Salema & Algarve Coast - Portugal

May 17 - 21: We know, we know...another 4 day weekend in Switzerland?! Yep, that's right. This time, we took off for Lisbon, Portugal with our final destination being the Algarve Coast, specifically Salema (a favorite of none other than Rick Steves). Anna and Braden had flown a day ahead of us, so it was Josh, Erin, Andy and Shannon arriving in Lisbon around 11pm on Thursday. We rented a car (Andy's choice, a convertible which unfortunately didn't have much of a backseat and the four of us were crammed in for the three hour drive ahead!) We arrived in Salema (a small fishing village right on the Atlantic Ocean) around 2am. Thankfully Braden & Anna had already found us accommodations, this time another Croatian style "Sobe" (though it's called a "Quarto" in Portugal) owned by an older local man who didn't speak a lick of English. Braden was able to communicate in his best Portuguese to make sure we got a good deal ;-)

It's hard to say exactly what we did in Portugal day to day...Four fun-filled days at the beach, playing in the ocean and sipping on margaritas, followed by dinners with fantastic seafood and trips to the local bars started to run together after a while! I think it's best at this point just to attach some pictures and explain it this way (this time we all had our cameras!)

(Above: Anna, Andy, Shannon & Braden playing in the Atlantic)

(Above: The group having dinner ocean-side)

(Above: You guessed it, no trip is complete without a boat trip!)
(Above: Walking down the cliff to our grotto-ride)
(Above: Inside the grotto!)
(Above: One of our many stops to indulge in great food and some sangria!)
(Above: Cheers to another successful trip...more to come!)
Unfortunately, on our way home Andy, Josh, Erin and I had been booked on an oversold flight, and wound up sleeping in the airport for most of the night only to be put on a flight at 6am the next day! TAP airlines is supposed to be giving us "compensation" in the form of cash...but we've yet to see it. We'll keep you posted ;-)