Day 43-49: Ferries, nosebleeds, mosquitoes and other stories

Day 43-49.

Chris' family gives us some tips for the south coast of Portugal. Our first stop is Olhão, from where you can take a small ferry to the surrounding islands and stroll along the miles of sandy beaches. No sooner said than done.

The campsite employee explains to us which island is the most beautiful, which bus we should take and where we should get off. The ferry leaves at 11am and the bus only takes 7 minutes to get to the pier. Perfect. Everything is super easy.

The next day, the beach tent, towels, sandwiches and Lore are packed in the bike trailer/stroller and we trudge to the bus stop right in front of the campsite. The bus arrives, which is more like a call-a-ride taxi, but the stroller fits easily in. Yes, really easy. The bus driver presses the accelerator so hard that Lore flies out of her seat in the back of the stroller. (She sleeps the whole way through, but Eva still checks every 2 minutes in a panic to make sure she doesn't break her neck on the bumpy road). After 10 minutes of driving, we notice that we are driving down the same road again and there is no sign of the ferry dock or the beach promenade. Everything is easy, we still have 10 minutes before the boat sets off. Another 5 minutes later, we are still nowhere near the harbor and the bus driver is chatting happily with the other 3 older passengers. Chris goes to the front and double-checks: "Ferry?"

“Yes! Yes!”

At 10:58 we arrive at the stop mentioned above, we can already see the ferry, packed full of people. We rush out of the bus, Chris runs to the ticket counter, Eva takes the (still!) sleeping Lore to the jetty. With tickets waving and tongues hanging out we arrive at the jetty, just at that moment the boat sets off and Lore wakes up. Timing. Not so easy after all.

Such. a. bummer. The next ferry doesn't leave for another 4 hours, it's not worth it. Annoyed, we trudge back and don't know what to do with the day. But. There are other islands around the Rio Formosa. Not quite as paradisiacal, but hey, boating is nice too.

So an hour later we drive to the island of Armona and push ourselves to the beach with 100 other tourists. It really isn't that nice, but we made the best of it. Tomorrow we'll go to the nicer island! And one bus earlier, who knows where the bus driver will go this time.

The next day we get up on time and double-check the bus timetable. Wait a minute. No rides??? Oh no, today is a holiday and no bus is running in Olhão. No matter, we have the damn tickets to the island, we're going there now. Because despite it being a holiday, at least the ferry is running. So we call a taxi, which costs 10 times the price of the bus, but it's a nice taxi driver who promptly pushes the stroller into his Toyota and we squeeze in the back.

This time we arrive at the jetty way ahead of schedule and, just to be on the safe side, we line up half an hour before departure. That made sense because after a few minutes we see people turning away from the jetty in annoyance - the boat is full. We've done it!

The day on the island of Farol is great and the beach is really heavenly, fine and white! So it was worth it!

We continue with a detour to Falesia, where we get the best spot on a large parking space. Only 3 minutes walk to the beach! But it's a long way from the toilet, which also costs 50 cents. No way! We'd rather pee in our toilet box.

The beach in Falesia is also beautiful and we laze around in the sun (if that's possible with a baby). In the evening we have the second pizza of the trip and the first Aperol Spritz! 👌

We chug along just 50 minutes to the next town, Salema, we are almost at the southernmost tip. On the way there, we do the tourist thing and look at the Ponta da Piedade, THE postcard image of the Algarve. On the way to the best vantage point of the spectacular rock formations, blood suddenly spurts out of Eva's nose. It drips onto the child, onto her clothes, onto the path, but the tourists still push past you undeterred... well, anything for the best photo! After half an hour, with empty wet wipes and ice on our necks, we take the obligatory postcard photo and then drive on to the Eco Camp in Salema.

The campsite is huge and we walk around the site several times before we find a spot. It's tough to choose. The mosquitoes are also a pain, as it turns out, and they attack us at night. Citronella bracelets and incense sticks don't help much. "That's nature," says the woman at the reception with a shrug when Eva answers her question about the mosquito-filled night.

We take a shuttle from the campsite to the beach and are amazed at the huge waves. Splashing around is out of the question today. Instead, we move three times because the tide almost washes away our beloved new beach tent each time.

We're now heading up the west coast and are really enjoying the relaxed beach days, but our fingers are slowly itching for a bit more action. Let's see when we can throw ourselves on the first surfboard. 🌊🏄