Today, our sixth I believe, started as another travel day.  We left Estoril on the coast and headed inland along the Rio Tejo to Lisbon.  From there, we crossed a rather large bridge, the Pont d'Abril, and headed south to our destination of Portimao in the scenic southern Algarve region of Portugal.

The equipment van and the other passenger van, in front of that.

The Pont d'Abril at Lisbon, far off into the distance.

The Rio Tejo was rather wide as we headed inland to Lisbon, which made for huge bridge to cross.  According to Sabby (our tour director), this statue (above centre and to the right)  is the original of the same one that sits high on the hill in Rio de Janeiro.

We turned to the south and quickly noticed the countryside changing.  As we noticed the amount of sand in the soil, Sabby reminded us that the African continent was just across the straight from southern Portugal.

These were Eucalyptus and Olive trees, I believe.

Miles and miles of gently rolling hills, perfectly manicured, with bits of white stucco and red-tiled roofs visible from the towns in the distance.  The mountains became slowly larger as we headed south toward the Algarve region of Portugal.

The outskirts of Portimao, and wouldn't you just know it, a Ray Charles Show poster on the first billboard we passed.

Lisbon, Portugal -- so much different than large North American cities.  There were no steel and glass skyscrapers in this city that I could see.

I can't remember where this cathedral was, but it was absolutely massive.

As had been the case throughout the tour so far, we headed straight to the hotel (top right), checked into the rooms (right, a view of Portimao from the hotel room), met for our time schedules and headed out the front door and scattered.  It was late afternoon, we were playing that evening, and leaving for our next stop tomorrow afternoon.  Much to see.  Not a lot of time.

I'd read ahead that this area of the Portuguese Riviera was noted for it's topless beaches, so I headed immediately, a few hundred yards (metres) down the road to the walkway down to the beach.

There is, of course, one minor problem with visiting the country during the off-season.

The beach area in this part of the country was much different than that in the Estoril area.  Carefully sculpted rock, stone and tile retaining walls were replaced with large expanses of sand, dotted with yellow ochre-coloured rock outcroppings, with the brilliance of the white stucco buildings lining the edge of the hill that bordered the beach.  This place was gorgeous and definitely a contrast in colour.

The original venue was changed, replaced by a rather unique coliseum, closer to the waterfront.  This building (shown from the street and on-stage during sound check) was semi-covered, with some rather unique wooden architecture forming a stage area.

Unfortunately, this side of the ocean wasn't interested in my vocal stylings either, so during vocal check, I took the opportunity to walk down to the waterfront.

Showtime

Above -- back stage, stage right

Left -- The Ladies: Sharon, Heather and Dawn

It was, of course, purely coincidental that I headed out next day for my morning on the beach at the beautiful Portuguese Riviera in the company of Dawn and Heather, the two, young, single ladies on our tour.

This would be Heather (above) and Dawn (right) in your typical 'Kodak moment"

To the right:

Another of the many castle-like buildings that we passed on the tour.  This one, the Fortaleza de Santa Catarina was odd in that the stone work almost looked melted on the one corner.

The Portimao Marina area and the very colourful contrast of the surrounding condos (I assume) that bordered the area.

Although the air was a bit chilly, the water was rather nice on what were becoming very tired feet.

More scenes of the beach in Portimao.  It was rather eerie, really, having this huge expanse of beautiful sandy beach all to ourselves.

Pitiful, really -- a poor lonely trombone player, head hung low, wandering the beaches aimlessly, in a far-away land (sigh!).

"C'mon Heather ... crawl inside the rock, turn around and come back out again, and I'll take your picture."

The last of our walk on the beach.  It was time to head back to the hotel and pack up for our late day trip to the Azores Islands.

"Everyone check their suitcases.  It was in my room last night, still about half-full and it was bright blue."

Hmmm ...

Many of us grew rather fond of the Portuguese delicacies.

Most of us took the opportunity during our trip back north to Lisbon airport to nap a bit in the trucks.  We were a weathered lot of people, waiting in the airport for our few hour flight to the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Top centre (right to left):  Phil, John, Frank, Dawn and Greg

Top left (left to right):  Sharon, Pete and Heather (standing)

To the left:  Carlo, Carlo and Sandra

Sabby (foreground), Frank and Mike (pulling suitcase) landing in the Azores Islands.  Unfortunately, airport security made me pocket my camera.

To the right:  Waiting in the airport parking lot for transport to the hotel

Back row:  Don, Mike, Heather, Sharon and Mike

Seated:  Frank and Dawn

We checked in to the Holiday Inn (pic to the left from the internet) and called it a day.

To the right:  This is the view out the hotel window first thing next morning.  I could see the outline of a rather large mountain, far in the distance and decided at that point that I wanted to visit that mountain before I left these islands.

                      As the morning sky cleared, the mountain                        came more into view.  This looked like a truly gorgeous place to spend the next four days.  We were to play our two gigs on the last two nights, so after an early breakfast, I headed out for a quick morning trip around town.

Ponta Delgada was much different than the Portuguese mainland -- distinctly much older looking.  Buildings appeared to be far more 'weathered' -- no doubt, from the island's location in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  The streets were still very narrow, but didn't have the amount of carefully laid stone and cobblestones, as did the ones on the mainland.  But as has been the case so far, everywhere were white stucco and red-tiled roofs.

And far off into the distance lay the mountain.  I spent the early part of the evening before we headed over to play our gig figuring out how I would get there.  I'd read before I left Canada that one could rent small motorcycles and scooters to tour the island.  I decided to rise early tomorrow and see if my Canadian driver's license would let me.