My next stop would be Albufeira.  On my way there, I passed through some massive resort areas where, I guess, over the hill Brits come to spend the winter.  Definitely don't want to spend the night in some pricey resort town (so far Portugal has been quite kind on the wallet).  So I took a quick clip in front of the town hall figuring I'd soon be moving on. 

Turns out, Albufeira is fantastic!  the old town is build on a cliff overlooking a rugged coastline--and then there's this tunnel you can go through that leads to the ocean--and at night the bars around the plaza are booming with dance music and some really good live bands...and 3 Euros for a fish dinner? Can't beat that! 

A nice hike along the rocky coast heading east as well...

Our apartment turned out to be amazing, 4* apartment and it was very cheap! we were set right in between old town and The Strip where most of the bars and restuarants were.  We went on a jeep safari which took us through the counrtyside of the Algarve. It was beatutiful and we got to sample local delicaces such as fire water and honey which was great. We saw olive trees and cork trees which had be shaved for the cork in the bark. Apart from the very bumpy ride it was great!!! We also went to the local water park which encorporated a sealife centre as well, we saw a dolphin show which was amazing and also a seal version of peter pan!  The night life was really good as long as you stick to your gut feelings and dont go into every bar that offers you 'free' alcohol.  We took a trip down to the beach one day, when i say down i mean a very steep walk down to the beach!  once there it was not too crowded and the sea was lovely, the only problem was getting back up the slippery steep hill in flip flops in the heat! Overall i really enjoyed this holiday the weather was just right our trips out gave us a wider range of the algarve and the accomadation and food was great!

Om 7.30 uur zijn we bij Cerro branco. Een goed appartement op een prachtige plek.

