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As I mentioned over here, this was quite the spontaneous trip, which was also suddenly extended from an overnight stay to three nights when I found a charming little inn that had a special 3-night offer going. Pipocas and her husband Chucky (not his real name 😉 ) really made this trip special by taking Nog & me out for lunch every day and also driving us to places near Tavira that we would have never seen otherwise.

As Chucky is Portuguese he ‘did the honours’ at mealtimes, ordering all the food and drink so that we often didn’t know what was coming until it showed up at the table. This was quite a refreshing change for me since I’m usually the one doing this for friends visiting Sevilla. It was nice to be on the receiving end for a change and be totally taken care of.

Muito obrigada, Pipocas & Chucky! 🙂

Here are some of my travel notes on what we saw and did. There are also a few small photos here – if you’d like to see the complete photo album just click here…

~ Tavira photos ~

Monday 17 March

  • Up at 5.30 in the morning and out of the house at 6.45 without too much fretting over the cats.
  • Had stupidly told Sebastiao that we’d be arriving between 11-11.30 (adding an hour at the border instead of subtracting one) so we ended up getting to the inn around 9.15. After trying to get through to the still-sleeping Sebastiao we went to a little café we’d passed on our way from the bus station and half-way through our brekky we got a call saying our room was ready and that Sebastiao was waiting for us.

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  • Immeditately fell in love with the inn and our very charming and spacious room. The only disappointment ws that Nog’s laptop couldn’t pick up the wifi connection, so we brought it along for nuthin. But oh well…
  • Pipocas and family picked us up around 12.30 and took us to a nearby village called Santa Luzia for lunch, presided over by her husband Chucky, who is Portuguese. It was lovely to just sit back, sip chilled vinho verde and have dish after dish of fabulous food ordered for us. Entertainment was provided by their 4-year-old daughter – the Kidlet – who was so cute and charming that I forgot to be intimidated (little kids usually scare the bejesus outta me).

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  • After lunch we came back to Tavira and all of us strolled around the old centre for a couple of hours.
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  • Then Nog & I went to buy a few supplies and came across this frantic tree-climbing dog … the object of its desire was clearly unperturbed (you can click on these two images to see them more clearly).

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  • Got back to the inn around 7.30. Still no internet, the tv was crap and we weren’t very hungry. So after a bit of bread & cheese and a glass of wine we were so zonked (having been up since 4.30am Portuguese time) that we were tucked up in bed by 9 o’clock.

Tuesday 18 March

  • Woke up at 6.30 (7.30 Seville time) really missing the cats … *sigh*
  • Then after a shower and a slight wardrobe crisis (should have brought less summery clothes) we wandered into the old centre again and had brekky in the main square, next to the Roman bridge. Shortly afterwards we were whisked away to a little mountain village called Cachopo (which I previously mentioned over here).
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  • And we did indeed have wild boar for lunch, as well as a local dish of fava beans, pork and black pudding – all of it excellent. We also had all sorts of weather up there, which is typical for mountain areas.
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  • After lunch we headed back down the mountain towards Faro. By the time we got there the wind had really picked up so we just took a short stroll around the centre near the cathedral before making our way back to Tavira.
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  • Then we were taken to the beautiful guesthouse that P&C were staying at, where I got to play on the internet for awhile in the very roomy and comfortable lounge area whilst sipping on a cold beer and watching the sun go down over the gardens. Yet another lovely day.

Wednesday 19 March

  • Woke up at 4am to the sound of heavy rain … re-awoke at 8 to a rather heavy drizzle. But by the time we left the inn for breakfast the skies were clearing and it promised to be quite a pleasant day.
  • Made contact with Pipocas during brekky and discovered that Chucky had hurt his back, ruling out any driving trips. And so Nog & I wandered around the centre of town for awhile and happened upon a lovely art print & gift shop run by a woman from Wales. She recommended a nearby place for lunch and Chucky was well enough to manage a couple of hours with us so we could all have lunch together.
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  • Later Nog & I tried to catch the ferry to the beach, as the day had really brightened up, but a couple of old guys we passed along the way told me the ferry stopped running at 5 o’clock (I was quite pleased with being able to understand their Portuguese) so we wandered back to the centre.
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  • This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because about half an hour later it began seriously raining again so we stopped into a little bar (with a rather OTT marine motif happening) and later popped next door to the internet place. Later on in the evening we had quite a nice dinner at a “churrasquiera” and also got to see a bit of Tavira at night.
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Thursday 20 March
  • Last day in Tavira and the weather was keeping us guessing. As we had to check out of the inn by 12 o’clock, P&C came and picked us up just before then and took us to a small place outside of Tavira called Pinheiro for a final lunch, which turned out to be the best meal of all …
  • With a bit of time to kill before the bus left for Sevilla, we came back into Tavira and went on a ‘bread hunt’ as it occurred to me that Paula (our neighbour and cat-sitter, who is from Lisbon) might like some Portuguese bread. Also found an Algarve snow-globe to add to my collection. And suddenly it was time to go home . . .

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  • Somewhat of a bus ride from HELL as it was packed full of young American students who’d got on at Lagos (thank goodness for my new ipod! – also some funny text messages from Pipocas and a couple of calls from my clothing website designer to discuss some changes there helped while away the time). We’d been dreading the walk back from the bus station as Semana Santa is in full swing here, but apparently it had rained during the day and most of the processions had been called off. So although there were still hordes of people milling about everywhere, we were able to get through without too many detours.
  • Then home to the cats – Sunny was waiting at the door all doggy-like, but it took awhile to get Azar to stop sulking and come out from under the bed for a proper snibble and brushing. And after a nice hot shower I fell into my bed feeling very tired and happy. A lovely ending to a very pleasant holiday.

~ Tavira photos ~