Portugal Day 9 : Hiking and Sailing

We woke up with the intention of getting breakfast and going hiking. However, after breakfast, Kaylea was still very tired, so we hung around the hotel and blogged for another hour or so before venturing out for the hike.

Getting started proved to be harder than we anticipated. First, we could not find the exit to the garden that led out to the trail. Once we finally did, we realized the construction was blocking the main trail entrance, and all the garden gates were locked. Back inside and upstairs we went, then out the main entrance, through the parking lot, and back through the construction.

From there, it was a steep hike up the hill to the first cliff. We hiked cliffside for a while, some of it behind barriers and some of it open and uncomfortably close to the drop. Our first stop was a big sinkhole in the middle of the cliff, behind a barrier, leading down to caves below. We remembered how our guide from yesterday had pointed out hikers unknowingly standing over nothing, just a few feet of overhanging crust, with the rest of the cliff face beneath it having flaked off and fallen away.

Our next stop was a small beach where we explored some caves, hunted for rocks, and grabbed some ice cream.

The shells along the beach were basically rocks. Extremely thick and made soft by tumbling in the ocean’s natural rock tumbler for thousands of years. Hundreds? Millions? Who knows.

We kept going, up the next steep hill and down the other side. We briefly went off trail to get onto a big rock over a cave. We knew from our previous guide's impromptu cave geology lesson that rock below us was likely hollowed all the way from where we exited the trial. Kaylea was a nervous Nelly, but Aaron was chill.

We ended up hiking for about three hours, ending at a lighthouse that wasn’t actually a tourist destination. Since the hike had started late and gone longer than expected, we ordered an Uber back. The drive was less than 10 minutes back to the hotel. So, distance-wise, we hadn’t gone that far, but the winding trail, scenic stops, and steep inclines made it feel like a real hike.

Once again, we returned to the resort for lunch and naps.

The evening plans were centered around a romantic private two-hour sailboat tour for two, leading up to sunset. It had been a warm day, and the ad for the tour had beautiful people lounging across the bow of a small sailboat in the sun. Kaylea figured it might get a tad chilly with the afternoon/evening wind, so we wore pants over swimsuits and brought a light sweater and Aaron’s jacket just in case.

Y’all. We won’t say we were completely had, but we definitely did not have the experience we expected.

First of all, the photos of the sailboat were from excellent angles. Upon arriving, we were both surprised by how... quaint... this boat really was.

The listing said just the couple and the captain, but we also had a guide/first mate. A 23-year-old with slightly better English than the 22-year-old captain. Just to remind you, the max capacity for this vessel is four. Four people.

We were sat kind of awkwardly on big fluffy pillow/seat cushions at the bow while the captain tried to explain that it would be too windy to leave the bay/river. Great, no problem. Oh, but it’s actually a 3.5-hour tour instead of two? There’s no toilet on board? It’s 60 degrees and dropping with wind chill added?

Again, y’all. These poor kids. They had just started their business, and we were one of their first customers. Not just of the year, but of ever. They were trying so hard to make sure we had a good time. They hadn’t prepared a good alternative, so we basically sailed at a snail’s pace around the bay while they pointed out landmarks, historical buildings, and popular resorts.

Did we mention it was freezing? They had not provided adequate instructions on what to wear or bring for the weather, BUT they did have blankets, thank God.

We were plied with wine and snacks and Portuguese lessons for two hours. The guys kept calling us Sir and Madam. Additionally, the guide showed us cool videos of drug smugglers being chased by Portuguese police on the very river we were on, after pointing out the confiscated boats. He might have forgotten to put the music back on after the videos, and we might have had to sail the rest of the tour without music.

We tried to engage with questions about our surroundings, but the guy would often respond, “I don’t know,” either because he legitimately didn’t know or because he did not understand our English. At one point, Kaylea saw a boat that looked like a Digimon, which launched a long conversation between us about the differences between Pokémon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! The crew did not seem to take much interest. We’re not sure if that was because of the language barrier or because they were both under the age of 30.

After two hours, Kaylea really had to pee. Honestly, she had to pee when we left the hotel and thought we would have a chance before getting on the boat, or thought there might be a toilet on the boat. So really, by the end of it, she held it for three hours while shivering. Pretty impressive.

With that, we finally gave up on trying to spare these kids’ feelings and asked to go back in early. They offered us compensation for the time not used, but we politely declined and got back at 8:30. The captain had been covertly taking Polaroid photos of us and the trip and had put together a cute little booklet of the photos with a cute quote about the wind bringing us back together or something like that. We parted ways rather awkwardly, but the kids seemed oblivious. Ten points to us for our acting skills.

We decided to grab some dinner at one of the riverside restaurants just so Kaylea could use the bathroom as soon as possible. It ended up being a fabulous choice because the seafood was excellent, and we were still able to see the gorgeous sunset.

The seafood was so good that we felt compelled to let our waiter know it was the best seafood we’d had on the trip so far. His response was a curt, but not unkind, “Yeah, I know.”

We ended the night back in the jacuzzi, desperately trying to warm up from the windblown experience of circling a small city bay on a tiny boat for two and a half hours.