Following a light breakfast in our Air B&B, we re-packed the car and began the drive to Lagos which is in the Algarve region. Once again Google Maps did a job of finding our way out of the City and onto the highway.
As we drove through Lisbon and it’s suburbs, we saw lots more of the newer parts of the city -newer residential areas, parks, commercial areas etc. I realized again how much we had focused our time exploring the historical area. There is obviously much more to see and do (and I have not even looked into the museums and cultural activities). More time would have been needed. I will have to think about coming back.
Much of the highway travel seemed the same as that at home. The highways were good, the signage seemed the same and the gas stations seemed to be set up in a similar way. There were some differences: the restaurants were a bit different (no McDonalds lining the highway -although we did see them in Lisbon). The service stations had sunscreens over some of the parking spots. Also, there was a toll on the highway we were traveling upon. Jesse was able to adjust to the new things and did a good job on the driving.
The vegetation along the way is quite different. I was not sure what kind of trees that I was looking at. After a short while, we were in an agricultural area and we guessed that the rows of trees were olive trees. There were vineyards of course and, as we got close to Lagos, I did recognize the orange orchards.
Laura has an app on her phone (I think recommended by her mom , Sharon) that will identify a plant if you scan it with your phone. We tried that app while driving but it would not work while driving. I think some prior trip research on the vegetation (in addition to the culture and the history) would have been valuable.
We arrived in Lagos about 3:00 p.m. – just in time for Sage’s nap. Once in the town, the roads got very narrow again – thank goodness most of the really narrow ones are one way.