Ilha do Mel - March 2nd

After all our walking yesterday (and we did do quite a bit, probably 10km) we decide to take it easy today and go to the local beaches.  This decision is also in part because Dorota has come down with a cold, which in this heat is pretty unpleasant.  There are more than a few beaches near our hostel, but for the morning we choose the Praia do Farol which is almost deserted.  We do get some passing traffic, but the only permanent fixtures this morning are us and the crabs.  As usual it is a mix of sunbathing and sea bathing.

The beauty of being close to home is that when it gets too hot at midday we are able to go back and shelter in our room rather than have to seek out a restaurant.  Although we do go to a very nice café for a quick bite for lunch.  After lunch we head out to a different nearby beach, Praia de Faro, which is near the lighthouse, but disappointingly the clouds appear just after we get there, and our time on the beach is cut short (although we do get in some swimming and sunbathing beforehand).

 
Because of this we decide it is time to get the second of the islands major attractions out of the way, the lighthouse.  This is located on a large hill on the east of the island, and from it you get magnificent views of the whole island.  Unfortunately you can’t actually go up the lighthouse (unlike in Uruguay) but it is still pretty good.  Overall this is almost our standard eat, beach, eat type of beach break, but there is some good walking as well.

In the evening we go to a restaurant which we saw on our way to lunch.  It was packed with Brazilian tourists then, and it still is now.  But we manage to squeeze in and have the usual very large and tasty portions of fish.  The only difference between this and the previous two nights fish dinners, this one cost half the price (less than £20) of the other two.