Sunday 25th October 2015 – Quarteira, Portugal

We decided to stay another day in Quarteira to investigate the town a little more. This time we walked in (30 mins) and took a stroll along the very long promenade with the huge stretch of deserted beach. As it was a Sunday, there were many locals doing the same thing and the majority of people were Portuguese whereas yesterday in Vilamoura, the vast majority of people were tourists, mainly British.

We walked along one of the arms of the harbour and checked out the fishing fleet. The fish market that was busy yesterday was closed today but there were plenty of fish restaurants looking for customers. We couldn’t turn down the opportunity to have some really fresh fish so we chose the Adega do Peixa, not the most sophisticated-looking restaurant but it was very close to the fish market and was advertising exactly what we wanted, a mixed fish platter for two. We chose a seat in the window upstairs where we could see the sea and had a very good meal. The platter was large and consisted of sardines, mackerel, sea bream and sea bass all charcoal grilled and all very fresh.

We had checked with the owner of the British Bar that he was covering the second semi-final of the rugby and he confirmed that was although it would be without sound. So it was that we watched Australia v Argentina rugby with the commentary of a Liverpool v Southampton football match. It was a surreal experience and I never got used to the fact that when the referee’s whistle sounded, it had nothing to do with the match! It was a good match and most of the people in the bar where watching the rugby rather than the football. Having said that, the rugby commentary would have been in Portuguese so we wouldn’t have understood a word.

Photos: Portugal is famous for its painted tiles, a tradition that is still very much alive today. This is a modern example at the Quarteira bus station and shows a well with an endless bucket system to raise the water, something that we have seen all over Portugal; The Quarteira fishing fleet crowded into the port; View of the beach from the harbour.