we’ve been on vacation in portugal for almost a month now, time flies and it’s been a roller coaster of short trips and long summer days spent in lisbon catching up with friends and family. our first stop was in the algarve, we drove just a couple of hours from lisbon, and met up with our friends who live in rio de janeiro and are also spending the summer in portugal. our friend, and james, used to live in the algarve before we moved to turks and caicos, so it was nice to visit our favorite spots.

we stayed at the epic sana, a super clean and friendly hotel with a great location. the rooms were spacious and had a gigantic bath tub that made julia feel like she had her own private pool in the room. we had long breakfasts and then spent our days in the kids pool in the morning and headed to the beach in the afternoon.

the beaches in the algarve are very special to me. yes the sand is darker and the water is colder than in turks and caicos, but for me these beaches have so much personality, i just love the contrast of colour of the sea, the sand and the rocks. it was definitely fun for julia to experience the beach in a whole new way. plus, there is also the buying of bolas de berlim, a sweet portuguese treat that looks like a donut (but it’s not) and it tastes even better when you have it at the beach.

we popped out for dinner at ramires, like a hole in the wall, it has the most delicious chicken piri piri ever, it’s james’ favorite and he used to come here every week. a big highlight of our trip was our dinner at evaristo, my friend actually booked months in advance, they have the best seafood and to me the most magical setting on the beach – we had clams, grilled squid and champagne sangria, and then we all hang out at the beach with the kids having dessert, it was the perfect summer night. on our last day, before heading back to lisbon, we had lunch at casavostra, located inside and interior design store, they have the delicious pizzas and home made iced tea.

it was short and sweet and we know we’ll always come back.

ps – more posts on my portugal trips