27/07/18 – 28/06/18 – Tavira
We were up early as we had the Moho booked in for some investigatory works on why the batteries didn’t seem to be charging, this gave us time to appreciate the area in the calmness of the early morning. Waking up with sea views never gets tiring, particularly when they are as beautiful as the ones here.
By choice, I wouldn’t have booked the van in on my Birthday, but as it was the only slot they had for the next couple of weeks, we thought we had better take it. So off we trundled to Camperserv to get it checked out.
We had a 10:00 slot, but due to being a member of staff down, we didn’t get seen until closer to 15:00. That didnt stop us going for a Birthday beer at a roadside cafe/restaurant. Lorraine and I were dubious at first, as at it looked a little run-down and untidy, we were the only people in there (it was only 11:00 though) but by lunchtime, the place started to fill up with locals. We both had our first taste of Sagres beer (2 bottle each) all for the princely sum of 4.50 Euros. Nice.
At Camperserv, they had diagnosed the problem to be the solar controller bypassing the vans computer control unit, so a couple of hours later, some rewiring and the right solar controller installed, we were off on our way to make the most of the evening by heading to Tavira. A massive thanks to Camperserv for their knowledge and assistance for getting the problem sorted….all for a very reasonable price.
Arriving in Tavira a little tired to be honest, Lorraine was greeted the second she stepped out of the van by another Brit, who proceeded to brag about his 11 meter long RV for the next 10 minutes, telling her how much he had spent in upgrading absolutely everything, particularly his plasma T.V…….Quite frankly, she didn’t give a monkies, less so, when the only question he did ask about how long we were in Portugal for (Lorraine said about a month) was met with a brash ‘Oh, you’re only bloody part-timers then’……Cant get on with everyone I guess.
Heading into Tavira (avoiding the RV by skulking around the front of the Moho) we were were both taken back by how pretty it was. Along both sides of the river Gilao were a series of cafe’s, restaurants and shops, the majority of which were in pretty well maintained old buildings. This was our first taste of Portuguese tiling on the buildings front facades, some of which looked very pretty indeed.
It looked like they knew it was my Birthday as the streets were all lined with paper cut-outs and ribbons (Not Doilies Mum, Dad & Lorraine!!!!)
We had a quick beer and hummus @ snackbar Filomena on Praça Dr. António Padinha (The main square on the east side of the river) before walking around for what seemed like ages trying to find somewhere to eat.
Starting to get a little ratty (Unlike me I know 😉 ) I eventually said after passing down the same street three times, lets just go here, a small Indian restaurant called Punjab Palace. Not really knowing what to expect about the quality of food, we ended up having an extremely tasty birthday treat.
