Last post from Portugal in 2010

Well, seems like we just arrived and here we are, Saturday, (posted on Monday) with only three more full days before we leave - and a good part of the third day will be spent trying to figure out if we have room for the stuff we brought plus all that we accumulated in the last 4 weeks. Also, what to do with the remnants of food.

We have had a great time and still a bit left to enjoy. Today was a high overcast day but warm - in the low to mid 20's C, so shorts and T shirt weather. Ruth and I walked to old town on the beach, picked up a few last minute gifts then to Sir Harry's (first photo) for orange juice and a beer. On the way home we stopped for a bit to watch a sailboat "race" - not an exiting race as there was not much wind - but it was fun to watch.

Down to the beach again around 5 for a short walk at high tide - the sail boaters were still at it - I took a couple of photos - one not bad, considering the distance to the boats from the beach, is included.

I also spent part of the day taking and putting together some photos of a house, just around the corner from us, that I really like the look of - turns out it is for rent! Wish I had noticed earlier as I would have liked to see the inside. (the third photo is a collection of photos of the house). Casa Alegre means (roughly translated) house/home of bliss or cheer or brightness

Tonight (Saturday) we went with Jean and John to a concert by the "Orquestra do Algarve" in the Municipal Centre - started at 9:30pm - a bit later than I would like. We have been to these Municipal events before - they are free and sometimes very good and this one did not disappoint. The orquestra, formed in 2002 and supported by a large number of communities across the Algarve as well as the Ministry of Culture, has about 30 "chairs" (I think that is the correct term). We all agreed that the concert was excellent - Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, a composition by Joly Braga Santos and a couple of encores - the second was a rendition of "Singing in the Rain" - a lively and appropriate ending for a community that has had a record amount of rain this winter!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going for an afternoon of patio music and food at Johnny Hooper's Saxophone Bistro (see photo in an earlier posting this year). The food and the music were good last year, so hope for a repeat this year. (Here we are on Sunday with drinks and waiting for the food - fourth photo).

I know I have posted a lot of sunset and sunrise photos on the beach but, like it or not, here is another - the fifth photo is a wide angle view of the ocean, beach and old town taken looking west at sunrise a few of days ago - posted as kind of a farewell to Albufeira and Portugal for this year.