Beaches, Vineyards, and Pepto-Bismol

It has felt so good to stay in one place for more than 3 days. We are still in Albuferia and are enjoying it significantly more then Spain. The people here are so friendly and curtious, the food is fantastic, the days are hot and the nights are cool, and it is stunningly gorgeous.

We have been taking full advantage of being near some of the world best beaches and here is a sneek peak at where we have been sunbathing ( must admit though that since I am unable to upload my own pictures in this internet cafe, these are from the web and were not taken by moi...sorry).

Cave exploring in St Elulia




Old Town beach in Albuferia




We also went to a beautiful beach in Floresia but I cannot find a picture at the moment.

Aside from beaching we rented a car and toured a Winery as well. This vineyard is owned by Sir Cliff Richard who is apparently some old pop star trying to still be important by owning a vienyard whom I have never heard of and his face is plastered everywhere (see picture below) in the Algarve (the region that we are in). The wine produced here is called Vida Nova...meaning New Life and the tour included a walk around the grounds, a tour through production (they were actually making the wine at this time of the year which was really cool to see), a view of their oak barrel reserve, and of course, plenty of wine to sample. It was very fun and totally up my alley...thank goodness for those wine classes as I fit right in swirling my glass.

We have also discovered fanastic resturants out here as well. Last night we went to this place owned by an Isreali couple and I enjoyed a fabulous chocolate milkshake and potatoe wedges and Dean ate his body weight in ribs as they challanged you to eat as many as you can manage. Tonight we are going to a Thai/Veitnamese place that is sure to be nothing short of amazing as we have been craving Thai food for the past month.

I am feeling somewhat better but have gone through more advil and pepto then every before in my life. Having never had a headache before, I have had one for 7 days straight but luckly my stumach is almost back to normal so thank you everyone for your prayers.

We leave here for some place unknown on Monday and then on the 29th I will be leaving from Lisboa to Paris where I will be catching another train to Macon. Here I will be staying the the Taize community for a week. This is something I am really looking forward to doing and am a little nervous about going on my own but know that it will be worth it. You should check out their website for more info http://www.taize.fr/

After this I will be meeting up with my dear friend Michelle and we will be exploring Ireland together for our birthday month of September.

Well that is a wrap for now