Obrigado

So, having never been to Portugal before, I've now been twice in four months. This latest trip may have been for an extravagant and enormously entertaining wedding weekend (beach bar drinks the night before, clifftop ceremony, filet mignon at an exclusive resort as part of the reception, catered barbecue party with free bar the following day), but, while based in Carvoeiro, we were also able to see plenty of the Algarve: Sagres, the cathedral and fortress in Silves, an eccentric museum in Lagos, a chapel decorated with human skulls and bones in Faro, and glorious cliff-backed cove beaches aplenty. We didn't see much at Europe's most south-westerly point, the lighthouse Cabo de Sao Vicente, where the view was obscured by thick sea mist...

As seems to be increasingly the case, the holiday largely revolved around food and drink, and included excellent meals at a couple of local restaurants (Julio's and Onze), lots of delicious port and green wine and a taster of the local delicacy cataplana, a seafood stew in which they shove pretty much everything (prawns, fish, clams). We couldn't fault our hotel, either - a room with a balcony with a sea view (just about), indoor and outdoor pools, and a decent breakfast - especially as it was part of an easyJet package.

I've never really understood the urge of so many British people to flee the dark autumn and winter evenings in search of sun, but, having arrived back to a damp, dreary Gatwick and UK prices, I'm coming around to the idea - even if I'm still not a fan of the varnished, leathery look to which so many seem to aspire...