“Al-b-Sunburnt” Hotel Aldeia 3-Star Hotel Ave Dr. Francisco Sa Carneiro, Albufeira 8200-280, Portugal ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Making the Booking ~~~~~~~~~~~~ My friend Emma and I wanted a short break in the sun and decided to go away for a few days. I went to the travel agents, whilst she sat on her Mother and Father's computer for the best part of 2 ½ hours searching Internet sites for cheap last minute deals for 4 to 5 days departing on the Wednesday or Thursday. I could only find deals for 7-nights and over and we both considered that far too long to be spending with one another after 8-days cramped in a small tent @ the world cup already under our belts. We actually did want to remain good friends after our holiday you see! I joined her at her Mother and Fathers to trawl the internet for deals and after 2 hours, all we could find on all the last minute bookings sites, was a 4-day break to the Algarve for £260 each! Sounded expensive to me for 4-days but "…it includes breakfast" stated Emma and "…we don't want to stay here for the rest of our time off do we?" … So, I bit the bullet and we booked via one of the many last minute holiday websites. Before I knew it, Emma was on the phone to some lady at a travel agency in London and we were all booked onto an early morning Easy Jet flight out of East Midlands Airport to Faro Airport on the Thursday morning. ~~~~~~ Transfers ~~~~~~ Faro Airport is a 2-½ hour flight from the East Midlands, so the Algarve is easily reached from in between 2 and 3 hours from any of the UK's major airports. This surprised me somewhat actually, and the Algarve as a holiday destination has become much more attractive to me over destinations such as Turkey, where the flight time is another 1-½ - 2 hours more. The Algarve, served by Faro Airport, is littered with resorts and golf courses along its southern and western coastline. "Albufeira" is located a 30 minute transfer from the airport. Most tour operators will include the price of transfers within the price of the holiday, but I don't actually think our booking was via a tour operator as such, so transfers needed to be sorted out ourselves. This, we thought, was easy enough and, once at the airport it appeared that way, as there were plenty of taxis parked outside the rank outside the airport. As I know very, very basic Spanish, I tried my greetings, as I believed them to be very similar in Portuguese, and this drew a pleasant welcome from the Portuguese taxi driver who assisted us with our baggage into the boot of his taxi. I promptly showed him a copy of our hotel confirmation with the address of the hotel in Albufeira, which he retained as I bundled into the rear of the taxi. I must state at this stage that Emma was a little worried about the hotel and whether it was, for want of a better word, going to be a right "shit hole"! "Don't worry, it was advertised as 4 star on the website..", I reminded her as the taxi pulled away from the airport…. "For a holiday hotel, 4 stars has got to be a very decent standard…" I continued. Em looked less sure when the taxi driver continually stared down blankly at our hotel reservation …. "He doesn't know the hotel" she stated nervously. "Nah, it will be fine.." I replied, "He's just toying with us, having a little fun! Of course he knows the hotel. It's 4-star isn't it? You did say the internet rated it as 4-star didn't you?", trying to hide a mild sense of panic that had overcome me at this stage! The taxi driver then continued onto the highway and we both settled back sure that he knew where the hotel was…. Until, that is, we arrived at the resort of Albufeira 30 minutes later! It took the driver, complete with satellite navigation system, address look up system, and a telephone call to some lady at the local tourist office number stated on my confirmation, more than 15 minutes to locate the hotel. He, of course, didn't speak a jot of Ingles and my infuriated comments concerning stopping the metre where in vain, as the Muppet of a driver wandered aimlessly from one restaurant bar to another asking whether anyone knew of our hotel? It didn't look encouraging, and this panicked Emma even more that we would be staying 4-days in some grotty hellhole. I, on the other hand, was a little more concerned at the fact the meter was still ticking over. "What's he doing Scouse?" I was asked… "He's taking the piss is what he is doing! I wish this were one of those Matrix moments when I could be fully loaded up with the knowledge of the Portuguese language. Damn my Englishness!" Finally, after 15 minutes of driving, parking, head scratching and general searching, we turned up outside our hotel, which didn't look all that bad. It was located just off the cross roads in the middle of the main street of Albufeira. "He HAS been taking the piss…" I muttered, "..the hotel couldn't be any more central!". Not fully content with the journey so far, yet having already stopped the meter, our taxi duly turned his taxi around outside the main entrance and drove alongside the hotel up the one-way street towards the rear, where there was a small entrance. The driver duly turned up this entrance and almost parked in the hotels' small garage, once more scratching his head. "We'll get out here…" screamed Em and I, as he proceeded in reversing the taxi back out onto the main road. And on we went, up the street away from the hotel. "What's he doing Scouse?" "Seriously, this joker is having a laugh…!" I responded, starting to get a little angry. The taxi driver finally managed to circle the block and park back outside the hotel in almost exactly the same point he had parked 5 minutes earlier. "Quick, fling your door open before he takes off again" I instructed her as she announced "Thank f*** for that!". €45 for a grand tour of Albufeira … not bad with a transfer from the airport thrown in too I thought! We unloaded our baggage and the taxi driver quickly