pros at packing up after the traveling we have done in the past year. They are really efficient and very helpful.
We were really excited to move on to our next destination, which was going to have a more relaxed vibe. After our rigorous sightseeing schedule in Lisbon, we welcomed a more easy going pace.
All packed up and ready to go!
We took the subway to pick up the rental car in a different area of Lisbon from where we were staying. Once we successfully returned to our neighborhood/apartment in our rental car, we had to double park the car (not much parking in Lisbon) and rush to get our luggage out of the lobby and into the car, before we created too much of a traffic jam. Lo and behold, it started pouring down rain as the luggage transfer was taking place between the lobby and the car. The kids were such troopers about rushing through the rain with the luggage and didn't seem to mind getting a bit soaked.
Approximately four hours later, we arrived to our hotel in Lagos, in the Algarve. We had to negotiate some terribly narrow roads inside Lagos to reach our hotel. Since our hotel is in the historic center of town, there is no parking lot connected to the hotel, so once again we had to double park in the middle of busy pedestrian street to unload our luggage. From there, we drove our car (back through the narrow roads) to a parking garage a few blocks away. When traveling, especially in a foreign country, you always have to be ready for the unexpected. That's our diesel Peugeot in the photo, which we love by the way. It drives really well and has great gas mileage.
We love our new accommodations at The Salty Lodge. The location, once again (like our Airbnb in Lisbon), is perfect We are right in the heart of town, where are the all the shops, restaurants, and action are. At the same time, we have a wonderful ocean view from the balcony of our apartment. The lodge is small, intimate, charming and the apartments are well-appointed, pristinely clean and appealingly decorated. Check out the photos of the lodge and rooms on their website, which do it much more justice than mine: https://www.saltylodge.com
We literally walked our the front door of our lobby and across the street to enjoy this fabulous dinner. There are more restaurants here than I have ever seen anywhere. And each is filled to capacity with post-Covid tourists (mostly European) excited to be out and enjoying life. It's so wonderful to see.
We stopped at this highly recommended gelato store after dinner were sure were glad that we did. The flavors were so unusual and the gelato was out of this world. Miles had cinnamon, Catherine had cookies and cream, Garin had banana with chocolate, Graham had coffee and I went for traditional chocolate. This gelato shop was a feast for the eyes. https://www.instagram.com/cremadigelatolagos/
I got these shots of the kids at sunset on our balcony.