May 19 - Day 8

Of course, we got up early, put suitcases outside the door and had a hotel breakfast. Today, we are headed to south to Lagos and will stop at Silves on the way. It is about 3-4 hours on the bus.

The weather was partly sunny in Silves but remains cool and windy as it has been everywhere we have gone. I'm trying not to hate this part of our trip and it is ok for the most part. I hate being cold and I've been cold much of the time. 

Silves is a small village alongside a river. We had lunch there and Matt and I shared a pizza. It was good but not nearly as good as the pizza in downtown Lisbon. Makes sense. Lisbon is a big city and caters to many tourists. Silves is a small charming village with narrow winding streets and there are not a lot of tourists about. We walked to the top of the hill and looked at the Castle of Silves. It's believed that the first fortifications were made between the 8th and 13th centuries by the Romans or the Visigoths, making it one of the best preserved Moorish fortifications in Portugal.

Back on the bus, our next stop will be Lagos. 

Arriving in Lagos, after checking into our new hotel, we walked around exploring the streets. Lagos is a seaside tourist town with tons of shops. The streets are beautiful with cobblestone designs on the sidewalk. After walking a bit, Barbara decided she wanted to head back and rest. Matt and I decided to continue walking. We walked by the water and crossed one pedestrian bridge, walked all the way around and found another pedestrian bridge to cross again. It was beautiful and lovely to enjoy each other. We had to stop and rest multiple times as Matt was having a lot of hip pain. At one point, we were sitting on a bench resting. I had my head on his shoulder and his arm was around me. A woman stopped and said we were a beautiful couple. It was really sweet. 

We had dinner tonight in the hotel. It was an enormous buffet with an amazing amount of delicious food. I was fairly reasonable but not totally. I did well until dessert and actually ate the equivalent of a couple of desserts. I have eaten a lot of dessert on this trip It will be interesting to recalibrate when I get home. 

To bed finally. Long day and we are tired.