I’m not a fan of cats, I’m a dog person, and I always will be.  Since we’ve been in Albufeira, we’ve been amazed by the enormous number of cats, just lying around in the sunshine, everywhere we go.  So we go to this lookout / jetty today,  and I kid you not, there must have been 30 cats, all basking in the sun. It turns out, there’s a volunteer charity group (Amigos dos Gatos do Algarve) who look after all the stray cats of Albufeira…..more than 400 of them (cats that is, not volunteers).  So the jetty, is one of their “colonies”. THEY HAVE A WEBSITE AND A FACEBOOK PAGE!!!   They even do the occasional live broadcasts, so you can watch the cats and keep up to date with their welfare!!!  They ensure the cats are fed, watered and sterilised (at 55 Euro/cat for the sterilisation alone). I’m including a link to the website, just in case you want to make a donation, or sponsor a cat, or buy a can of food.

The Cats of the Jetty was on our way to the Marina.  We decided to have a ‘gentle’ day, as Ross was still shuffling around on his sore leg.  So the walk to the Marina (about 2km) sounded good.

The ill-effects of the GFC are everywhere in Portugal – in fact, I would say they are still being felt, many years later.  On the way to the marina, we see these unfinished  units (about 50 of them).  They’re high on a hill overlooking the marina, but missing those essential elements like roofs, render, glazing and internal fit outs.  They’ve been sitting like this for seven years, since 2011.  The heartbreaking part is, this was just one example. There are dozens of half-finished or ‘zombie’ building projects, simply abandoned.  Some sites still have scaffolding in place, with piles of bricks on the walkways, looking like at any moment, the brickie will come back from lunch to finish the job. 

Lunch at the Marina was delightful, although it’s a weird little place. Only about a quarter of the shops and restaurants are open (it is Winter after all, not that you’d know it, with a temperature of 20 degrees today).  And the Marina, whilst full of yachts and boats from around Europe, is overlooked by a row of candy-coloured units, presumably built in the 1990s.  It’s garish, not at all Portuguese, and quite bizarre.

Not to be deterred by the alarming colours and architecture, we set out to find a Portuguese restaurant among the string of Irish bars, British Pubs and burger joints.  We found a great little place “Tasca Portuguesa”, and took up a table in the sun, next to the water.  We had some great food and a lovely Rosé, the grapes of which are grown locally.  Rossco, my absolute favorite wine snob, was muttering that it made no sense that grapes would grow this far south, and still produce drinkable wine.  He stopped muttering once we got to the second bottle! Our waiter was Marcelle, and he was a heap of fun.

After lunch, a guy started playing guitar and singing tunes at the Irish Bar down the way.  He was actually pretty good.  The music floated to us across the courtyard, and from a distance, he looked just like William H Macy, the guy from “Shameless”.  The pic on the left is William…. maybe you had to be there?

Food of the day is Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)! They are little tarts with a baked custard filling, which can be eaten in three to four bites (if you’re being polite). Every shop sells them and they’re a national delight. Here’s one I bought for Ross (I had to take a bite out of it so you could see the filling).

 Looking forward to the next couple of days when our friends Bob and Irene come to stay! Until then amigos. x