I’mstill 24 hours behind in my blogs but I’m hoping to catch up tomorrow as life here where we’re staying in Olhos de Água is a lot more relaxed. Our touring is over, now there’s time to enjoy beach-time..

Leaving Lisbon wasn’t without its regrets. We’d loved staying there to explore different facets of the city. It’s certainly changed since we were last here in 2010 and some of those changes haven’t been for the better, even so, it remains a great city.

Having checked out of our hotel we had one last superb pastry breakfast outside the station whilst admiring the trio of cruise ships which had arrived overnight. Some of these things are behemoths, more akin to a floating town than a ship.

Having fortified ourselves we caught a local train to Oriente station where our Intercity service to Albufeira was due to leave at 14:02. Oriente’s a really interesting multi-level, modern station built in 1998. In some ways it reminds me of Berlin Hauptbahnhof – only without the layered railways. Below tracks it’s an exercise in futuristic concrete and shopping whilst above tracks its roof owes more to Moorish traditions and austere platforms.

Our train South was packed. As it was probably our last rail journey of this trip I’d booked us into 1st Class, which was an interesting experience as we had seats in the ‘half and half’ car which is split between 1st class and the buffet area. That’s fine, apart from the fact there’s bugger all luggage storage compared to a normal 1st class coach. Either you stick your cases in the overhead luggage racks or you leave ’em clogging the isles.

The train was packed, so people-watching was always going to be fun. We had one group of middle-aged American women who embarked at Entrecampos. Having dumped their bags in the racks they demanded a family move as they were occupying ‘their’ seats. Needless to say, the Yanks were in the wrong carriage! Once we were settled into the journey and Dawn was dozing in her seat I nipped next door to have a beer in the buffet car and indulge in more people watching as the coach wifi wasn’t playing ball, so the blogging I’d intended to do went out of the window.

The buffet car’s popular with late travellers who’ve booked a ticket but can’t get a seat reservation so some people ensconce themselves for the duration, either in the table bays or squatting on the stools lining the coach sides. Many others drift in and out, giving you an idea of how international the clientele are. The Portugese woman behind the counter was kept on her feet all the way but still dealt with the queues with aplomb. There’s all ages and backgrounds on these trains. One battered old Portugese chap caught my eye. His luggage consisted of a sleeping bag in a carrier bag and a small daypack. His clothes and straw hat were as weathered as his face. He kept himself to himself as he chugged red wine, but I got the impression he’d seen a few things in life. He was another people-watcher too…

We arrived at Albufeira late, but that was no real problem. We grabbed one of the plentiful taxis at the station and within 25 minutes (and some confusion over door numbers) we entered our new abode – which is a lovely little villa on an enclosed estate. I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

Having settled in we explored our new ‘manor’. There’s several restaurants and a supermarket just down the road. We plumped for one local eaterie and ended up having some of the best (and best value) Sardines of the trip – just 9.95 Euros for this little lot!

Tomorrow we’ll be staying close to home and checking out the beaches as this is the restful part of the trip. Plus, we hear the weather back in the UK is less than clement, so we’re going to make the most of wall to wall sunshine and temperatures in the 30s whilst we can!

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