You need a break from your holiday...🤭

We are traveling in the Alentenjo and are alternating our spots between the sea, lakes and rivers. It is now so hot that we definitely need water for both the dog and the human. But that is not a problem in Portugal 😊.

We find a great spot with its own sandy beach at a small, sweet reservoir. The dogs are overjoyed and roll around in dead carp. Great! The two stink of carrion, so we quickly unpack the root brush and shampoo and give them a sea wash. We scrub as hard as we can and Lucy still stinks of fish days later! A large snake slithers across the path in front of us and we keep discovering dead fish, which our dogs find magical. Unfortunately, the two have to stay on a leash from now on...which doesn't go down so well😅.

Near Sines, in a simple parking lot by the sea, a fire engine suddenly drives up. Detlef and Katrin are sitting inside with their sweet dog Pina. We had already chatted with the two of them briefly somewhere else, but there was no time for more. Now we meet here again by chance and a short time later we are sitting together chatting. When a young man in a suit and a folding bike comes by and we meet Stefan from Cologne, who has cycled from Cologne to Lisbon on a small bike, the fun group is perfect. Travel anecdotes are exchanged and Stefan tells us a lot about his bizarre trip with a bike and a hammock. We chat for a long time and since there are no trees here, Stefan ends up sleeping on the ground next to our car! The next day he is standing in front of us again, looking dapper in a suit, vest, shirt and leather shoes... ready to continue his journey. What bizarre, interesting people you meet when you travel. We get on so well with Detlef and Katrin that we decide to travel on together. We end up together in Grandola at a chapel on a mountain and when Karin and Nicole join us, our tour is perfect. The parking lot is great and we have a magnificent view of the green Alentenjo. Cork oak forests stretch as far as the eye can see. Every 10 years the bark is peeled off and processed into cork. Then the year is written on the bark so that you know when you can harvest again without the trees being damaged. It is Sunday and there is a church festival up here on the mountain. A fire engine with blue lights is brought up to the statue of the Virgin Mary and the locals and scouts arrive too. A long service is held in the great old church and then there is a procession around the chapel three times with the heavy statue of the Virgin Mary on the men's shoulders. The priest encourages the prayers with a microphone. Afterwards there is food and drink for everyone. The locals are super friendly and the priest gives us a tour of all the rooms in the church. We learn from a local that almost the entire area now belongs to the English, Germans, French and Americans. They are buying up the whole land for a lot of money. The actor George Clooney also bought land here for 12 million euros. In return, we find the 'locals' to be very friendly to us tourists and we are very happy that everyone here can speak English. In any case, it was nice to experience such a traditional festival. Towards the evening, the six of us are alone again and enjoy a wonderful sunset.

We continue through the interior of the country. The green splendor slowly changes to a burnt brown. We pass rice fields! Rice is actually grown here and we look at the flooded fields in amazement.

We land at the Barragem Pego do Altar reservoir. We were here two years ago. But the lake barely had any water then. Now it is full to the brim and towards the evening we are all together again, sitting around chatting. The thermometer shows 35° the next day. Summer is here and, sweating, we set up our boat and go paddling. It is too hot for the dogs to go in the boat unprotected. They wait in the shade with long faces.

Near Sesimbra we find a fantastic spot in the pine forest on the cliffs. There is enough space for all three cars and we stay there for almost two weeks. The spot is wonderfully shady and both dog and owner are happy to be in the shade. We celebrate Kilian's 55th birthday in this beautiful place. A farmer comes by every few days with fresh strawberries and eggs. Suddenly Amy gets sick. She gets open wounds on her face and legs and is lethargic. We drive to the next town to the vet. He diagnoses a contact allergy and gives her antibiotics and an antihistamine. He also detects a heart murmur and recommends that we have an echocardiogram done soon. A few days later she is feeling better. We will visit a veterinary clinic somewhere along the way for this.

After a week, Detlef and Katrin are leaving us with their fire brigade, because Katrin has been ill for the last three weeks and now has to go to the doctor. We will hopefully meet again soon, because we have the same route north ahead of us. Take care, you two. It's nice that we met.

After another week in the dream forest, the remaining four of us are packing our vans. We have to go to the vet again tomorrow because Amy's wounds still haven't healed properly and we want to introduce her again.

Then we continue through beautiful Portugal and we are excited to see what other great places we will find. Portugal has already won us over in terms of landscape, even though the Portuguese have a completely different mentality to the Spanish. Portuguese people are often reticent, but here too we have only had positive experiences so far. The nice old farmer who comes by every two days with strawberries and eggs will definitely be sad when we leave. The two-week break from driving has done us good and our drive and desire to travel are back. The first big heatwave is over and next week temperatures will be around 25°. There is probably no better weather for travelling. We are horrified to read about the flooding in our homeland, Lake Constance, and wish everyone affected a lot of strength. We hope that the rain in Germany will finally end and that summer will arrive in Germany too.