Gosh – We’re in Lagos!

(You will only realise quite how brilliant that title is, if you know that Lagos is not pronounced Lay-Goss, but Luh-Gosh).

And yes…as I write, we are in Lagos, on The Algarve.

HARD AT WORK, REPORTING BACK FOR OUR READERS

Welcome back boatblog fans, and once again thank you to everyone who has left comments, or liked us on Facebook.

Unfortunately, this week’s instalment is going to be quite short because the truth is…we haven’t done very much! As Alan pointed out, our intrepid Voyage of Discovery – à la Marco Polo or Columbus, has become something of a Vacation – à la Marco Warner or Cosmos. And even though the ship’s log has just clocked 1,000 Nautical Miles, it has been more Thomas Cook than Captain Cook. (This is good stuff isn’t it. You don’t get this quality on the average boatblog.)

But enough waffle. We spent the best part of a week in Cascais, going for cycle rides eating too much and generally having a very nice time.

TOUR DE PORTUGAL

(PS – I do have a much funnier picture of Lyn on the bike, but she has refused to let me put it up on the internet on the grounds it might go viral. Private viewings can be arranged on application).

But eventually our wanderlust returned, and we set sail for Sines (pronounced Cinch). It took the best part of a day to get there, and we were surprised to sail into this sweet little Portuguese town to the sound of pounding African drums and terrifying native chanting. I thought my navigation had gone all wrong and we were about to be taken by Somalian  pirates, but it turned out this was the start of the Sines World Music Festival. The WOMAD of Portugal.

GRANDSTAND VIEW OF THE SINES WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

It was fantastic. Never mind that it didn’t start each evening until way past our bedtime and carried on till six in the morning.

The first concert was by a famous Fado singer. Fado is a passionate style of Portuguese singing.  If you think a Latino Edith Piaf but with all the happy bits taken out, you won’t be far off. 

WE WERE THERE!

She was great. The next concert was by an Armenian Jazz Funk band. I think it would be fair to say that Armenian Jazz Funk is an acquired taste, and there is probably a reason it hasn’t gone global. We stayed for as much as we could bear, but eventually had to leave. After the first tune. Which lasted twenty five minutes.

But it was a fantastic atmosphere, and it’s been a long time since we’ve been somewhere that you needed a bracelet to get in. 

NOT TOO OLD TO PARTY

But it was time to move on. We left Sines just as the sun was coming up, this time to the sound of heavy Moroccan  Dubstep, and headed towards Lagos. We rounded the treacherous Cape St Vincent on the South Western tip of Portugal (that’s the bottom left hand corner to our landlubber friends) in a flat calm and arrived in Lagos in time for cocktails overlooking the marina. Just as Vasco Da Gama did all those years ago.

ROUNDING CAPE ST VINCENT

And of course, it wouldn’t be boatblog.com if we didn’t include a gratuitous selfie. So here it is, outside the Boca Inferno near Cascais.

 

Aaaaaaaaah!

 

 

Adeus for now.

 

Ju & Lyn