I’m sitting here at the edge of the beach about 8 km north of Vila Nova de Milfontes. I went into the town to acquire a knee brace at the pharmacy; my knee is giving me grief. Hopefully it works. I forgot to pack mine back in Sunderland, one of the several things I could have used after all the walking.
The waves at this remote beach, north of Vila Nova de Milfontes are huge ;I haven’t seen anything quite this big. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m down near their level. It’s so interesting, the colours of the water as the wave gets higher. It gets very dark, dark blue green, almost Paynes grey, and then it crashes and you get these huge sprays of sparkling water coming up which are quite white. This will be another great place to come for painting. It doesn’t have the high cliffs like I’ve seen in the other places I’ve been. There are some but they’re not anywhere near; they are maybe 50 to 100‘ high. The length of the beach from one side to the other is miles. I’m not sure how far it goes out. The tide is coming in right now so it’s kind of difficult to say.
I spent my morning doing research on the first of November, 1755 earthquake that happened in Lisbon and affected everything right down through the Algarve and down to Africa. It was a horrendous event along with the ensuing tsunami. I just can’t believe the amount of damage, but it actually removed a lot of the historical culture and artifacts from Portugal. The king was away from Lisbon with his family. After early morning mass one of his daughters had convinced him to take the family out of Lisbon for the day! As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it led to the birth of modern seismolology and earthquake engineering.They rebuilt and the one who rebuilt it was the first to grasp the importance of seismological engineering – reinforcing a building so that couldn’t happen again and also putting special firewalls between structures. When people had run out into the streets during the earthquake, they left fires and lamps burning and of course the city burned, killing more people than even the earthquake .
I was also looking at storks online to learn more about them, because I’m very interested in what they are like. I thought the ones nesting at the ocean, on the cliffs must be getting great fish but apparently they’re carnivores. They eat beetles, mice and other small animals. Farmers love them and their nests are protected officially! They mate for life and always come back to the same nests. And they do fly south to Africa for their migration. They are about 125 cm tall and their wing span is about 225 cm.
Again, I’m so glad I got a car. I wouldn’t have been able to reach any of these spots like this beach on foot. It’s called Malhão Beach. It is quite remote from the town of Vila Nova. de Milfontes. And I only see one other person here although there is a camping trailer or two out in the parking lot; who knows where the people are -maybe they’re sleeping or maybe they’ve exhausted themselves surfing. Â
It’s after 5 PM now and I’m back home. Tired from another day of exploring, but really happy. Every day I learn something new about this country.
The next towns I want to explore are Evora which may be a two day trip, Tavira, and Silves.
Enjoy!
