going to the beach....

i've been pretty quiet on the holiday front... mostly because we didn't do a hell of a lot more than go to the beach and cook bbqs... sounds boring i guess, but for us it was just the ticket..

our favourite campsite ever (well leaving aside the fact that the hot water always runs out in the afternoon just when you come back from the beach and want to have a shower) in aldeia do meco was pretty much the same as the last time we visited, 3 years ago, so we basically just plonked ourselves down in the best site in the park (we got that all figured on the last visit) and didn't move for nearly 3 weeks...

the campsite is strategically placed on the top of a cliff, overlooking the most gorgeous beach (and never crowded, even in august), which meant a fair amount of schlepping up and down the stairs that some nice old guy with too much time on his hands has installed... just in case you were thinking we were getting fat and lazy with all that lying on the beach and eating bbqs...

first you have to lug your fold-up chair, beach umbrella, books, etc through the hole in the fence


on the other side of the fence the beach awaits.... all the way down there...


then you have to pose for a photo


then you go down some stairs...


and some more stairs..


down on the beach there's a place where people collect grey/green clay and rub it all over their bodies... apparently it's good for the skin or something... i resisted the temptation....


and at the end of the day you schlep all the way back up again to the campsite...


for a bit of well deserved r&r.. see exhibits a and b below:


(yes i know, vogue goes camping! i don't normally read vogue, and even less in portuguese, but they were giving away free beach bags....)