We just left our peaceful haven at Frido and Xenia’s villa (Dame de Salema) along the southern coast of Portugal. Of all the little villages in the Algarve, we chose Salema on Rick Steves’ recommendation and were so glad to have found this gem. This is a great example of why Rick’s books (and others like it) are so beneficial. Many guidebooks serve as a directory–a list of places, hours, phone numbers, prices, etc.–not offering much in the way opinion. An opinion helps the reader to rank and prioritize sites and cities. And we’ve found that Rick’s taste is similar enough to our own that we can bank on his advice, skip what he skips, and head straight to his favorite destinations. Anyway, at this time of year Salema is this wonderful, sleepy fishing village full of locals and right on the water. We had the whole place to ourselves. Being Frido and Xenia’s only guests, we were spoiled by their attention and hospitality. Frido took us on a tour of the area by car one day, they took us out for dinner one night and to a farmer’s market in the next village another day. We walked the dogs with Frido at sunset each evening and enjoyed Xenia’s breakfasts each morning. We could have stayed for weeks hiking up and down the cliffs along the water, seeing overlooked and untouristed Roman ruins, dinosaur footprints (so Frido says…does anyone know if this could really be true??), almond trees in blossom and “the end of the earth.” But alas we had to move on, working our way through these vast countries (Spain and Portugal are huge) toward Barcelona, where we fly from on Feb 17, to go back to Germany to get our bags and wrap things up.
Countdown: 9 days
