While checking out some of the towns in the Algarve, Portugal, we made sure to make the town of Albufeira one of our stops. We spent the entire morning and a lot of the afternoon here, admiring its picturesque quality, its beach with millions of shells, and its shopping.

Of course, snacks are needed when exploring, so I stopped by a bakery for a pastel de nata (custard tart) and an almond tart. The custard tart, was, as usual, delicious. The almond one was a little lackluster for me, but I enjoyed eating it in little pieces throughout the entire course of the day.

We ate lunch at a restaurant here right by the beach. As tempted as I was to enjoy some more black pig ribs, I was convinced not to due to the fact that this restaurant offered cataplana, a fish and seafood stew, for one. It’s actually named after the dish it’s cooked in. Most restaurants offered it as a dish for two, and so I hadn’t been able to get it yet. And even though this was for one person, it was still way more than I could eat. It had mussels, massive shrimp, chunks of cod, crab and vegetables, served with a pile of juniper-scented rice. It was lovely!

After a late lunch, we headed to Faro for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We stumbled upon a tiny chapel, and saw a little paper sign inside advertising a bone chapel, which I think cost us 1 Euro to go visit. Through some doors, a little walk outside, and into this small, skull-packed chapel, lined with skulls and bones. Strange place, for sure.

The rest of the time was spent walking down towards the water, stopping here and there to look at churches. And taking ten million photos of the storks and their giant nests on all the buildings and chimneys.

Before heading back to our weird little town where our hotel was located, we made a stop for dinner at a small bar along a highway, Casa dos Bifanas, for pork sandwiches. They were definitely a little skimpy, and we ended up having to order two rounds of them, and I also devoured a plate of fried sardines and salty, fatty pork. The sandwiches were tasty though, especially with a healthy pouring of piri piri sauce and yellow mustard.

Next, the days spent in Lisbon…once the photos are finished!

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