Just as we were settling into Lagos and getting [too] used to the Algarve’s wonderfully warm and sunny November weather, a nasty storm formed in the Northern Atlantic with its sights set directly on Southern Portugal.
That essentially meant a week of our month-long stay in Lagos was a wet and blustery mess, but we made the most of it. Two things helped: a couple of dry mornings and new friends in town.
Our Euro-African Journey (So Far...)
Early in the week, Lori and the boys decided to brave the rain and head to the beach anyway. I don’t think they thought it was going to be this wet, though. Fortunately, the boys came prepared in beach clothes.
Since we arrived in Europe, Lori’s been on the lookout for other traveling families who want to meet up.
Lisbon was too big to make meet-ups practical (and we were still finding our footing), but Lori’s managed to make several connections down here in Lagos (Southern Portugal’s a popular destination for people like us this time of year, apparently).
The first connections were made via a Worldschooling Hub here in the Algarve who were visiting town for a few days, meaning lots of kids from around the world.
It also gave us a chance to see if the hub thing was something we’d want to consider in the future.
In beach towns in Mexico, all we had to do was head to the beach after the local school got out, or any time on a weekend for the boys to find a ton of kids to play with.
Portugal’s been very different. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the time of year. But Portuguese kids have busy schedules and we just don’t see them, really ever.
So the boys were thrilled to finally have a ton of kids of all ages to hang out with for several hours.
Because it wasn’t raining (and you can’t have enough beach time), we figured we’d head down to Porto do Mos that evening to see if we could finally catch a nice sunset.
It clouded over before the sun touched the horizon, but still a nice evening. The boys enjoyed it, regardless.
We were glad we seized the opportunity, because the next 4-5 days pretty much looked like this:
Storm Claudia wreaked havoc on the region, resulting in flooding, deaths, and a deadly tornado in Albufeira, 30 miles east of here. Despite the relentless rain and high winds, Lagos faired fine.
Another rousing game of Cover Your Assets with Riley. As usual, Riley walked away with a decisive victory.
There isn’t a ton to do on a rainy day in Lagos—but there is the Science Center. Some of their new friends were going and asked if they wanted to join.
In all my years I’ve never…
It’s crustless white bread. As if this stuff was already devoid of nutritional value. I was surprised to even see the Bimbo brand on this side of the Atlantic (it’s a Mexican bread brand, but we never saw this variety in the New World).
A wet slog uphill back to the apartment.
More fun times with friends.
And a bit of bookshop time.
Four days into the storm, we took advantage of a break in the rain to explore the other side of the river.
Meia Praia stretches 5km eastward from the train station. A network of boardwalks connects most of it.
The storm brought big waves and it seemed every surfer in town came down here to seize the opportunity. Nothing but big smiles from the surfers heading back to the parking lot.
Not surprisingly, we didn’t see anyone out riding the water slide paddle boats—but it would have been a heck of a ride, I imagine.
The river and marina water have turned a thick chocolate brown from the flooding inland and upriver. We’re use to seeing schools of big fish just below the surface. Not today.
In the midst of all the stormy weather, someone managed to get the town’s first Christmas lights of the season up. Hopefully that also means no more 60mph gusts in the forecast.
