Our Day in Portugal

Walking to the Beach

We didn’t spend much time in Portugal, so I’m not officially crossing it off our travel list. I really wanted to see the Alhambra palace and the cheapest way of getting there off season was to fly to Lisbon and then to drive. As such, we only spent 1 day in Portugal.

After touring the Donana National Park we drove to our hotel in Portugal. We were staying near Albufeira which is a thriving resort town – in summer. In the winter about 80% of the stores and hotels were boarded up. It made finding meals a little complicated and I’m glad we had the car. Our hotel was on the beach, well sort of. The beach is at the bottom of some cliffs and our hotel was at the top, so if we were on the same elevation the hotel would have been right on the beach. Still there was an easy walking path down to the shore and it was very convenient.

Portuguese Beach in Olhos de Agua

Portugal has some truly gorgeous beaches; the water is turquoise, the sand is white, and the cliffs provide seclusion. I can see why the place would be hopping in the summer time, and why most of the people we encountered were retirees. They were also British. Not sure what that’s about, but it seems the Algarve is the place to have a tropical beach house if you are a well to do Brit.

Cove we found hiking near Benagil Beach, Portugal

While the weather was lovely, it wasn’t quite warm enough to swim or even to sun bathe, so we only walked on the beach. We also had plans to visit this cool cave. If you want to see the cave you must drive to the closest fishing village and convince a fisherman to take you out there. Recently it’s become very popular to see the caves and there are now 2 guys who only take tourists out – no fishing. Regardless, when we showed up, those 2 guys weren’t there, and the gents in the snack shop weren’t sure anyone would be going out. The sea was a bit rough, and the waves were too large for the boats we would be taking – think 12 seater row boat. Slightly disappointed we left, but decided to stay in the area and check out some other beaches. After an hour or so we returned, but our would-be guides were still nowhere to be found. We realized we wouldn’t be seeing the cave this trip. Instead, we followed a hiking trail along the top of the cliffs. We got to spend time in the sunshine and staring out into the turquoise waters – not a bad day

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Safari!

For my birthday, we drove 4 hours southwest to the coast of southern Spain. Since we were west of Gibraltar, the water was the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean. We had signed up for a tour of the Parque Nacional de Donana. The park is huge and comprised of several ecosystems which are home to a number of wild animals. There are a few visitors centers on the edges of the park, but the best (only) way to see the interior of the park is on a guided tour. These tours are given from 21 seat buses with 4 wheel drive and 5ft tall tires; all terrain buses.

Our trip began on the beach where we drove in the surf a what felt like a dangerous angle – I was anxious the whole time. The land for the park was rescued in 1969 , but a few fisherman lived on the beach in very simple huts, they were allowed to stay, and 7 remain to this day. But as we drove past the first hut, our driver abruptly turned the bus and raced toward the hut. A spark had ignited the thatched roof and the two inhabitants were trying hard to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the huts have no running water, so they were drawn bucketfuls from their well to combat the flames. Our driver grabbed the bus’s fire extinguisher, climbed onto the roof and sprayed it down. Thatch is very flammable though and the fire was underneath it, so they were having to tear off chucks of the thatch to make sure it was fully out. Between our bus driver and the two residents, they were able to stop the fire before too much damaged occurred; it was lucky we were driving by.

After this exciting beginning we continued the tour inland at the shifting dunes. The dunes are constantly changing and growing in size. They readily form hills and valleys with pine trees growing in the valleys. As the sand moves, the pine trees are covered and die, but new trees crop up in the new valleys. It is an ecosystem constantly in flux. From the dunes we entered the forest; the trees are more permanent and diverse here. This area is bordered by the marshland and is inhabited by several species of deer, wild boars, and lynxes.

During our visit the marsh was dry and cracked. As winter progresses the rains will fill it back up and it will become a breeding ground for dozens of species of birds-including flamingos. We didn’t see many birds, though we did see the wild marsh cows. Yes, wild cows sounds like an oxymoron, but there is a herd that roams this area along with marsh ponies. Their population is controlled as they aren’t strictly native species.

Our tour ended with a long drive on the beach as the sun set over the waves. It was gorgeous, and if we hadn’t visited in the off season, we wouldn’t have seen it or hardly anyh of the animals.

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Information about the National Park
Ordering Tickets for Park Tours

Mont St Michel

Mont St Michel, France

When Joe finished his work in Belgium, we set off for a mini French vacation; our first stop was Mont St. Michel. I first read about this abbey when I was a little girl, in some book I don’t even remember. I was fascinated by the tides and by this church rising seamlessly from the rock to tower over its surroundings. Mont St. Michel is located at the mouth of the Couesnon River in the English Channel and has some of the most dramatic tides in the world. When the tide is out, the island becomes part of the mainland; just a church on a rocky hill. When the tide is in, the city is surrounded by water and becomes a walled island once more. The tides come in with such speed (17 feet per second) and ferocity that it is dangerous to be outside the walls. 

