Supplies and other notes
Cruising Association HLR John and Fiona Dransfield, c/o Yacht Zoe Pontoon D or via for algarve travel, car hire, transfers and local knowledge, or on 00 351 91 9700998 or fax 00 351 282 782559
Pingo Doce, the Supermarket, has a large and well stocked store up river across the road from the marina complex
Lidl have a store, across the marina footbridge bear half right across a car park, then left, right, left and past a school, about half a mile up hill, past roundabout
Intermarche are up the hill: you need to go through the bus station, left, then (right) up the hill, about a mile, then bear right
Hardware store, Inova Drogueria, beyond Lidl, at the 'chairs roundabout', double back and look upwards!
Post office, in the square of the Young King, down river from the marina
Wood: Go as if to Lidl, but at the cross roads/traffic lights with a chimney cross over with the school on the left: look for a door on your right
Car Hire: Marina Car Hire will do a deal off season
Eating places
Adega de Marina, reasonable food, large establishment, over river from marina footbridge, turn left 100 yards over road
The Blue Door, no name on door, which isn't even blue, west north west out of 'Boy King' square, on left hand side up hill
There is a 'sardinerie' behind marina, opposite the station that is an unusual eating experience
Adega Papagaio at Espiche. You cook the meat on a hot stone, served with rice and salad. Fado singer on Saturdays. 282 789 423
O Antonio, on the beach at Porto Mos. A great place to watch the surfers and enjoy the beach at reasonable prices.
Wireless Internet
The marina at Lagos offers a wireless internet broadband connection via Portugal Hotspot. It is however reasonably pricey, 50 euros for a month, 25 for 3 days and 10 euros for a day, and for the computer challenged amongst us there is no help in setting up and variable reports about reliability.
Franco however offers an alternative service. This costs 30 euros a month, (shorter periods by negotiation) and is reasonably although not absolutely reliable. If you have trouble setting up, then Franco is only too pleased to help, and will often give your system a once-over for you while he does it. You may need to invest in an external usb wireless interface card (Franco recommends Belkin), and experiment with the best position in the boat (ours lives up the topping lift in a plastic bag). It has made a big difference to us enabling us to send and receive mail and work on the internet without worrying about the cost. We enjoy listening to Classic FM but were mortified when the radio stations servers went down over their Easter show. Franco may be contacted through Debbie, whose mobile is Tem: +351 962798027, or via e-mail: Francisco Franco [wirelessfranco@fastmail.fm].