Lagos is a crowded and active trading, tourist (heaps of back-packers!) and fishing town (with an enormous and very interesting fish market every morning)! A town of Roman origin, it once was the capital of Portugal in the days when Spain still ruled Portugal. This is a place so rich in history – with Henry the Navigator starting his explorations of the African coast from here in the 15th century! The city walls are dating from the 5th century and houses a number of beautiful old churches from the 8th-9th century! Really amazing old stuff! Sometimes hard to even get my head around it!
For us (with South-African roots) it is amazing to think that where Scolamanzi is docked, could be the exact place where Vasco De Gama and his ships were leaving from on his way to discover the Cape of Good Hope!

The old part of the city makes a great walk! The cobble stone roads (a total feet killer by the way … as they are very uneven and at times threatened to sprain/ break an ankle if you don’t watch your step !) and lovely white houses with their red tiled roofs and variety of cute little chimneys makes it a paradise for photographers! The sun is shining and we just love the weather after having fowl weather and grey skies for more than 3 weeks!

Needless to say – the main cuisine here is mainly something fishy! The top of the pick has to be the Portuguese grilled sardines! Whau! What a treat!

I honestly just could not get enough of it! Dax (my eldest son) has been here a few years ago and made me walk a few miles in search for his favourite Peri-Peri Chicken take-away café/restaurant! The journey to the place took me through the most wonderful residential areas! By the way Dax … the chicken was absolutely worth the effort and the sore feet! We had fish in so many ways that the chicken did not get too many innings! The local wines are wonderful and so are the pastries! Oh my word! How am I supposed to get into a swimsuit again – never mind the new bikini the Captain bought me?! I will contemplate a body rescue plan after Lagos – this is all too good to miss out on!
The one wonderful moment is followed by a sad one as our friends from the ARC are slowly but surely leaving us behind! I would never have guessed we will grow into such close friendships in such a short time! Many of them we will probably never see again as we are all heading in different directions. A lot of the boats were left behind in Lagos with the owners flying home for a few weeks or until the next summer season. Only a handful will continue sailing within the next week. We are sure to see Purrr-fect at some stage in the Med, and hopefully Irena, Time Bandit and Luna too! Sookie … we will be looking out for an email from you as soon as you have decided which way you will go! The farewell dinner was such a sad affair! Many laughs turned into teary hugs of goodbye! Every great moment only last for a while … but the memories last forever – this is certainly one event that I will never ever forget : Crossing this giant ocean with a fleet of friends!

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