Not long after depositing our bags in our apartment, we were off out again heading towards Villa Nova de Milfontes, the nearest largest town for supplies and to eat. What is it about travelling that makes you hungry? Well in our case it was probably the crack of dawn EasyJet flight, our decision not to eat the plastic food on the plane and wait until we got there, and the large queue at the car hire pick-up!
After parking our lovely little white Fiat 500 - I'd definitely drive another one of these - we headed down the main street and first things first, food. This was our second time in the town, our first was during our first visit when we had an overnight stay. Then we had little time to explore as we'd walked along the Rota de Vicentina and to be honest extra walking was definitely off the agenda. Neither were we in the market for restaurants as that holiday we spent it eating, and walking, and a bit more eating for good measure!
This time though we wandered down the main street and choose to stop in one of the small local restaurants, and our view out of the restaurant was mostly this tree. Sheer bliss!
One of the local websites about the town says it's a charming place between Lisbon and the Algarve and it's undiscovered by foreign tourists. While it's true there's not many, I wouldn't say it's totally undiscovered, but it's not well known. It's surrounded by a stunning coastline of rugged cliffs and sandy beaches and it's a bit of a hidden gem.
Our food - we opted for fish, well when in Rome (or even the Alentejo) and all that - was cooked on the grill in the restaurant. At this point we weren't sure what we were ordering and we really didn't care that much. When it arrived I preferred the look and taste of what MOH ordered and as that was put in front of me that's where it stayed!
After lunch we headed off to explore a bit more of the town, heading down towards the front, past many of the traditional buildings. This isn't a town with high rise buildings and for that reason it retains its charm.
We headed down towards the Mira River and the small port area - just look at those blues, and the cobbled road too.
The terrain close up is quite rocky, but it seems this tree was quite happy to grow there.
I was rather taken with this roof, although I think it'd seen better days - but with the purple flower (most likely a weed) it looked much prettier!
At the bottom of the hill we spotted these huts, most likely working huts of the fishermen not beach huts as we'd expect here in the UK. But I think their rustic-ness makes them equally as attractive as the painted ones we're more used to.
After a walk around, a sit down and more photos we decided we should head back up the hill and get those supplies we came for. But as soon as we turned we were immediately wowed with this view. So remember Vila Nova de Milefonts isn't for non-Portuguese tourists, and for that reason alone we love it!
