The Alluring Algarve
A visit to southern Portugal revealed an area totally different than Lisbon. It is one of beautiful beaches, craggy rock formations, and white washed villages.
I hoped the enticing title of this cruise ship tour of Southern Portugal was accurate, with its description of coastal rock formations, quaint beach towns, and beautiful water. As most cruise tours arrive during the late morning to midday, the light isn't ideal for photography, but one has to make do. The tour lived up to my expectations.
After arriving in the port of Portimão and boarding our bus, we headed to the seaside resort of Carvoeiro. The town is small, but soon revealed a gorgeous golden sand beach covered with colorful umbrellas and people. A walk up the steep road adjoining the beach yielded a deep turquoise bay enclosed by tan cliffs topped with whitewashed houses.
As I progressed up the hill, I stopped every few feet to crawl over the retaining wall and try to capture the changing view. Using a polarizer on my Nikon D300S helped bring out the colors, as well as reduce the reflections from the mid-morning sun. This postcard village started the morning off great and lived up to the hype in the tour description. Would the rest be as good?
I had been waiting for the second stop: the Ponta da Piedade coast. The light was harsh and time was short, so I had to work fast to cover the various footpaths leading to views of the different pinnacles of this magnificent part of Portugal. There are grottos, arches, pinnacles, and bays. Tour boats anchor offshore and unleash powerboats filled with tourists to cruise through the archways and around the pinnacles. Pathways lead down to the water near the formations, but I was too busy capturing the cliff-top views to use any of my thirty minutes hiking up and down. I probably missed some great shots, but I was focused on capturing what I could see. One of my favorite shots is of two daredevil women who jumped over a collapsed pathway to scale a steep hillside to get a shot of the major arch. My wife told me not to even consider trying the same thing! Dozens of shots later, it was time for the last stop of the morning: the coastal town of Lagos near the Ponta da Piedade.
This whitewashed fishing village has both quaint old buildings and a new marina, beaches, and shops. The old castle, church, and narrow streets were fascinating, but then I came upon a derelict fishing boat. I couldn't pass it up: its polychrome peeling paint, protruding ribs, and rotting wooden bow. It might have been the most artistic image of the day.
The alluring Algarve is well worth a visit. I hope my images entice you to truly capture this beautiful area of Europe.
Editor's Note: See more images from Jim's trip in the album "The Alluring Algarve".
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