Relaxing in the South of Portugal

Not quite the same ring as the South of France, but close. I am staying in the town of Albuferia, on the Algarve coast. The hotel, well it is a resort really, is beautiful, and once again my platinum status with Sheraton came through. Not only am I staying in a suite, but it is two story one, according to the description in the closet, a luxury suite. Not too sure why they post that in the closet, but it was the same in Porto, maybe it is a Portuguese thing. the Resort is called Pine Cliffs, because it is on the cliffs, and there are pine trees, though not ones like we have, they look more like regular trees, with pine needles.

To get to the beach, there is a long wooden staircase, not too bad going down, but coming back up is a bit tiring. All the beaches in Portugal are public, however the hotel does have lounge chairs, under canopies for guests of the hotel. The grounds are quite big, and if you don't feel like making the trek down to the beach, you can hang out at one of the pools, there are 3, two outdoor and one indoor. Or they have a large area that is park like, with loungers, and lots of trees, with a beautiful view of the water. the weather has been very good, around 25 degrees, so just perfect. I am feeling very relaxed and think I will be ready to tour once I get to Lisbon on Friday.

My suite has a bathroom, with a bidet and toilet on the main floor, along with a living room, and a balcony. The floors are tile. The stairs are hardwood, dark, and the bathroom upstairs has another toilet and bidet, and a big tub (though not as nice as the one in Porto) two sinks and marble on the floors and walls. The bedroom has a king size bed, another balcony off of it, and view of the gardens. It's gonna be hard to be in a regular hotel room after this.