Ponta da Piedade

The Ponta da Piedade is along the coast on the southern side of Lagos.  The name translates as "point of mercy" and I can't imagine what inspired the name... wishful thinking?  It's a gorgeous, long stretch of the coast with a 1913 lighthouse at its point and wooden walkways on the tops of the cliffs.  There are stairs to the beaches and although it wasn't crowded by any stretch, there were people ascending, descending and tippy-toeing along cliff tops on off-walkway adventures.  

The cliffs are jagged, rough and striped with bands of golden rock. Although it is reputed to be a beautiful place to see the sun rise or set, I was there midday and plenty awed by its beauty.   As yesterday's storms are still pumping out some wind, the waves were nicely dramatic crashing against the rocks.

Taking the "highway" between where I'm staying and the Ponta de Piedades, I exited on the south side of Lagos, which fit with my plan to stay out of busy cities.   I say "highway" because although the A-22 is the big road to go East-West along the Algarve, it's not a very busy road.  No apparent rush hour.  And (fingers crossed that this is true!) it is no longer charging tolls, according to an English-language free newspaper targeted toward people investing in real estate or retiring to Portugal, because there is no reasonable free road to go East-West.  Based on trying to navigate on the smaller roads, I definitely agree regarding the viability of the alternate routes, and I don't trust either this free newspaper (no tolls!) or Google maps (toll road!).  The highway is not a whole lot less scenic than the small twisty roads and it's definitely faster.

From what I've read about Lagos, it's somewhat unique in  Portugal in its openness to confronting the history of colonization and enslaving Africans, something that I found a bit disturbingly downplayed in all of the glorification of Henry the Navigator in other cities when I visited Portugal 3 years ago.  (That perception, based on a 2 month visit, may not in any way reflect what's really been reckoned with in Portugal -- always a caution based on one person's experience, I could have missed a lot of things that others experienced).  In any case, Lagos may be a visit for another day.

I had to start the day with grocery shopping, as I was pretty much out of food, down to peanut butter, crackers and. oranges.   The grocery store I've been going to is a bit gourmet, and I noticed in that in the 3 years since I'd been here, an Aldi was built adjacent to it.  I may have to check out the Aldi, just to get a full picture.   The Apolonia has beautiful vegetables and edible flowers and quiche and they sell the yogurt I eat every day and a very tasty (expensive) cashew & banana granola, so I like shopping there, even if I can't really fathom buying raw ingredients and cooking a meal in my little kitchen.   I've given up on making coffee, as I can't get a decent tasting pot of espresso from their moka pot (is it too old?  too aluminum?  I don't know) and so I now have manchego cheese, tinned fish, bottled water, yogurt & granola, a spinach quiche,  crackers, oranges and the peanut butter I brought from home.  And dark chocolate digestive biscuits.  And plans to eat out here and there.

I also got in a little painting time this morning, as I've been puzzling over how to paint the orange grove views I've been able to photograph but not to paint plein air (if I do find a bench, I'll be sure to rate it among the best benches in orange groves, but I have yet to find the spot to paint in them).    This is gouache, I may give it another go in watercolor to see how that works out.