# Pasteis de Nata: 0, Distance Walked: 17.2km, # Floors Climbed: 159
When I headed down to breakfast this morning I discovered why I had to specify the time I wanted to eat. It wasn't a buffet. Instead, there was table service - from an inadequate number of staff members. The same staff members had to double-up at reception and working the bar in the afternoons & evenings, which presumably explains the super late check-in time.
I saw the 5 American men I'd met before as well as several other hikers I've seen on the trail. I wasn't the only one in hiking boots at breakfast this time.
I bought some lunch at the next door supermarket (a pastry with spinach & cheese for main and another with stewed apple for dessert) before heading off. I saw the 5 Americans heading south which surprised me as my app said to head north. There were red & white waymarks in both directions and they were convinced they knew better than any app. I waved them goodbye. I didn't set eyes on them again. I wonder where they ended up?
My route took me back north through the old town and then around the back of the castle and from there west to the coast, where I turned south. The route to the coast was mostly easy walking on dirt tracks, except for a steep climb up out of the valley behind Aljezur (the blue bit on the map). Once I reached the coast it turned to sandy dunes again, but the spectacular scenery made up for it.
At one point I passed a set of stairs leading down from the cliff edge to a beach below. These stairs are open for use. These stairs are the reason why I believe the Portuguese authorities when they decide a cliff path is unsafe to walk along.
I reached Arrifana about 2pm. I was still hungry so I stopped in the nearest cafe which seems to be a hippie surfer bar. I had their Portuguese mac&cheese which tasted like every other mac&cheese I've ever had. It was cheesy Goodness and I practically inhaled it.
I then pottered off to my hotel just before 3pm. My trip notes said check-in was from 2pm so I wandered around trying to find reception. There are two parts to this hotel. One part is the hotel bit where I'm staying and the other is a hostel with rooms full of bunk beds next door. Reception for both was in the bar at the hostel. I saw lots of hikers loitering about as I wandered around trying to get into the bar area. I eventually pushed open a closed door only to discover check-in/the bar doesn't actually open until 3pm and I'd just pushed in front of everyone else who'd been waiting. Oops.
Eventually a young woman turned up and started the check-in process. I waited meekly at the back of the queue. This process took a long time as people had booked through different channels for different things and she was very new to the hotel. She tried to tell me breakfast wasn't included but I wasn't having that. I politely but firmly insisted it was included and pulled up the Vicentina Travel website. Finally one of her colleagues told her it was included so I got my breakfast voucher.
I tried ordering a packed lunch for tomorrow as there is nowhere to buy anything on the way and no supermarkets or bakeries here. She then told me they don't do those but the bar does start serving food from 4pm! I wonder if she was right?
I have 2 museli bars, 1 entire block of chocolate and an apple in my pack. They will have to do for lunch. I guess can also pig out at the breakfast buffet. Perhaps I should try seeking out the odd piece of fruit or bread roll too.
For dinner I when back to the surfer bar where I had my late lunch. All the other (2!) places here are a good bit further away and serve traditional food. This time I had a salad made of roasted sweet potato with peas, mushrooms and baby spinach topped with a (barely) poached egg. I think in that one meal I ate more vegetables than I have the rest of this trip. It was Good I suppose. For dessert I had a baked cheesecake made with goat's cheese and topped with a red berry sorbet. For this dish I need to define a new category of Interesting. It was a good creamy rich cheesecake with an occasional (perhaps not entirely) unexpected aftertaste of goat.
Below is a picture of the beach from the balcony of the bar. I'm having a hard life here.
the view is just glorious!
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