It’s hard to believe that it’s been three weeks since we got back from Portugal, just a tad longer than the time we spent there. This is our second trip to Portugal and to say that I’m smitten is an understatement. The first time we went we covered pretty much the whole country, and while it was fantastic in many ways it was a lot of moving around. This time we wanted to slow down and get to know one area more intimately, namely Portugal’s southern coastline the Algarve. While the Algarve is relatively unknown to most Americans, that’s definitely not the case for europeans. In fact it has a bit of a bad reputation for being a cheap all inclusive getaway for Brit’s and others looking for a bit of sunshine and beach time. Think of it as the Cancun of Europe. But like Cancun there is much more than just the resorts (shout out to Merida) and in the Algarve they are much less apparent and prevalent than in Cancun.

We split our trip into two parts, east and west as we explored the area. We chose Olhão for our hub for the eastern half. It’s a traditional fishing town that gets overrun in the summer with Portuguese on vacation. It’s known for having the best fish market in the country, something I can attest to, and uncrowded gorgeous beaches, also yes. We stayed at The Addresses gorgeous Casa Dois for a week. It’s a former fish warehouse recently converted to a vacation home that has everything you could ask for. It’s centrally located and definitely did not disappoint style wise. The kitchen came in handy too being so close to such a good fish market.

The town of Olhão is centered around two large buildings that make up the two markets. One of them is for fruits and vegetables, the other for fish and meat. The are open every day but the weekends are the best time to go. The selection of both was absolutely mind blowing. Every type of seafood you could imagine was there and incredibly fresh. Same goes for meats, fresh, cured, whatever you wanted they had it. The fruits and vegetables were the same, everything local and gorgeous. Figs were on while we were there as were the tomatoes and they were all mouth wateringly scrumptious. We took advantage of the situation and steamed a kilo of fresh shrimp served along side some local veg. Yummy.

The coastline of the eastern Algarve is predominantly comprised of barrier islands, which means getting to the beach can be a bit tricky. From Olhão there are three beaches that are readily accessible via a short inexpensive ferry ride. The beaches themselves are gorgeous stretching on for miles and while there are plenty of visitors I would never call it crowded. The water is on the cold side, even in the heat of the summer with temperatures around 70 Fahrenheit (think Barton Springs). I was blown away by how clear the water was, and by the huge amount of sea shells of every variety that were washed up on the shore.

Olhão is a great base to explore the nearby areas as well. We took day trips to Loule, Tavira and a handful of other beaches in the area. One of the most picturesque towns however was Carvoeiro, where the town tumbles down the hill right onto a beach sheltered on both sides by cliffs. This is really were east and west Algarve meet and you start to get the first glimpse of the dramatic cliff formations that the Algarve is typically known for. Besides a lovely lunch 10 meters from the beach we also enjoyed scrambling around on and through the cliffs on a nearby hiking trail. The perfect way to walk off that lunchtime bottle of wine.