Saturday Adventures

If it’s Saturday, it’s market day!  We are saving the Loulé market for next Saturday, closer to Christmas as there are a few things there we are looking at purchasing. Which meant today, we decided to head back to Olhão for some fruit and veggies.  Before leaving the house I scooted over to the butcher, who is about a three minute walk from here, and picked up chicken to put in a marinade.  When going to the market, unless you are coming home right away, you shouldn’t purchase your meat or fish……..and as we had decided to head off and explore a place we had never been, we thought it best to be a bit organized around tonight’s dinner.

The Olhão market was quiet again today.  At least quieter than it was last week.  We still enjoyed it very much and today I found myself people watching so thought I’d take a few snaps of people, rather than produce!

Walking along the promenade towards the market buildings. You can see the brick of them just through the trees. What an incredible setting for this market.

All the old men sit around and chat in the nearby park while the women shop.

I love this face. I saw her many times last year and when I saw her today I had to get a shot.

Marc devoured these…..with his eyes!!!!

A small gypsy market was set up on the opposite side of the market buildings…..lots of tablecloths today, especially Christmas design.

Another group of men waiting and watching….a grand universal pastime.

We enjoyed the sunshine and the hustle and bustle of the market but once done, rather than hang around, we headed off to explore Quarteira.  We’d passed the roundabout for it many times but had never gone there.

Quarteira is about half an hour from Faro.  The main beach extends along the length of the town and there is a pretty tree lined promenade that allows easy access to the entire beach.  It might not be as popular as Albufeira or Portimão but it has it’s charm.  We enjoyed it probably because it’s off season and the beach, most restaurants, and streets, were pretty empty.  We took a long lovely stroll on the beach then explored for a few blocks off the beach.  A Christmas market was underway and the local fish/vegetable market was still open.  We both liked it very much.

Hundreds of gulls were swarming and yakking up a storm in the harbour.

The sun was quite warm today. The temperature here was 21 and we were both overdressed.

The beach was pretty pristine.

This gull was frantically trying to eat this yellow buoy!!

We had walked out the harbour all and this is Quarteira behind us

Sp many lovely sail boats enjoying this warm and sunny day.

This brave man was enjoying the enormous waves. He stayed in for quite some time.

I think Santa looks about 18 years old!!!

This lovely chimney reminded me of a wedding cake.

The entire front of this establishment was tiled in tiny pieces.

I smiled when I saw this staircase. Imagine carrying your purchases up and then finding you both don’t quite fit on that last turn|||!

The promenade goes from one end of town to the other. You can walk for kms.

We laughed today as we realized that frequently when we are out and about and it’s time for lunch, we both love to have pizza!!!!  Stumbled on a place right on the main road with the sea across from us.  The patio was open but the sign advertising hand made pizza appealed to us so Gusto’zza it was.  We were not at all disappointed.

Marc’s ham/cheese mushroom calzone

My delicious anchovy and caper pizza

Another walk along another beach after lunch……

That’s Quarteira in the background.

Look at those lovely ocher cliffs

Not sure why this is hazy thought I’d include it anyway.

A very satisfying day of exploring something new.  We took the backroads to home, which was delightful on this particular afternoon.  Through one tiny village after another and we basically had those roads to ourselves.  We climbed up the mountain from Almancil and across another mountain through  Santa Bárbara de Nexe and down  the mountain into Estoi.  I love that I have discovered these back roads and can easily maneuver about without hitting the highways.

Once home I was still itching to move and decided to head out for a walk and Marc would meet me in the square at 17h00.

This is as large as a dinner plate.

Newly painted house decoration.

Our resident stork is back. He/She is here every year and this is the first time this year we have sent it.

This caught my eye and I thought it was lovely.

I was walking down this lane and the sun on the gazebo caught my eye.

As I was making my way to the square I heard a commotion……turns out the Estoi Motorcycle club was raising money for charity and they were just heading to the main square to end their adventure.

By the time I arrived at the square they were there, beers had been consumed and they were getting ready to head off and call it a day.  A great cause and they were obviously having much fun.

A lovely visit with Ana and Simão, an aperitif and now we are home.  Dinner is just about ready, the wine is opened and the fire is snap, pop, and crackling!  How good does it get.