Friday 18th April 2025
After another wander around the town centre, meeting up with Jeeves, Michelle and Layla, then along to the lighthouse, I cycled to Castro Marim, about 5 Km away, to hopefully take some photographs of the flamingos that feed near there.
Vila Real de Santo António:
Around the town centre and in front of the marina, there were craft stalls.
We also visited the indoor market hall, which mainly sold fresh fish and vegetables:
In the garden, in front of the lighthouse, there were several fruit trees, many bearing abundant fruit. We have previously mis-identified the tree pictured below as an avocado, but seeing it fully in fruit, it is clearly not. It is in fact a Japanese Plum tree.
Wandering further around the town, I could not help noticing the very large number of TV aerials, seemingly fighting for space on every roof:
In addition to TV aerials, there are a good number of art installations around the town:
Castro Marim:
Castro Marim is a small village built on the slopes around a huge castle, just to the north of Vila Real de Santo António. Crossing the flat area between. the settlements, I met another cyclist who fortunately was willing to pose for a photograph:
The hill it is built on, is flat salt marshland, which is used mainly for the production of sea salt.
I cycled out to the observation hide, but unfortunately there were no flamingos to be seen. A couple I met, suggested it was too windy for them to feed successfully in this area today. There was some other wildlife to be seen:
This area is also quite close to the International Bridge, which crosses the Guadiana river to Spain:
The village of Castro Marin is quite picturesque. As you approach it, there is a nice terraced garden area with seating:
That is for today. See u Later. TTFN.
"See-u-Later" 