The Algarve

Our holiday in the Algarve had pleasures and horrors in equal proportions. We took a last minute 'bargain' break and were very unlucky to end up in a glorified holiday tower block (other people on the same deal had much nicer accommodation), and the weather was truly awful, nonetheless there was plenty that we found to love about Portugal.
Car hire, food and wine are plentiful and cheap on the Algarve, and for me the saving grace of the holiday was the fabulous food.
The weather was poor throughout our stay and we drove a considerable distance through the rain to spend a few short hours in Lisbon mainly because you can't really enjoy a beach resort in the pouring rain... We stayed in Alvor which is a delightful fishing town, but was being developed and is no doubt a thriving tourist resort now.

The local speciality is seafood, and if you are salt-intolerant you may not enjoy it, buy for me, the food was worth traveling all those miles for. The Alentejo district has a local dish comprising pork and mussels, an unlikely sounding combination but a real treat to savour.

On the last day, after we had packed our sunblock away the sun finally came out so strongly we actually got burned while waiting for the coach to take us to the Airport. It is a fairly long coach journey as our plane actually flew to and from Spain rather than Portugal.