Odoardus'

A Trip to the Algarve

Just some fleeting moments from a trip to Vila Real de Santo António with some friends.

Bookstore

We went to a small town book store where the owner went on a 20 min political tirade. While everyone was locked in on not being rude and dismissing him, I was looking around a found a bilingual edition of Tibullus' elegies with a commentary. Score! There were also some portraits from famous writers, and I snapped this one of Teixeira de Pascoaes, which I've been reading a lot lately. See my translation of one of his poems..

20250719_122955 Teixeira de Pascoaes

Beach

We went to the beach. I was reading Kaveh Akbar's Martyr!. It was hot and windy. I dove headfirst into the cold-ish sea. We treaded around some warm pools left behind in the low tide.

20250719_154321 Some boats waiting for the higher tide. 20250719_154324 A pool. 20250719_182935 The view from the village's Church

Templar fortress

We also visited the Templar castle in Castro Marim. In late August there's always a big medieval fair here, very famous. This time of the year it was deserted, only a small exhibition of torture instruments.

20250720_151446 Inside the castle walls.

20250720_151434 The view from the walls to the village and the later fortress.

Salt-Spa

Around Castro Marim there's a bunch of salt pools. Some were converted into a spa resort of sorts. The pool is so salty you cannot not float. Also it was filled with sea-monkeys and mud. It was a bit jarring. 20250720_181241 Beautiful day though!