went to depart, as I asked for my hotel reservation. Somewhat confused by my request, it took me another couple of minutes to retrieve my hotel reservation details, as Em was almost at the foot of the hotel. "He was, what you call a Portuguese fuck wit", I announced as I caught her up. Morale of the story? Print off directions and a map from the Internet before your holiday…. In the local language if need be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check-In & Check-out ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The time? 10.30am There were two very pleasant ladies behind the reception desk, one of whom spoke very good English and advised us that check-in was a 2pm, but that there were toilets down the stairs and that we could go out and use the pool area. At this stage, we were asked to complete the registration card and submit one passport. Returning at 2pm on the dot, we were presented with one room key for 109, Em's passport was duly returned (whether that had been forged in the intervening period is anyone's guess, but as we weren't in Russia, they probably required more time), and we were wished a pleasant stay. Something I didn't note was that we looked at TripAdvisor before we departed, and some advice was to ensure we requested a twin room, if required, and ensure it was poolside. This was requested when we made the booking. The key card was inserted into room 109 and the door handle had to be turned before you could retrieve the card and lock the door behind you. The lights were then operational by inserting the key card into a slot by the door. In we walked to see 1 double bed, where upon I performed the best pirouette you have ever seen, and marching back out to reception. Presenting the booking details I stated to the receptionist that we had "requested" a poolside twin room, but had been provided with neither. "It is upon request and we have no poolside rooms available… we have one twin left though!", the receptionist said rather baffled, wondering whether we were some frigid English couple. "That will be fine thank you very much", as she handed me room key 101. That's ominous I thought. Hope I am not banished there forever! Anyway, I would rate check-in as fast, efficient and friendly. Check-out consisted of handing the key back to reception because we had fully pre-paid! The hotel can book a taxi for your return trip to the airport. I checked with the taxi driver to ensure he knew which airport we were flying from. After all, I didn't want him trying to find some small airfield or army base somewhere near Faro! The return leg was somewhat quicker and cost €40, plus tips if you so desired. ~~~~~~~ The Hotel ~~~~~~~ It is located in the "new" town of Albufeira on the "strip", which consists of white washed café bars, restaurants, shops and bars. It is certainly located within the lively part of town. Hotel da Aldeia, to provide it's full title, was built in the traditional local style with large terraces overlooking the gardens and two sizeable swimming pools surrounded by gardens, tennis court, mini golf and childrens playground. The hotel has 128 bedrooms and 5 suites, all with balcony, air conditioning, heating, Satellite TV, direct phone and individual safe. Housekeeping services are provided daily, to re-make beds and freshen up towels. The hotel provides 4 restaurants, namely "Nacoes restaurant" serving breakfast and buffet dinner with International cuisine; "Regioes restaurant" serving typical Portuguese dishes; "Belver Steak Bar" and the "Terrace Restaurant". Guests can also enjoy a refreshing drink at the Cafe Bar, and during the summer time there is also a Pool Side Snack Bar, which provides some light meals, ideal for lunching in the sunshine. We enjoyed quite a few beers in the 30-odd degree sunshine by the poolside, which had plenty of sunloungers and was very peaceful and tranquil. At least up until a stag-do of 30 British lads turned up! The only disadvantage of not having a poolside bedroom was the noise from the bars and restaurants along the strip during the evening. If you wanted to get to sleep prior to 5am, then this could feasibly prevent you from doing so. However, I did not personally have too much trouble sleeping, particularly when I come in annihilated one night, 3 hours after Emma had returned home. As you are only given one key, I had to awake her, before I stumbled into the bedroom, duly stripped naked (how unpleasant for the poor girl), jumped into MY bed and fell asleep! Tehehe … she recounted the funny story the next afternoon, when I finally got out of bed and joined her poolside. Breakfast was included within the rate and was served between 7am and 10pm everyday. It wasn't a bad breakfast, but don't expect any fully fried English shit … it was all cereals, toasts, preserves, fruit juices, tea, ham, cheese, and croissants. The service within the hotel was always prompt and friendly, so I couldn't really ask for too much more. ~~~~~~~~ The Resort ~~~~~~~~ The Resort is split into a "new" town and "old" town, the latter being 2kms from our hotel. The strip in the new town is littered with restaurants, bars, cafes and shops all tailored towards tourists and, as such, probably a little more expensive than none tourist areas of Portugal. However, all in all, prices were not too bad with the Matteus Rose Wine being a particularly good purchase / selection during food. The restaurants generally offered a mixture of cuisine, from fresh fish, to salads, pastas, pizzas, and typical Mediterranean cuisine. The bars and clubs were lively and full of a range of different age groups, with many families enjoying the bars, as well as couples, and groups of young males and females. The latter being of particular glee to me! Hehehe All in all, I would highly recommend the hotel and the resort, but if you are planning a completely relaxing holiday and wish to get sleep early, make sure your bedroom is not facing the strip !!