Just came back from the second consecutive New Year’s trip to Algarve, Portugal. Last year we went to Lagos, so this time we went for a house in Vale da Telha [https://goo.gl/maps/WSMQ9teWzDPTpJZd8], Aljezur. Which is basically still Algarve, south Portugal.

I find it delightful to be able to have beach fun around New Year’s, mainly because I could never have that for most of my live in Romania, where temperatures in December and January are usually around zero Celsius.

With a total of 9 friends, some came later, some left earlier, our days were usually waking up, getting coffee, a good stretch, then everyone pitching in on getting the breakfast ready. Having so many people preparing breakfast made it a highly diverse and consistent breakfast, which was great for the day ahead.

Some days we went hiking towards the breathtaking views of the ocean cliffs. We used Gaia GPS [https://www.gaiagps.com] to find secret trails towards the ocean front.

Other days we left a bit later and made it a beach day. The water was cold, about 17 degrees Celsius, but I was proud to go on an adventure into the foamy waves for a proper swim.

Got to play Spikeball [https://spikeball.eu/] which is highly active and fun to play.

As for the rainy Tuesday we had, good thing I brought board-games and my PlayStation 4, we did a solid game day by the fireplace.

Looking forward to 2022!