We were a little late getting up…or should I say I was !!!! Our first apartment breakfast was served by John! He had fruit salad and I had toast and marmite both followed by cherry yogurt and coffee which we bring from home….We packed a beach bag and headed for the car. I had researched that a place called Sports Zone had beach chairs at a sensible price…I had also memorised the route…straight up the road in the direction of Lagos over two roundabouts and right at the next….hey presto we were there….i was dead chuffed with myself. Into Sports Zone I stride full of confident anticipation….bad news only the big stores in Lisbon and Faro stock them. I will not be foiled !!!! Sports Zone is next to a supermarket called Continente. We wandered all around but no chairs so I asked an elderly shop assistant who found a young lady to help us…she said to wait, so we did. 10 minutes later she came back with a trolly and assorted deck chairs. Most were the very low type which leave you virtually sat on the sand, but ! She had one high one with a high back and built in pillow. It didn’t have any arms but Hey Ho beggars can’t be choosers. I sat on it and it with held the weight so we asked if she had 2…..off she went again and came back with a matching pair of teal green ones…they were €20 each…bargain SOLD…YEAH!!!

Having stowed our newly acquired purchases in our very large boot we headed off to the marina. We wanted to suss out boar trips to see the spectacular caves and to dolphin watch. We skillfully found the marina but failed to find a parking space. Driving up and down tiny side streets and getting hopelessly lost. In the end we had no idea which direction we were going in, let alone where we were…..ahhhhh…..I turned on to a wider street and lo and behold infront of us was Lidl. I think it’s likely to be the only time in our lives that John was actually excited about going into Lidl. He suggested we forgot about the marina for the day and got the groceries and headed back to the beach at Luz to try out our new purchases….it was the far less stressful option.
Jak, my son, had told us Lidl had a good range of seafood, and he was not wrong. We purchased some gianr prawns and some king prawns, Stirfry, oil, and a number of other items to tide us over a few meals. After all it was Monday and we always have stir fried king prawns on a Monday !!!!!

It was as easy to get back to our apartment as it was going, in fact it took about 8 minutes. We off loaded our groceries and changed into swim suits. I quickly made a picnic and we were ready to go again. Back in the car and down to the beach…..oh no…. It was the first time the parking was all full….we said we’d give it 10 minutes, and sure enough after 7 minutes a couple wandered back to their large UK plates Audi and off they went and in we pulled….yipeee.. A 1 minute walk had us setting up camp on the beach. Chairs out and what a pleasurable lunch we had. After lunch I walked down to the sea and paddled along. It was a tad cold but not too bad. Joh said he was people watching, but I caught him having a snooze !!! . Later he also had a quick paddle. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

When we returned to the apartment we were greeted by our doorstep guests….a nest full of swallows.

We had a quiet evening with home cooked stirfry prawns and some prime tv and a few games of cards. We felt as if we’d had “a busy old day” . Another lovely relaxing time in the Portuguese sun.