What a great day out yesterday.

As it was cooler and a fair bit of cloud we decided to have a wonder out and picked Monchique, as we hadn’t been since our first visit here in 1981!

Excellent day, highly recommend. Go to Monchique itself first and have a walk around, lovely traditional village, everyone incredibly friendly, beautiful little square with several pavement bars, wonder the back streets and enjoy the atmosphere. Then drive up to Foia, the mountain peak and at 902m the highest viewpoint for the Algarve. Fantastic views of the countryside, Portimao, Alvor, Lagos and the motor racing circuit a long way below can all be clearly seen plus many more miles of coastline and countryside. Returning towards Monchique there are several cafes and restaurants roadside to call for lunch if you want, we did, with similar fantastic views and to our surprise, very good prices.

After leaving Monchique call in at Caldas de Monchique, this is the tiny spa enclave where the famous water comes from, it’s said to have all sorts of healing properties but yesterday there was only a trickle as there’s been no rain for a long time. The ‘stream’, if you go, is to the back right (you’ll understand that when you get there) behind the coffee shop. As well as that, the place is a pure delight, have a look in the restaurant on the Square, in fact have a look in everything, it’ll only take an hour.

The other thing of note. We were amazed how quickly the scenery or countryside changed. Just a few miles in land and it was green and fertile, most likely as it was noticeably cooler, seven degree’s cooler than when we left here so if it’s cool here, take another layer with you for the top of the mountain.

But yes, very beautiful up there and absolutely worth a trip, take your camera for the views and fingers crossed for a clear day.