The mud flats around Mont St Michel
This photo was take at about 4pm

This picture was taken exactly 3 hours later, and the
area is almost completely underwater.
Mont St Michel, France

The tide was out when we arrived, so we took the opportunity to wander around the mud flats surrounding the abbey. There is something amazing about walking on mud barefoot; it just feels so good squished between your toes. Joe was hesitant to join me at first, but eventually he gave in, kicked off his shoes and socks, and strode out onto more uneven ground. Quicksand is prevalent, so our steps were careful—until we found some. It was a small patch of quicksand, and it felt very weird to walk on, but since we weren’t sucked in, we stopped worrying about it. When our feet reached the desired level of muddiness, we decided to rinse them off, and go find a place for dinner.

We returned to the “island” by walking along the shallows of the adjacent Couesnon River. During our stroll, one of the local residents scuttled up to examine me. I think the little crab wasn’t paying attention and just crashed into my toe, but when I looked down and saw him there, I screamed and ran off. I probably scared him more than he scared me, but I’m not looking to get my toes pinched.

A soloist inside Mont St. Michel abbey church

After dinner we strolled along the walls of the abbey and looked at places where we had been mere hours before—now they were all underwater. At the time, the abbey was open at night, so we were at the top of the Mont during sunset. These stunning visuals were accompanied by soloists playing period pieces. It was very moving; the acoustics inside gothic churches make is seem like music is coming from within you. 

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Mont St Michel Visitor Information

Tide Times 

Jurassic Park

Lulworth Cove, Dorset, England

The next stop on our farther afield trip was the Jurassic Coast. We visited a portion in a little town called Lulworth Cove; I chose it so we could see the Durdle Door. Moving from Hampton Roads to Alpine Germany cuts your beach time severely, and I was missing the coast.

The Durdle Door from the top of the Cliff. We hiked down to the shore.
Dorset, England

The name Jurassic Coast comes from the fossils found here over the centuries. The Jurassic Coast stretches along 96 miles of beaches on England’s Southern coast. The area is susceptible to land slips, and that is how many of the larger fossils were found; a swath of the cliffs on the coastline fell away revealing the fossils inside, including marine dinosaurs. The fossils span 180 million year of history, and are not only from the Jurassic, but also the Triassic and Cretaceous periods.

The whole Jurassic coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but you can still collect fossils if you follow certain guidelines. If you uncover large or scientifically significant fossils, you must report your find, and if you follow the rules, it is likely you will be allowed to keep it. Full details of the fossil code can be found here.

We found a few small fossils we were able to take without violating the fossil code, and we didn’t see anything larger. The bigger, more important fossils usually turn up after a storm when the landscape has changed enough to uncover them.

England's unique coastline; grassy hills to the right, sheer cliff faces to the left.
Dorset, England

England’s coastline is not like a typical American coast where you approach a nice flat beach and can see the ocean from miles away. The English coast is made up of sheer cliff faces that crumble easily. When we arrived in Lulworth, we were unsure if we were in the right place because the landscape still looked like the countryside we had been driving through; rolling, grassy hills. Once we climbed the hills, we were able to see their backsides, the rocky cliffs, and climb down to the shore. It was beautiful and tricky. In some places there used to be stairs and paths, but the land under them has eroded, and the man-made stuff has crashed to beach below. Now it is a much more authentic hiking experience; no handrails or pavements, just difficult ground. Even the beach itself was unstable; the sand was coarse, more like gravel, and it gave way under foot.

The beach and the cliffs near Durdle Door
Dorset, England

All difficulties in arriving were forgotten when we reached the beach, and our fossil hunt began. The smallest pebbles in the sand we largely ignored, though we did see some of the tiniest shells among them: about 2mm at their tallest. We looked for ammonites among the larger rocks and we actually found something! They’re small, but since we didn’t bring a hammer and chisel, they’re the best we could hope for.

The beach was gorgeous, I would love to spend more time on the English coast, and maybe discover a much large fossil. The area is dotted with small towns like Lulworth, and spending time in any of them would be a very relaxing vacation. Jane Austen herself spent some time on the Jurassic Coast in a town called Lyme Regis, and it later became the setting of one of her novels: Persuasion. 

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Pictures from Our Trip!

Collecting Fossils on the Jurassic Coast

Lulworth Cove Town Homepage

The West Dorset Fossil Code

UNESCO World Heritage page about the Jurassic Coast

Ichthyosaur Fossil Found on Jurassic Coast in April 2013

More Information about Lulworth