Inside Lagos

We haven't really seen Lagos so we decided to stay in town instead of our planned trip to Faro and Tavira. The visit there would have taken us a whole day. Lagos is really nice, located on the water, very clean city with many beautiful small streets and artistically designed. We have read that the streets would be unbearably crowded in summer, and I could already imagine because even at this time in April, there's already a lot going on. The street cafés were already crowded.

We began our tour at the small fortress, "Fortaleza da Ponta da Bandeira" which is on the waterfront and on the road from the hotel to downtown. It was built in the 17th century to protect the port. It has been restored and now houses small museum of Portuguese discoveries. There was not much to see though but on the rooftop, there are numerous modern artworks of pretty figures of different types of wind-machine kind of things.

Directly opposite is the impressive city walls "Muralhas" and the beginning of the old town with its narrow streets. We passed by at a church and fled from the beggars who are acting strangely more dramatic than the beggars in Berlin. (One was missing a leg and the others were moaning or kind of wailing like they were in some kind of pain). They sat strategically at the entrance of the church.

Further on, we passed by at the fish market. It was very clean for a wet market. The ground floor was reserved for fish, other sea foods as well as vegetables. On the upper deck is a kind of open area where you can view the hustle bustle of the town and the marina and on back side is an art or science museum. We just looked around and took some photos of the place.

 

When we went down, I saw a shop and immediately went in when I saw the kind of harem pants I was looking for. I got the shorter version though. Tezenis is just like H&M, and I love it.

It was windy when we got to the other side of the avenue. The marina is another going out area with a lot of restaurants and cafés. We were hungry and my friend Krizz, a foodie, esp. told me to try Piripiri so I ordered chicken Piri Piri. I was actually expecting a real hot spicy Piri Piri, but all we got was just a fried chicken. Well, what important was that my friend was happy with his food. He said it was delicious.

The area looks like the party mile during summer. I could only imagine how full it's going to be. On our way back, there was this lady who was smiling at me and I realized it was the same Canadian woman we've met the previous evening on the beach at Praia Dona Ana. It was funny to meet her again. We said our hellos and she took our pictures while I gave her my website address. 

We went back to our hotel to rest a bit then decided afterwards to go to the other direction going to Ponta da Piedade, another promontory and a lighthouse. From our hotel, we went off to the right which was the opposite direction to the city center. The road goes directly to the lighthouse but there are many viewing points along the way. We made a stop and went down to Praia do Camilo; there was a small restaurant at the beginning of the stairs going down to the beach. It was quite busy even though the season hasn't really begun. There were already a few sun worshippers around at the beach even though it feels a bit chilly still. There was another beach but going there would get us wet so we decided against going there. Off we went to our little hiking on the beautiful landscape and cliffs with the view of the Atlantic Ocean.

In the evening, we went again to "our" beach, Dona Ana. I forgot to bring my tripod, so I had to go back again alone.

El Nido: Talindak, Bacuit

Day 12: Puerto Princesa - Taytay - El Nido

 Welcome to El Nido!

The town traces its roots from a small Tagbanua village called Talindak. Some time in the 16th century, waves of migrants from Cuyo Islands came here to settle. In the 1800s, the Spaniards arrived, and they moved to the part where the present-day Población and Mabini are located. The first Spanish families were the Canovas, Vázquez, Ríos and Rey. In 1890, the Spaniards renamed it as Bacuit. At the time, the center of the town was Cabigsing, then known as Inventario. Chinese families moved into the area about the same period, first settling in Langeblangeban. The first Chinese settlers were named Lim, Chin, Liao, Edsan, Ambao, Que-Ke, Lim Piao, Yu His, Pe Phan and Pe Khen.

We arrived in El Nido around 12:30 p.m. after being on the road for nearly six hours. We immediately took a short break at the view deck before heading to the town proper. The viewing platform already presented us the fantastic view of beautiful beaches and clear blue sea, the mountains and greenery. Upon arrival at the town centre, our travel companions suggested the Marina Garden where we immediately got a room. It's located directly next to the beach.

The room costs 1900 pesos or about 33 €. We were a little disappointed. The room was in the new part of the hotel, and it was clean, but it somehow looks a bit shabby. Some small things like wobbly headboard, a loud air conditioning unit, (re. the electric power is only from 4:00 p.m. till 12:00 midnight) no fridge or TV (a fridge would have been good since we love to keep some cold drinks) and a rather small and uncomfortable bathroom. We had to fill the bucket for flushing the toilet. And since there was no electricity, the bathroom was too dark.  Our companions opted for the more basic room at the "native cottages". Maybe a plus was it's proximity to the beach as well as the town centre. There are numerous hotels in El Nido and in almost every price category. I've been to another hotel on previous trips, and theirs are also very acceptable. Next time I'll be in town, I would probably prefer to try another one.

Towards the end of the day, we decided to take a stroll at the tidal flats since it was low tide. My friend who grew up in an urban Europe found it very fascinating. I grew up in a similar environment like in El Nido, so my fascination is somewhat limited. Growing up on the island, I've got used to such encounter with nature every day. Since it was low tide, we could very well see some tiny multicoloured fishes and crabs trudging along the rocky beach. Then we found a small octopus, and we thought it was stuck under a rock, but then we saw a little crab tugging with the octopus.

We got back to our hotel and immediately went swimming as the hotel was just right on the beach. Sis Daisy, Kuya Art and the other guy (sorry I forgot his name) were already in the waters enjoying the late afternoon plunge. We were a bit far out in the waters, but we can still feel the sand on our feet. It was just fantastic swimming without any obstacle such as seaweeds or rocks. The towering limestone (Taraw) was a perfect backdrop which I scaled on a previous time I was there.

We then went for dinner at the Art Cafe, a lovely restaurant where you can also sit outside on the upper floor terrace. They have live music almost every evening. I called up my friend Cecile earlier that day and decided to meet there. Cecile then sang (with the band), and it was charming even we were already getting a little bit k.o. from our very long day!

Daisy already booked a boat for us for the next day's island hopping.