Birthday vacation in Zambujeira do Mar - December 2nd - December 15th

The next morning, Switzerland does not offer any more tempting offers, although it is difficult for us to resist the cheese noodles with apple slices (...mmmhhhh....delicious...). We pack everything up and leisurely continue down the coast around noon. Our next destination is only 60 km away. We drive to Zambujeira do Mar, another small town on the beautiful Alentejo coast, which is even smaller than Porto Covo. On the way, we take a short break in Vila Nova des Milfontes and do some shopping before we reach our actual destination.

We like it here so much that we decide to stay for two weeks. We had initially planned for two days...! Since our daily routine is very similar during this time, I will summarize our vacation here. Our bus is parked under eucalyptus trees, the hammock is finally hung up, and we have plenty of space! The sanitary facilities have Christmas lights and the Christmas tree is decorated by the fireplace, wonderful! What more could you want...? We take daily walks through beautiful forests or along the rocky coast, often enjoy a cappuccino afterwards in the town, overlooking the sea, and watch the sunset. When we call home, no one can believe that it is still daylight for us...we can hardly imagine that it is already dark at home. The sun sets here around 5:30 p.m., and when we are back in Spain, it is even light longer because the clocks are turned back here, so it doesn't get dark until 6:30 p.m.

It's nice when the day is still so bright in winter!

In general, winter is really far away for us, let alone Christmas...although the Christmas lights here are hard to beat...not even in the deepest pot in our homeland!

In the meantime, Switzerland visits us for a few days and we treat ourselves to a delicious barbecue dinner at the restaurant twice. Fresh fish with potatoes and salad, very good! Actually, the campground doesn't have a real restaurant, there are only snacks and pizzas, but fresh meat or fresh fish are always freshly grilled upon order! It tastes really excellent. In general, we are now known here like the colorful dogs, because we are in the supermarket almost every day (we have never seen such a well-stocked campground supermarket, everything is available, even though we are in the off-season) or we play billiards in the evening, eat something, and sit by the fireplace with a cold or hot drink! The staff is very nice, sometimes they even treat us to a beer and always provide us with new firewood. It is incredibly familiar, the owner's family enjoys their dinner in the midst of the campers at a large table and always greets us friendly!

We feel so comfortable here that we keep staying longer. This is also the case for other campers. The German family, who has been living in France for years and is now traveling through Europe for a year with six people and a dog in an old fire truck, the small Polish family, the bourgeois-sporty Dutch, and our English neighbors all seem to feel very comfortable here. In total, there may be an average of 10-15 campers here, so it is very manageable. Accordingly, there is plenty of space for oneself and you don't immediately stare at the next fridge. There is also a radio in the sanitary facilities here, nice! Although we are really annoyed by the Christmas music, which would not be any different at home...! Better here :)

Almost every day, we consider when to move on and then we simply come to the decision to take a little vacation from the vacation here. We have already traveled more than 16,000 km and experienced a lot, and time is getting shorter and shorter, hard to believe that we have to go back home in six weeks.

We definitely decide to celebrate my birthday here, just lying in the hammock and enjoying our beautiful home here.

December 14th is actually sunny and I can celebrate my birthday as planned in shorts...hard to believe! Finally, enjoying a birthday beer on the cliffs and looking out over the Atlantic, wonderful! I receive many congratulations from home, which makes me very happy, and it is a beautiful day all around. In the evening, we have fresh fish grilled again and then relax in front of the fireplace!

Then it's really time to say goodbye, otherwise we will never leave here. We even briefly consider spending Christmas here, but we still want to see a few more things and we also miss the vagabond life a bit. So we decide to leave on Monday, December 16th, exactly two weeks later.

However, we are curious about what awaits us, as we hear from various people that Spain is crowded and all the campsites by the sea are fully booked over Christmas...huh?...after traveling for 4.5 months in the off-season only to end up in the "high season" at the end and meet all the retirees from Germany and England...with their damn fridges...? We will see what awaits us and hope to find some nice spots here and there.

Now it's time to continue towards the Algarve!

And if you want to take a vacation on the beautiful Alentejo coast in Portugal, you should definitely visit Camping Villa Park Zambujeira and send greetings from us, we really had a great time here!

PS: After onion wraps, homemade cough syrup, and huge amounts of tea, I have almost overcome the Portuguese cough, which has caught many people here (my goodness, it was stubborn...I even cooked tea from the eucalyptus leaves here in the forest...no idea if you can drink that...I just did it and it turned out fine...)! Jörni is also almost as agile as a prima ballerina again, because a witch bit him two weeks ago and he could hardly move for days...it didn't go as well as with his old man..., but we have that under control again and we are ready for new adventures!