It's been 4 years since I was anchored in Alcoutim. We just visited by car, and all I can tell you is that my body slumped as I watched an "early-retired couple" dock at the town's free pontoon looking like a million bucks.
Why? Because "watching it" is a damn poor substitute for "doing it". It's unhealthy, I tell you.
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| No schedule, no utility bills, no hassles - 99% of people would die of boredom, I hope you're in the 1% category. |
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| No it's not a retirement home. It's a restaurant and we ate here because that's where I ate when I was here by boat, and I had grilled cuttle fish again. Four fish dishes, wine etc. for 35 euros. The place ain't hopping this time of year (although there were some English-speaking blokes beside us) but it's got charm and an outdoor patio for summer time. |
The first night we stayed at a farm bed & breakfast near Vila Real de Santo António located at the mouth of the Guadiana River.
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| They had donkey rides, but apparently the donkeys had been let out as part of a live nativity scene and were returned looking like starving skeletons. |
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| We were told that a lawyer sold this old majestic hotel, which belonged to somebody else, and skipped town with the money. Now it's for sale again, by the real owners. |
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| Getting older, getting crazier. |
We spent the second night farther inland at Reguengos de Monsaraz near an old fort way up on a hill.
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Rooms in the middle of an orange grove. The oranges were in season and delicious.
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| Typical street within the castle walls. |
It was a fun trip. By the time I got home I had mostly forgotten about that boat docking in Alcoutim.
Wow, you hit a nerve. I can't remember the last time I did something like that. Since I got the boat bug 5 years ago, I haven't been on a mini trip, besides summer camping or checking out the farm house. Kinda like a $$ thing. Being a 1%-er takes its toll.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's actually a cheap way to spend 3 days (2 nights). You pack some munchies, split the diesel by 4 people, stay at inexpensive places, eat at tavernas (but only lunch, because dinners were bread, cheese, fruit and wine bought at a shop - we are middle-age hippies), walk around, see (feel) the sights and that's it. Being poor (yeah, that's right, I'm making half what I used to make) and living rich (I'm lying. I'd be living rich if I were living on Jakatar on that pontoon for the whole winter). Feeling alive, is what I meant to say.
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