Pre-Spring Break Break

Last Thursday, the girls and I all went in different directions for the long weekend. The 6th grader went to Seville on a field trip...

(bullfighting museum, salsa dancing and cooking paella)

while the senior went to Paris on a school gig, too. 

(always involves lots of poses in front of the local landmarks)

As for me, I headed to Lagos, Portugal, to meet up with a couple ladies for a relaxing little break from mom duties.  The Algarve really is pretty, and this time of year it was ideal because it wasn't crowded. Temps in the low 60s and mostly sunny. Our 2/2 apartment was just lovely and only about three years old.

The beaches were deserted and it was obvious why when my traveling buddies (seen below)

dipped their toes into the surf... brrr!

We had some really fresh seafood dinners in Lagos. Above was the view from one of the restaurants situated right along the clifftops above the beach, looking out towards the ocean.

We toured the old city center of Lagos, which is surrounded by a wall.

We had a bit of rain that morning, but it cleared up and didn't interfere with our snooping through the shops.

I absolutely loved the tiled building facades and patterned pathways.

(zoom of tiles on house seen above)

 

For €2 per person, we toured through a little museum attached to the former church of St. Anthony's.  

We weren't allowed to take interior pics, so I had to filch one off of the internet. You can tell why it's called the golden church, rebuilt in the mid 1700s after an earthquake destroyed much of the original structure.

We saw a few more churches and signs of approaching Easter.

Although Lagos isn't a particularly historic city, which was great because then I didn't feel compelled to rush hither and yon trying to see all of the cool sights, I did discover the church of St. Sebastian in a travel booklet. Perched atop a steep hill, the view from the bell tower out to sea is supposed to be remarkable.  And an ossiary (bone) chapel. However, we didn't know the opening times and thus arrived in the period between 1:00-4:00 when it was closed.  Dang it - I would have loved to see the artful array of bones.

All was not lost since my traveling partner discovered one of those traffic mirrors right outside the church and she snapped our pic in front of it.