Faro, Lagos and Praia de Luz

This was my 2nd day in Faro and as promised, I made me way to Lagos and the Praia de Luz to try to go sailing. I took the hour and 45 minute train to Lagos and then the bus was about 20 minutes or so. Figuring out which bus was a little difficult. The ticket agent just pointed me in the right direction and said it leaves at 9:25. All was good until 2 buses pulled up at the same time. One said Luz on it, so I asked the driver if it was going to Praia de Luz and it was. Whew! The bus was pretty uneventful although the entire trip from Faro took me nearly 3 hours, including waiting a few minutes for the bus to arrive.

Unfortunately, when I got there, the weather wasn't good enough to go and they weren't taking any of the boats out. They set off from the beach and with the wind shifting in the wrong direction, it caused quite a bit of waves that would've made it difficult to even get past. The guy told me I could wait around till the afternoon to see if things would change and check back in. So, I hung around the beach and walked through town. The beach was absolutely beautiful. I wish it had been a nicer day, but I was happy with what I saw.

I had a great lunch of fish and chips and a place overlooking the water. With a fairly cheap meal, I really can't complain about any of it.

Then I took a walk around town and found a sign pointing to natural springs. I had to take these stone steps down the cliffs, which led me to a spring and also the underside of the cliffs. That was probably the best part. It was pretty cool to just sit there under the cliffs and watch the water crash against the waves.

After walking around, I made my way back to the beach. I pretty much knew that it was a no go before I spoke to the guy because I could see the waves had gotten even worse since I arrived. I was pretty bummed about not getting to sail. I somehow managed to pick the ONLY bad day they have had in a while and the weather is forecasted to be way better and right on track tomorrow. I could question my decision to stay in Faro rather than Lagos after knowing that I could've gone straight to Lagos from Lisbon and gone sailing yesterday, but there is not point in doing that. It won't change anything and I'll just bum myself out even more.

I made my way back to Lagos on the bus immediately after confirming I wouldn't be sailing. I had missed the 2 pm train, so I had about 2 1/2 hours until the next train. I figured if I couldn't sail, I should at least try to get a tour of the grottoes. There are several cliffs and rock formations along the coast of Lagos and many have caves underneath. Visitors can either go with a commercial/vendor or just a local fisherman and get a one hour tour of the grottoes, where they will drive the boat inside. I found a fisherman on the promenade that would take me anytime. The problem was that I was by myself and they require a 20 Euro minimum to take the boat out when otherwise it is 12.50 Euros per person. They said it was up to me and I could either try to find someone or just pay extra and go on my own. After asking a few people, I decided to just go on my own. And I am very glad I did. Getting a private tour of the grottoes was pretty awesome. The fisherman was clearly a local and not from one of the tourist joints, so that made it a little more special. Aside from getting seasick from the VERY choppy water, I had a great time. I was able to take a lot of pictures and some video too. Here are a few pictures of the cliffs and caves:

The tour was my last stop in Lagos. I had an hour until my train left, so I just walked through the pedestrian streets in town and made my way to the train station. I'm back in Faro now for my last night. Tomorrow, I will head off to Coimbra at 7 am. Sad to say that after tonight, I am halfway through my trip already!