Walking the Sete Vales Suspensos

December 5, 2018

My second day in Portimão, the whole plan was to leave it. Carvoeiro is just a little to the east, and is the start of a cliff walk. Well, I didn't check bus times, and found out that after 8:30, the next direct bus is past 1:00. So I had some time to kill.

(Turns out the ticket guy neglected to tell me I could transfer halfway there to go earlier, but what's done is done)

Walking the other direction on the boardwalk I found some fun sardine art. (Told you it was a thing)

I noticed a bunch of smokestacks with storks nesting on top of them. Each nest had both birds in the pair, either on top of it or on a nearby rooftop. I don't know if there are chicks or eggs right now.

And there was a nice view of the bridge across the river.

After lunch, I caught my bus and finally made it to the beach.

I started at Praia de Carvoeiro right in town.

Can't get enough of those cliffs.

From there, I took the boardwalk east from town towards Algar Seco, the local rock formation beach.

There I found Boneca Cave, with two eyes looking out towards the water. Apparently in high season it's hard to even get into the cave. I was the only one there.

Algar Seco had a lovely view of the coastline. I just can't get over how pretty it is here, with the blue water and orange rocks. The colors in the Google photos of the Algarve aren't embellished.

Although I knew the cliffs are limestone, I was still delighted to look down and find shells in the pathway. There were lots more over the next couple hours. A quick and not very scientific Google search leads me to think they're at least 23 million years old.

Sunglasses for scale

At places along the path they had fenced off sinkholes. Hard to see, very deep. I appreciated it.

There were fishermen at various intervals with their lines off the cliffs. I don't know if they were catching anything.

Had I a picnic, I totally would have eaten it here.

And after all that I made it to the start of the official walk. Not sure why they don't extend it just a little farther to an actual town.

Once on the trail, there were handy markers painted on rocks and posts saying right path, wrong path, and turn left or right.

Off the cliff is the wrong way. Go figure.

Mostly you could find your way just fine without them, but they were nice in a 'check yourself before you wreck yourself' kind of way.

One of the major landmarks was the Alfanzina lighthouse. With this kind of coastline, lighthouses are alive and well.

Coming around the corner I found Praia de Carvalho.

And Praia de Benegil, which has a cave system that is hugely popular to visit on boat tours.

As the light was starting to think about fading, I made it to the end of the walk at Praia da Marinha.

My original plan had been to hike back the way I came and bus from Carvoeiro, but since I was chasing daylight, that wasn't going to happen. I got creative with taxis and buses from other cities, and made it back for dinner.

Adventure day complete.