Lagos, Portugal

What a weekend in Lagos, Portugal!

On Friday, upon checking into our hotel, we headed down to Praia Dona Ana, an absolutely amazing beach. This wasn't just any white sandy beach--in order to reach the beach you have to take the stairs down a cliff. The whole coastline is full of geological wonders--towering cliffs, stacks, arches, and caves/grottos galore. Immediately we began exploring along the coast, and there were even fixed ropes to help us climb up and over when necessary. We found big caves and we found tiny ones, the crashing sound of the waves producing a spooky echo within. Some caves had chimneys, big and small, allowing us to peek up at the bright blue sky.

Sun shining through an underwater opening into a cave

On Saturday we set out to sea on a sailboat, this time going further down the coast. Upon transferring to a small motor boat, we were able to explore the rocks further, riding through the arches and into caves. And let me just say, our boat driver was a pro--we would be within inches of the rocks, yet I'm pretty sure our boat never scraped once. Also, he showed us all the shapes in the rocks--a baby elephant, king kong, and Michael Jackson's face, to name a few. After some more swimming and sunbathing on the sailboat we went back to shore, and ended up on a HUGE white sandy beach where we went on a 30 minute beach run and then spent the afternoon playing beach volleyball. Oh, and did I mention the cats? I counted 12 of them, lounging in the sun on the pier. Pretty cute.

Saturday night we made a little trip to "the end of the world", as it was known in Christopher Columbus' time (it's the southwesternmost part of Europe) to watch the sunset. We sat atop towering bluffs, the waves crashing far below us, with strong winds blowing. The sky was painted with stripes of clouds, all different colors in the setting sun.

The bluffs at the end of the world

Kayaking out of a cave

Kayaking

Sunday morning we set out to explore the coast once again, yet this time in kayaks. In the kayaks we were able to squeeze through small openings into caves and coves, which turned into a brief spell of white water kayaking when the waves would crash over and around the rocks, nearly tipping the kayak on multiple accounts. The best part was, after battling to stay afloat,  the wave would then carry us out of the cave and we would shoot through the entrance back to the open water. In one cove we paused for some cliff jumping, which was awesome. Then, a bit later, we stopped to snorkel and saw tons of tiny fish. On our way back to the hotel we even paused to pick some almond off a tree, although they were pretty bitter.

We spent the afternoon exploring town before heading back home to Granada. This was definitely a weekend to remember!