The "Best Lunch Bench in the Algarve"

I was looking at Google maps today and noted that someone had dropped a pin and named the bench I painted on yesterday the "best lunch bench in the Algarve." Of the 21 people who added their comments (mostly raves), only one person thought it was a decidedly average lunch bench, nothing special.  I like the idea that in our everyone-is-a-critic era, someone chose to be the arbiter of lunch benches.  It's a lovely painting bench too.

Today's my 4th full day here and I am still taking it easy while I am getting over a cold.  I did venture out to the Algar Seco, a wooden boardwalk that provides easy & incredibly scenic access to the cliffs and caves between where I'm staying and the town of Carvoeiro.  At the end of the walk above the town, there's the Forte de Nossa Senhora da Encarnação,  a small fort that I painted from the back 3 years ago.  Today, I took advantage of a bench on the other side to do a quick watercolor sketch.

It's hard to use restraint here, but I wanted to keep the touch light and not give into the color intensity my eyes and brain keep registering.   Is less more?  I hope so.

In contrast, for example, this photo is the view from my bedroom this morning just after sunrise.  So much saturated color!

  

I walked down to the town and back up along the streets. Three years ago when I was here, the town was emptier, and boat trips were few and far between as they would be cancelled when an employee had Covid.  I'd say winter is a great time to be here -- it's warm, sunny and not terribly crowded -- but there's definitely more people around.   My rental agent told me that all their properties are fully booked and there's a steady parade of people. hiking the Seven Hanging Valleys trail and going out on loaded tourist boat cave tours. I've seen pictures of summer and high season crowds, and it's nothing like that, just livelier than it was 3 years ago.

The gelato place that provided my refreshment this after noon - La Piazza -- was really, really good and I remember it was closed when I was last here.  Their Crema Portughese is a flavor that's a lot like creme brûlée and I highly recommend it.  

Tomorrow's my day in the orange groves and I was invited to join a group on a tapas tasting, so looking forward to that.  I'll also be doing more sight-seeing in the next week -- churches! tiles! bones! -- and will report back!