July 14th - Lagos

 Today we took a day trip to Lagos. We got up early, took the 6:44 train, arrived around 9:00ish and walked the Marina a bit. We got breakfast, our first time eating breakfast out, and had yummy omelets and croissants. Then we explored a bit before taking a boat trip through the grottos at Ponta da Piedade. We ended up with a “private” tour, it was just the two of us. Ricardo was amazing and told us the back story of Lagos and how the city has changed and evolved. Then we made it to the rock formations and grottos along the coast. There were many caves and rock structures sitting in the middle of the water. Most had fun names given to them by the fisherman who used them as landmarks to give directions, Some examples are the camel, dumbo, the skull, Aladdin's lamp, the wedding cake and the titanic and the iceberg. As we came out of a grotto Miguel got a tip that there were dolphins out in the water, So we hightailed it out there and were able to see a small pod with a little baby! Sorry for the photo dump!

After the boat ride we found the boardwalk that went along the cliffs and walked that. We found all the beaches and decided to make out way down to Praia do Camilo. We walked down 229 steps onto a small beach in an alcove. There was a small tunnel connecting it to another alcove and we were able to find a small patch of shade. We dipped in the water, it was freezing, relaxed, had a beer and hiked back up the 229 steps.  

Then we walked back into the village and had drinks at an irish bar, we were getting ready! We made our way up the street to a yummy restaurant, where we had tapas for dinner. We ended the night with gelato before boarding the train for the ride home. It was an unexpectedly great day!