The Last Day

Unfortunately the last day of our holiday wasn't what one would call hot and sunny and rain was forecast, but armed with an umbrella we sallied forth to Silves for a walk along side the river.

There were black and white stilts, wading about in the mud at the edge of the reeds and bamboos that lined the far bank, there were herons and moorhens, jays, storks overhead and in the fields and flocks of tiny little birds busy in the reeds beds.

There were more wild flowers than you could shake a stick at, never mind an umbrella! Some like tiny cranesbills, vetches, rock roses, lavenders, bee orchids and angelica type plants we could recognise, but others were a mystery so I took lots of photos. Once we get home we'll have to try and identify them!

In amongst the orange and lemon trees that surround the guest house there are huge orange and black monarch butterflies but here we saw beautiful fritillary ones, with bright red markings. More blurry photos!

There was a stand of a yellow flowering brassica that was absolutely covered in bees, swarming with them, and the noise was incredible! There must have been thousands of them, no wonder there is local honey for sale everywhere you turn!

By early afternoon the heavens had opened and we retreated and got our packing done for the morning departure. The evening meal was to somewhere very traditional where Mike had wild boar casserole with dish lined with fried bread and I had some local black pig. Excellent!

While I'm mentioning food, the highlight of the holiday for himself has been the discovery of pastel de nata, tiny custard tarts - you'd be amazed how many a man can eat in a week!