Armação de Pêra

Armacao de Pera - everybody's talking about it...

However you spell it, Armacao de Pera is a great place to visit when you're in Algarve.

(I thought I'd take the trouble to spell it properly in the headline to this page, but it is a bit of a pain, getting all those out-of-the-ordinary characters on a UK keyboard).

Armacao de Pera is just left of the centre of Algarve, a little west of Albufeira (as the crow flies?)

It was a while since I'd spent some time at the beach there, so, after we'd enjoyed the sand sculptures exhibition up the road at Alcantarilha, near neighbouring Pera, I persuaded Nev to drive south a few miles.

As we were on an approach road we'd not used before, we managed to get lost for a while. I didn't mind - that's part of the fun of driving around while on vacation. Just treat it as an adventure, and you'll enjoy whatever you get up to!

Eventually, we stopped in a narrow, cobbled village and asked the way of some elderly senhors who were watching the world go by from the shade of a doorway. They gave us clear enough instructions in Portuguese, but to my astonishment, Nev took the next left turn, not the right as we'd been instructed.

I was glad to have proof that it's not just my Portuguese that's become rusty!

When we arrived at Armacao de Pera, it was like visiting an old friend...

The beach there is one of the longest in the Algarve, and the 'town' stretch is popular with the locals, who arrive in numbers at the end of a working day.

I love it there, as the pace of life is really laid-back, and it rubs off on the lazy visitor (that's me).

Because it's still an active fishing area, there's part of the beach where tourists and local fishermen mingle; a sight that always tickles me.

I don't know how many times I'd been there, before it occurred to me to wonder at the name. Apparently 'armação' is the form of net that the locals use - and they used to operate from Pera, but kept their nets by the beach... And so it became Armação de Pêra. (And, even if not true, it's a nice story and I like it).

Before I hit the beach, we wandered around for a while, and Nev did some sketching and took some photographs that he thought would make good pictures. The road rises from the beach and detours around a small chapel that has a square terrace and stone benches which offer good views east and west.

Here's the view to the east on the day we were there in September 2004.

Although the afternoon was wearing on, I fancied some time on the beach (it just looked too inviting - and it was a 'cooking' day). So I bought Nev an ice cream and left him to it. Found myself a nice spot not too far from the bar/restaurant that could be accessed by a foot-cooling boardwalk, threw down my towel and got some serious sun!

Once the local families started to arrive, things got a little noisier, so we (that's I) decided to move further east. We jumped in our Peugeot 206 hire car (easy parking 10 metres from the beach) and headed off with the sun at our backs.

Would you believe it; we got lost again! Instead of ending up a half-mile further down from Armacao, we rolled into Salgados beach, rather further east!

Undaunted (it looked nice, and I was in a beach-sampling mood) we stayed there for a while. It's really an extension of Armacao de Pera beach anyway - we'd just overshot a little.

Here's Salgados looking east...

A little quieter, I'm sure you'll agree!

And we finished off by driving to a secluded cove beach, Manual Lourenço, which was most restful - until I started to feel hungry again.

Nev mumbled something about how we could have left the car in Armacao de Pera and walked to where we were, but I was in too mellow a mood to argue back. And anyway, I was still resting that injured ankle.

Remember? (from the Albufeira page).

And so we made the short trip back to Albufeira, where we were going to check out an Indian restaurant we'd seen.

So, there you have it: Armacao de Pera is a wonderful stretch of sand, a relaxing place to be - and I won't leave it too long before I go back there.

Neither should you.
 

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