I went to Portugal for the first time with my sister and friends just recently. We decided on this location for a couple of days in order to get some sun. Don’t get me wrong, living in Scotland is great and this year has actually been really good but we just don’t get to enjoy the kind of summers I’m used to from back home in Vancouver so I was more than up for it when Vilamoura Portugal came up as an option. A friend of mine from Portugal also recently contacted me and urged me to get something on Portugal onto my site as I hadn’t previously covered it so this was the ideal opportunity to tick a couple of boxes all at once.

Location, climate and style

Vilamoura is a resort town located in southern Portugal, about half an hour drive from Faro and 2 hours 25 mins from Lisbon, 4 and a half hours from Porto. It has a Mediterranean feel to it and boasts a lovely maria (the largest in Portugal), six golf courses, two beaches, loads of wonderful hotels and other accommodation options such as self-catering villas. Other facilities include the Casino with loads of shows, Night Clubs, Cinema, Riding school and sport facilities such as sports club, tennis, lawn bowling, shooting club et etc etc. The Marina is surrounded by luxury hotels, the casino and loads of vibrant restaurants and bars, plenty of options to choose from and an evening walk along here is always a lot of fun, I would say it is definitely a very social place where people walk and enjoy the streets until late at night. The climate is very warm, the warmest months being June to September inclusive where temperatures are between a high of 29 and low of 16. In July you can expect up to 12 hours of sunshine on a sunny day.

History

In Roman times this area was important as a kind of fish paste called Garum was produced here. It is an ancient fermented fish sauce made of fish intestines through bacterial fermentation after being macerated in salt and then cured in the sun for up to 3 months, the actual Garum was the clear liquid that formed on the top. It is still used today,mostly in southern Italy and but this doesn’t quite fit today’s topic so you can read up more about it here if you’re interested ^_^;; Back to the ruins, these also include the remains of two Roman residences and baths in which the mariners used to bathe, dams and fish salting areas and a necropolis, which according to Wikipedia came much later. Back to Vilamoura, the resort was founded back in 1966 by a Portuguese banker and resort management company and evolved into what it is today from then.

Food and drink

However, applicants have to register with the pharmacy before they can buy Tadalafil. viagra pills in india One of the most popular cold medicines on the market, these tablets work faster by relaxing blood vessels, increasing blood flow to the penile region and leads to superior quality erection needed for making satisfactory love in the bed. tadalafil generic india At the second place, it reminds us of the famous website of the famous newspaper. viagra no prescription Since Pfizer has got highest return on investment, the government has recognized the marketability of the viagra pill on line magical roots.

Being located on the Atlantic ocean and right next to Spain I suppose you can imagine that the cuisine mostly is of seafood and enjoys a Mediterranean influence. Cured meats, olives and cheeses are enjoyed here just as in Spain and by the way every cheese I was able to try was amazing, soft and mild. You’ll often come across little bottles of piri piri, apparently the viagra of Portugal ^_^;; which basically are small, fiery chilli peppers. We found the Portuguese Vinho Verde (green wine) on the menu funny and naturally couldn’t resist trying this – a young wine which is meant to be consumed within a year of bottling and they also serve “Tango” in Portugal, which is beer with syrup – similar to my favourite drink when in France – the Monaco. Portugal has Europe’s highest fish consumption per capita and among the top four worldwide (Wikipedia). All kinds of different seafood is grilled, boiled, fried, stewed, roasted or prepared in any possible kind of manner. Apparently there are 365 different ways to cook cod, the most consumed kind of fish in Portugal. It is often used dried and salted due to fishing tradition that dates back to the invention of refrigeration. Olive oil is one of the main bases of Portuguese cooking and those that simply can’t decide what to get can try Caldeirada, which is a stew consisting of a variety of fish, shellfish, potatoes, tomato and onions. Just for the record: Portuguese Sardines are anything but small and starters and mains can definitely be shared! The waiter suggested two of us share a Caldeirada so we were quite surprised when he later appeared with what easily could have fed all four of us, we ended us with enough food to feed a family and paid around €60 (€30 for the Caldeirada and the rest went to bottled water, green wine, Sardines, Octopus and some other grilled fish) in a very touristy area of Albufeira so in terms of value Portugal definitely provides a lot for what you spend, at least in my recent experience.

Things to do

As previously mentioned, the Marina alone is able to offer loads of things to do in an evening. One of my favourite things was the free sunset club, which was an amazing surprise we came across one day when we decided to head to the beach just to see the sun set. We arrived to pumping music which could be enjoyed all over the beach, people walking in the water, sitting, chatting and enjoying a drink in the sand and a crowd on the dancefloor, close to the DJ and bar just behind them. The atmosphere was great, a bit crowded on the floor obviously but as mentioned you could just as well chill on the sand and enjoy the sound with your friends and take in the sunset. This usually runs in the summer from 5-10 pm and those of you that prefer a quiet and romantic sunset don’ have to worry – Vilamoura offers two beaches so there’s plenty of everything for everyone! Speaking of beaches, I’d also like to mention that the sand was great, soft and pleasant to walk on unlike the beach of Albufeira, which I didn’t particularly enjoy. Of course there’s plenty more to Vilamoura than the marina and beaches, plenty of water sport activities as well as golf and other sports and also you can enjoy things like a boat trip along the coast to explore (half day or full day available) the caves and see dolphins, always nice to be able to see these amazing creatures in their natural inhabitant (I’m not a fan of oceanariums/marine water parks at all!!). For the more historical people there are the Roman ruins of Cerro da Vila nearby as well. We decided to do was rent a car to drive around and just explore the place, drove down to Albufeira (complete with an outdoor escalator for those not into steps!) and then a bit further down in order to find some deserted beaches, complete with cliffs and caves to enjoy and further down more beaches complete with a restaurant and terrace bar/lounge. It wasn’t difficult to find out way around and anyway google maps is always around when you do get lost (for example trying to find out way back to the hotel through all the one way streets long past midnight) so it’s all cool. Long story short Vilamoura was a lot of fun and I would definitely return which I guess means that yes, I can definitely recommend it ^_^

 

Inspired? [jbutton color=”orange” link=”http://www.thoryatravel.com/bespoke-travel-enquiry-form/” newpage=”yes”]get in touch now[/jbutton] to arrange your free consultation and first step towards your personal travel experience!