Hiking the Algarve Coast Cliffs
Luz Bay to Salema, Portugal
It was another beautiful morning with a clear blue sky and the temperatures once again to be in the low 90's. Today we will continue along the Algarve Coast by hiking 8 miles from Luz beach to the old fishing village of Salema.
We knew this would be a hot day, so we were off early walking down the narrow streets of Luz, where each home was graced with beautiful rose gardens, trees with bright yellow trumpet blossoms and bushes blooming with purple petunias and magenta bougainvillea.
We felt as if we had Luz all to ourselves as we walked along the palm tree-lined main street of Luz Bay.
We walked thru town and passed the old church originally built in 1673. 
We walked along the sandy beach
until at last we reached the trailhead.
The sand was soft under our hiking boots which made for tough traction as we climbed upwards.
Standing on the cairn at the top of one of the cliffs.
We spotted a little beach down below with lots of surfers.
So we wandered into the tiny, quiet seaside village of Burgau with its beautiful golden sandy beach enclosed by cliffs. We found the perfect cafe and promptly ordered two
ice cold bottles of water.
We loved this cafe!
It was apropriately named the "Brizze Bar"
After our respite, it was down to the beach
and back up to the cliffs once again on the hot hike to Salema.
The views, while precarious, were all spectacular.
Along the trail we passed a Roman ruin.
Throughout our hike we often have to refer to the GPS for the trail. When we
traversed to the top of the cliff we came upon this fence!!
Our GPS informed us to continue straight ahead which would be off the cliff.
So we decided to follow the fence-line inland for quite a while and finally found a spot where we could use a log to create an opening and crawl under. Then we were able to get on the other side of the fence and we were back on the trail again.
You can see where we have hiked from. It's the farthest point of land sticking out to the left below.
There in the distance
on what looks like a spit of land is in actuality a bay. This is our destination of Salema.
on what looks like a spit of land is in actuality a bay. This is our destination of Salema.
The beach is used as a fishing harbor, so the central portion of the beach is occupied by fishing boats
and all the necessary gear such as nets and octopus traps.
The pottery jars stacked everywhere are octopus traps. The traps are tied about 15 feet apart in long lines and are dropped in the water offshore. Octopi, thinking these jars would be a great place to set an ambush, climb in, and then are ambushed themselves. The fishermen keep the jars clean of baracles because the octopi prefer smooth surfaces. When the fishermen haul them in, the octopi hang on and are hauled into the boat. The fishermen mace them with a shot of bleach and the octopi are quickly out of the pot and it is off to market.
Beautiful tiles of octopi grace the exterior of many homes.
Walking into Salema, we were struck by how extremely narrow the streets were. The main street felt more like an alleyway than a street. In fact, when a vehicle came thru, we had to flatten ourselves against the houses lining the street. At one time I actually held my breath in hopes of becoming smaller.
We found our hotel and were welcomed by Maria, our lovely proprietoress, who showed us to our modern ocean view
room which turned out to be an efficiency apartment! It was most unexpected to have a fully stocked kitchen, refrigerator and all the appliances one could want for a most comfortable stay. We had planned to take a one day rest time in Salema, and it worked out wonderfully well!
