What a completely fabulous couple of days we have had.  They have not been so good for the diet and they have not been very vegan either.  Vegetarian?  Yes, but not vegan.  Exercise has been ok as I have been swimming and walking about quite a lot but the food and wine/beer/port have been enjoyed rather excessively.

I am loving being with these 3 who giggle and chat (and sing if you’re James) their way through their days together. This was a new one one for me – a “Portuguese Melon”.I asked the roadside fruit seller what type of melon it was as I had never seen a white skinned melon before and I was told it was a “Portuguese Melon”. It was good. On Tuesday we went up in to the hills, slightly North of the coast to a fantastic restaurant in Monchique. Check out that amazing view. What could be better than sitting in the cool breeze with this amazing view and great food? Sharing it with some of my favourite people of course! BJ’s Mother, Vera, who has been coming here for about 45 years ordered lunch and it was superb.  Everything we ate was so good.  This little cheese was quite strong and a lovely consistency; it was hard on the outside and soft inside. It was enjoyed with some tasty bread and a vegetable and olive dish. I had vegetable soup instead of pate and bread. This is what people come here for; Piri-Piri chicken, chips and salad.  I ate the chips and salad and they were perfect.  We all ate so much we could hardly move afterwards but we couldn’t stop as it was so delicious.  It is hard to convey quite how tasty the salad and chips were so you will have to take my word for it. Curiously there was enough room for these lovely marzipan shapes which were perfect with a coffee.We went up to the top of the hill where there is a large touristy shop, a tiny church and strange things on the rocks.
Very strange things indeed.

On our way down the hill we stopped off to collect some spring water. A bit more time to admire the view again. These 2 lovely ladies are with us.  Vera on the left is BJ’s Mum and our kind hostess and with her is her dear friend Flo’.  We are enjoying being on holiday with them very much. The water comes out via a metal pipe so we collected as much as we could in bottles and enjoyed the pure and clean water. In the late afternoon we went down to the beach and the young folk went out on armchairs which looked like fun but I didn’t really fancy it.  I was too worried about being bumped off but that did not concern these two. Or these three! See ya! They all enjoyed that and we then had another fun evening in the Mojito bar and Paraiso Restaurant. Yesterday we went to Lagos where we hopped on a boat to visit the grottos. It was fun on the little boat we were on but I think a kayak would be the best way to explore this charming area of the coast. The kayaks also pull in to these secluded and private little sandy beaches.We had a very interesting boat ride along the coast and in and out of caves.
We then headed in to Lagos town centre for lunch. The old town is a very attractive maze of tiled streets, filled with bars, shops and restaurants.  I would usually have enjoyed pottering about but it was too hot for me so we headed back to the villa with its large shady terraces, sea breeze and a multitude of sun loungers, sofas and beds to loll about on. In the evening we went up the hill from the villa to Chicco’s, an Italian restaurant that serves lots of local and organic produce.  They also had a variety of vegetarian meals on the menu which made a lovely change. The food was SPECTACULAR.  This is the best food I have had for a long time.  The setting in Monchique was the best setting with excellent food but this food in Chicco’s in Praia da Luz was superb.  Shame they don’t serve this food at Monchique – if they did I may have to move here.  This was aubergine parmigiana with many different salads which is exactly how I like to eat with lots of little bits of a wide variety of foods.   I decided, that as the main meal was so delicious, the dessert must be worth the calories too so I had the chocolate pudding with a molten peanut butter and sea salt centre.  It was 🙂

This is one of those holidays that you wish would go on and on forever.  I feel very lucky to be here and am enjoying it all.