By the way, the weather has been superb every day since we started the trail. It is perfect hiking conditions. Mornings begin around 60F and by mid-afternoon we are around 70F. Mostly sunny every day, with some afternoons providing a little cloud cover. We couldn’t imagine trying to navigate some of these descents from the cliffs to the beach in rainy or wet conditions so we are very thankful for the great weather (and it is no fun hiking in the rain on a regular basis).
Today we walked around the southwestern tip of Portugal and started heading north, which meant we would now be hiking along the windswept coast of Western Portugal. This is a very popular surfing area where you can find some of the largest waves in the world.
There is a lighthouse at the southwestern tip, which we learned is visible from over 30 miles at sea. You can’t access the lighthouse itself, but can walk up to the gate. This is a very popular tourist destination. It’s interesting to observe people showing up in a tour bus or car, spending 10-15 minutes walking around the area, and then leaving. I’m not meaning to be judgmental because that is basically how we have done much of our travel over the years (and in truth we only spent about 30 minutes here, most of it eating a bratwurst from a stand that advertises itself as the last bratwurst before America, which a gentlemen we met from Bavaria said was very authentic). When you have limited vacation time you have to carefully think about how you want to spend that time. And in this case, if you are in Southern Portugal for only a few days, why wouldn’t you want to make a quick trip to the “end of the world”. This reminds me of our whirlwind ship excursion during our Lisbon port visit last month. We quickly visited multiple tourist sites, spending very little time at each location. During the tour we spoke a lot with our guide Hugo (we were very chatty). At one point he said he found it odd that people don’t want to actually spend time to get to really know an area. It comes back to the question of how you want to spend your time. Now that we are retired we are not in a hurry, but when you have limited time, sometimes you really do want to see as much as you can (then when you do have more time you can go back to those places your really enjoyed). So on that note, during this trip we’ve talked a lot about how much you can see and appreciate while walking — you get a whole new perspective. We have the same appreciation when bike packing. As we were walking to and from that lighthouse, we were able to truly Land Snorkel (new term I read about – look it up). Julie sees the beauty in everything in nature. She will stop to look at a small grouping of plants that somehow found life in the most austere conditions. I use to never do that, but now I appreciate the endless shades of green present in a field.
That’s beautiful