Have I mentioned that I enjoy having digital nomad friends? Gives me the perfect reason to make a few trips a year to places I've been waiting to go to, or otherwise might not have been on my radar, and visit them with "locals" who have already done the research on the things to do and see.
On this occasion it was a place definitely on my list: Portugal.
Charlotte and Justin were staying in the surfer town Peniche, an hour or so north of Lisbon. "We've already scouted some places to fly the drone", was the greeting I got. Perfect! Take me there!
This was that spot, and right they were indeed:
But when it comes to Portuguese scenery, it's Algarve in the south that gets most of the attention, and rightly so. Time to head southward, but not without dropping by for a cherry shot from the famous A Ginjinha on the way through.
Would've loved to spend more time in Lisbon, but time was at a premium, and we wanted to see as much as possible, so we continued southward. I think I was driving a bit maniacally, but this was a mission. We quite honestly didn't have an exact destination in mind, nor a place to stay the night. That would sort itself out, Charlotte is an expert in that department, so I wasn't worried. Just worried about seeing some cool stuff while we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity.
In looking at the map, we figured once we got into the green area of the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina that we would be good.
We weren't wrong. In studying the map, there were countless beaches to be found along the coast here. Some undoubtedly better than others, but we had to pick one. We were in need of a break, so we pulled off into one of the first ones near Porto Covo, Praia Grande.
The weather was a bit dreary, so I decided not to fly the drone here, but it still did not disappoint. This was starting to look like the Portugal I had heard legends about, and we figured it was only going to get better the further south we went.
We raced onward to Lagos and found a place to stay the night. Could've really used some more time now, but we would have to be judicious with our one day down here.
Charlotte located a good spot, the Praia do Beliche. It was like one of those places you always see in the photographs, with a cave right on the beach. I had never actually been to one of these in person I don't believe. Mind boggling the geological forces that create such a gem. Made for a great place for a lovers photo:
Made an equally great place to capture some video, which is the final location in what I've nominated for my #8 in my Top 10 countdown of travel videos I've made. Hope you enjoy!