A Cultural Affair

Day four and once again the sun rose bright in the sky. I took breakfast by the pool watching the sunlight catch the water and wishing not for the first time that the pool was heated so I could jump straight in.

We had decided (when I say we - I mean me) that we were going to try and get out and do something cultural with our trip and try to not just sit by the pool.

We ate a very tasty lunch of rolls, ham, cheese and salad and sat around chatting about the day ahead...

...before setting out down to Silves, a town about 45mins away from Monchique. It is the former capital of the Algarve and has a great big castle sat atop the hill.

It was sweltering when we got down there compared to the slightly cooler mountain top. I piled all my hair on top of my head and soldiered up the hill until we reached our destination.

It wasn't expensive to get in at €2.80 each and we quickly set to work trying to get to the highest part of the castle to see what we could see. Here comes the Wikipedia description:

The Castle of Silves is a castle in the civil parish of Silves in the municipality of Silves in the Portuguese Algarve. Built between the 8th and 13th century, the castle is one of the best preserved of the Moorish fortifications in Portugal,^[1] the most important Moorish fortification resulting in its classification as a National Monument in 1910.

We had a walk around the battlements ducking in to any shade we could find, before heading down the stairs to grab an icecream which melted quicker than I could eat it. 

Unfortunately our sojourn into the past had to be cut short as one of our group didn't put suncream on their feet and they were burnt to a crisp making it very painful to walk. We walked very slowly back to the car where we baked until the air con kicked in.

My parents needed picking up from the airport so my grandparents set off to get them whilst the 'children' went out for dinner.

We went to a restaurant called Luar De Foia, which is an old favourite of mine as I used to come here at least once a week when I lived in Portugal. I was greeted at the door with 'Hello's' and 'How are you?' by the owner and his wife who I haven't seen in 3 years.

We sat down and picked our food. I had fish soup for a starter because it is one of the best things I have ever tasted and I have been waiting a long time to have it again!

Next up was Piri Piri Chicken of course, would it be anything else?

Although I wanted a pudding, I couldn't be greedy and have a starter, main and pud so instead I just stole some of Leigh's....

It was really lovely to go out for a meal. Not going to lie - I wish I was rich enough to eat out every night! It's quite nice to take a break from cooking sometimes.

We came back to the Villa after our meal and played a few card games over a couple five sangria's before my parents arrived and we wished a goodnight to all before falling into bed to rest our weary eyes.

C xxx