Açoreano seared tuna steak

Today we drove from Spain to Portugal! We left Seville and ended up in Lagos, gaining an hour on the way due to the time change.

We had one absolutely stunning, and rather impromptu stop on our drive: the Portuguese beach town of Benagil.

First views of Benagli beach

Benagli is famous for one particular thing, the Benagli Cave, which was popularized thanks to its appearance as a Microsoft Windows screensaver… and spoiler alert, we got to see the real thing!

My picture of the beautiful Benagli Cave

We decided to go on a half hour boat tour with the many companies offering their services there, and for 20 euros it was definitely worth it. We took a small speed boat tour peek into about 5 or 6 caves along the scenically eroded sandstone cliffs.

First views on the boat

Turtle Cave

Another view of the Benagli Cave

Eroded cliff sides

Enjoying the boat ride

Carved out by many years of interaction with the water and the air, these cliffs have incredible caves and pillars to marvel at.

After Benagli, we drove to our destination for the night: Lagos! Lagos is a smaller seaside town quite popular with British and Australian tourists. It also has interesting sandstone cliffs formations and a small quaint town to get food in.

The town of Lagos

Speaking of food, we had an absolutely fantastic dinner tonight. One of the best, if not the best meal of our trip so far. We decided to go to Casa do Prego a local Portuguese restaurant. The ambiance of the place was perfect, with soft music playing in the background and delicious smells wasting through the air. All our waiters were also all very funny and kind, happy to offer advice.

Being by the ocean, I ordered the Açoreano tuna steak. Now, this may be hard to believe, but I’ve never had even remotely raw fish. So I was slightly taken aback when I cut into my fish and it was almost raw! But I figure this is what travel is for, trying new things and pushing your comfort zone… and of course, the tuna steak was delicious! I think there may be more raw fish for me in the future. Oh and the potatoes… those were heavenly as well.

Tuna Steak!

So far we’ve had a fantastic first day in Portugal. The Portuguese strike me as a very warm and welcoming people, I’m looking forward to spending the rest of our two weeks here!

Sunset in Lagos

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