Holiday snaps

By Ian Urie

Ok, I normally head to Turkey for a holiday.
The weather's lovely, the food's great and the people friendly.
However this year, the wife and I decided to have a week away without the kids.
We picked somewhere different (this is more difficult than it sounds with my wife).
My wife loves history, I like lazy days in sunshine with lots of cold drinks.
We decided on Portugal, which satisfied both appetites.
Our destination was Armacao De Pera, just a few miles from Albufeira on the Algarve.
   



Weather was lovely and at the time of year (April), the resort was practically empty.
I must admit, this appealed greatly to me, queues and busy beaches aren't my thing.
At this time of year, you get an awful lot of pensioners as well, so breakfast in the hotel tended
to resemble a scene from Cocoon.

The hotel itself was very nice and I'd recommend it to anyone.



It was the Vila Gale Nautico.

In this part of the country the speciality is sardines.



I'd better mention a warning here.
The sardines are a local speciality and, very tasty they are,but,
you pay per person and they keep bringing them until you say stop.
I made it through two and a half platefuls before I gave in.

The coastline is mostly sandstone , so erosion is constant,
which leads to pretty spectacular views.
Here's the beach from the other "end".



The cliffs are a delight to walk along, and give lots of photo opportunities.



There's some beautiful little beaches in amongst the outcrops.



Armacao De Pera is probably lively around June, but pretty empty as I pointed out, in April.
We decided to make the most of no kids and go on all the excursions they offered.
That's the history part.
A fairly lengthy journey took us through Spain to Gibraltar.



On the hillside getting driven to Gib, you can't miss the  famous bull of the  region.
Yes, that is a mast next to it, that should give a clue to the size.

Gibraltar.
The wife was in heaven learning facts like it has only 22 miles of roads and 50 odd miles of tunnels in the Rock.
Gib imports more diesel than the whole of France!
Eh???
One of the main sources of income is refueling all the ships passing by, hence the large amount of diesel.



The Mosque  built by a greatful ruler.

There's also St Michaels Cavern inside the rock with superb lighting illustrating the stalagmites and tites.



They've also built a concert hall within it.

Of course there's always the apes..........