SAILING
#6 – Sailing west coast & Algarve, Portugal
By mid-October 2020, we had reached the border of Portugal. The west coast of Portugal from Porto to Cape Sao Vicente is about 700 km long, characterized by long deserted beaches and rough seas, and known for having some of the biggest surfing waves in the world. However, the water was already too cold for swimming at this time of the year, and occasional small storms reminded us that winter was just around the corner.
It felt surreal as we dropped anchor in the Douro River just in front of the charming city of Porto, which is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
A highlight of our journey was the city of Aveiro with its canals and colorful tourist boats. Unlike the tourists, we explored the canals with our own inflatable boat. After an overnight passage from Aveiro, we anchored in the bay of Cascais, a beautiful historic city. Cascais is only about 25 km from Lisbon, and since a storm was predicted, we decided to stay there for several days and visited Lisbon by train.
We arrived in the Algarve in late November, hoping to experience a warmer climate. Unfortunately, the weather was not quite as glorious as many had raved about, since we were already late in the season. Moreover, the second Covid wave had already hit Europe hard, and many countries started to introduce very strict lockdowns. As we came to the south of Portugal, we realized that we didn't have much time to find a winter shelter.
Due to the current situation, we decided to spend the next lockdown in the port of Lagos. It's a well-protected harbor with some of the most beautiful and characteristic beaches in the Algarve just in front of the "door," and the relatively low prices made our decision to stay in Lagos very easy. During the lockdown, Burim started working remotely for his former employer in Switzerland, and since traveling was still allowed, we flew home for a few weeks over Christmas to visit friends and family.
As we mentioned in a previous blog post, not being near our families and friends is the most difficult part of this journey, and unfortunately, we were hit hard by this downside of traveling. My mother's health had deteriorated dramatically due to a serious illness, and I had to fly to Turkey to accompany her on her final journey.
Overall, we spent five months in the marina of Lagos during the lockdown in Portugal. We didn't waste our time, though. Instead, we used it to further upgrade our boat and repair a few small things that had broken on the way from north to south. Now, Lumos and her crew are ready for the upcoming sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea.
