For some (odd) reason, Portugal was never on my MUST SEE list while in Europe. It seemed like a nice enough place, I just had no burning desire to go there. Our friends Nick & Jamie had gone to Faro a short time ago, and highly recommended we go to Portugal on one of our last weekends living in Europe. So we packed some swimsuits, hopped a RyanAir flight, and ended up in what quickly became one of my most favorite places yet.
After landing in Faro, we ducked into a questionable little snack bar & grabbed some food and a bottle of wine (which I drank from- straight) and took a two hour train ride to our destination along the Algarve Coast- Lagos. The sunset train ride was quite relaxing until I realized check-in at our hotel ended at 20:00, and we wouldn't get there until at least 22:30. After calling repeatedly, I finally got a call saying someone would be there to let us in. Worst case- I had already decided we would just stay up & party all night, then sleep on the beach until check-in time. [Un]fortunately, the crisis was averted, and we slept soundly in our hotel bed that night.
At 6AM Saturday morning, I was jolted awake to what I thought was a small child being murdered and/or a pig being slaughtered. I lay completely still in the soft morning light until I realized the horrible screeching noise I was hearing was...seagulls. I went to investigate, and found there was a seagull colony living directly beside our room. Nice. I wasn't too upset with my early morning wake-up call though, because it gave us a full day, instead of lazily stretching awake at 11AM. Zack & I walked around the town because nothing was open for a few hours, and discovered a few beaches that seriously took your breath away when you first saw them. We saw lemon trees and lemon-colored houses, vibrant flowers that I had no idea what they were, and cliffs that ended in abrupt drop-offs into the jewel-colored ocean.
Once the stores began opening, we grabbed some breakfast & lunch essentials at a nearby grocery store, and set off for Praia da Dona Ana- a large beach we found on our morning explorations. It was only 10AM by the time we got our mats settled on the beach, but it was already filling up. We lay out for a while, but decided to walk around the rocks & coves, to reach another- more secluded- beach.
We read, drank cheap Portuguese beer, and ate pineapples until our tongues were raw. We were having an incredible time, until the perv came. Zack was sleeping & I was reading, when I noticed a Speedo-wearing man come sit down on our little private beach and face us (instead of the ocean) while sitting on his towel featuring a drawing of a naked woman. I didn't think too much of it, until I noticed a rapid movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned, and the man had his Speedo off, legs spread, and ... yeah. All while staring at me. I literally froze. I have never had anything like that happen to me, and it was incredibly violating and disturbing. I wanted to burst into tears, or run away to another beach. Instead I shakily whispered down to Zack, "Don't get up too fast, but there is a man over there doing something he shouldn't be doing." Zack casually rolled up, but by that point the creep had put his clothes back on and was just staring out at the ocean. Zack asked if I wanted to leave, but I said no. This was our beach and it was beautiful and I wasn't budging. After a while, Zack fell back asleep and I continued to read. I look up, and again the man is doing it. Something about the fact that he had the audacity to continue and look me in the eyes while doing it struck a chord in me, and I felt fury rise up into my throat and the words started spilling out before I could stop them. "STOP IT. THAT IS DISGUSTING. GO AWAY. I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT!" I shouted while getting up and running at him. (I am sure a few other choice words were added in there, as well.) He jumped up and began sprinting off the beach, looking quite terrified. I chased him off the beach until I lost sight of him. Zack was just sort of standing there, in shock I presume that his normally all bark & no bite wife could be so ferocious, watching the (now hilarious) scene unfold. It was a proud moment, and we went right back to enjoying the rest of the day.
After our sun-soaked eventful day, I took an epic nap that was one for the books. That evening, we went to Nah Nah Bah- an incredible burger place that if you're ever in Lagos, you must visit. The menu itself is entertaining, and the restaurant has such an effortlessly cool vibe that I almost felt inadequate. It's run by young ex-pats, with hostesses & bartenders that look like Victoria Secret models. (Not the best self-esteem booster when you're shoveling greasy chips & a burger the size of your face into your mouth.) But everyone was so friendly- it was hard to not feel at ease. I had the Toucan Burger, Zack had the Blue Ball Buster, and we got extra chips because...why not? 
After waddling out of Nah Nah Bah, we ventured down to the empty, moon-lit beach and played around until we got sleepy. Also, Zack gave me one of his strange compliments- "If you were a dinosaur, you'd be a velociraptor because you're smart & clever, but vicious." I love that boy.
The next morning, we awoke to clouds but fortunately it cleared off by noon and ended up being a beautiful day. I got some espresso from the local grocery store, and we had a delicious home-cooked breakfast on our balcony. The day included cave & grotto explorations, chilling wine in the cold ocean water, microwaved pizza on the beach (Zack's idea), snorkeling, Game of Thrones reading on the sand, and just absolute relaxation.
Sunday evening we washed the sand & ocean water from our hair, and made ourselves into presentable human beings to go to dinner. Before dinner though, we enjoyed a bottle of wine on our balcony and the conversation turned into a rather heated debate over some deep, worldly issue. We realized we weren't going to waver on our stances, so we switched to growling at passerby's on the street below. Much safer.
For dinner, we found an amazing tapas restaurant and absolutely destroyed the food and sangria.
Ann told me about this comedian that "pleased himself..." upon hearing sounds coming from his upstairs apartment...
ReplyDeleteonly to find out they were pigeons. BAAHAHHA! (kinda links two of your stories together!)