We start our adventures Wednesday by walking to Metropol Parasol, much of the walk along Calle San Eloy, a pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants.  After we reach Calle Martin Villa we spot an old world sweets and bakery shop.  In their window they have chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs as well Spanish Semana Santa (Holy Week) figures with their distinctive cloaks and capirotes (hoods).  The Holy Week processions of men in these cloaks and hoods are a huge part of Seville's culture, so we decide to buy one of the figures for our travel momento shelves.  We'll just have to explain to our visitors this is a Spanish good guy, not a U.S. KKK bad guy.

Top of our list of things to do in Seville is to visit the Real Alcazár Sevilla.  It is a huge royal palace whichmincludes architecture from the Arabic period, late Middle Ages Mudéjar, Renaissance, Baroque, the 19th century.   A portion of the upper floors is still the residence for the Spanish royal family when they are in Seville. We spend two and one-half hours exploring this treasure.  We walk from one section of the palace to the next finding delightful rooms and courtyards around every turn.  The gardens are expansive and very well maintained, but we choose to only visit perhaps 20%.

The Uber driver picks us up early so that we can catch our 7:20 am bus and start our Seville experience.  The bus heads east through Algarve to spots we have not yet visited.  We make stops at Faro, Faro Airport, Olhão, Travia, and Vila Real de Santo António.  Along the way we see a mixture of orange, lemon, and olive groves.

At the eastern edge of Algarve we take the bridge over the Guadiana river to arrive in Spain, stopping first in Ayamonte, a sister-city across the river from Vila Real de Santo António.  Large scale orchards of oranges dot the landscape.  Soon they give way to huge fincas of olives. After two additional stops we arrive in Seville a little before 1 pm (with the 1 hour time change), a four and one-half hour trip.

We walk 10 minutes to our apartment hotel, Zentra Plaza Armas.  It's a newer two bedroom duplex apartment for $90 a night. Nice!

After two weeks we are beginning to be known by the grocery store clerks, waiters and the people on the street hawking restaurants and stores.  They smile at us and say hello.  We try out new spots, but also return to some that are comfortable with good service.

Friday afternoon we return to Downtown Bar on the Square for some afternoon sun, beverages and a chance for William to smoke a Cuban in their outdoor seating.  The waiter greets us, remembering where we are from and what we ordered to drink the last time we were there.

Saturday we walk  a little further, past the Square, up the escalators, and past Praia dos Pescadores to the Terrace Trattoria.  They are new to us, and have incredible Italian food and a wonderful view of the Atlantic.  The waitress is all smiles.

Sunday morning we decide to have breakfast at Sérgio Santos Dias.  The hawker and the server are both are personable and attentive.  When William pulls out his cell phone, they notice and a card with the internet password is provided without having to ask.

So what happened with Sunday afternoon?  I wanted to walk on the beach since the weather is 21 with little wind.  Not surprisingly William does not want to be in that much sunlight.  We walk through the tunnel from the Square to the beach and find a some restaurants with umbrellas and awnings.  William spots one with a lot of awning playing French music and explains to the waiter that all we want is beverages.  The waiter points William from one of the tables he's eyeing to another table and provides a beverages menu.   Ok.  William sits down and I tell him that when I return in 30-35 minutes I'd like a green wine or white wine.  Off I go on my walk.

​When I return William is waiting for me outside of the restaurant area.   Seems that after 20 minutes of trying to get a waiter's attention he has given up.  And he wasn't the only one. The couple next to him also got up, telling the waiter that the service is too slow and another gentleman left without a word.  No real reaction from the waiter.  Is it a matter  of expectations?  The French would sit and relax and talk for a while before the waiter appears, but people from the US and Canada anticipate having a cold one in hand within 10 minutes of sitting down.  Or is it poor service?   Either way, William is not happy.  We walk to the Square and sit down at a restaurant we have not previously tried.   Although the view is not of the Atlantic, a cold one is in William's hand in less than 10 minutes.

We've signed up for a small group tour of The Western Algarve.  Our guide, Miguel, arrives outside our apartment door at 8:30 am.  He tells us that we are the only people on today's tour then discusses the tour, the geography and some of the history of Portugal almost non-stop during our hour-long drive to the most south-western point of Continental Europe.

Cape St. Vincent lies within a national park with the Atlantic crashing against it's bluffs.  As you'd expect, the red lighthouse is one of it's most notable features along the cape, but our eyes are frequently drawn to the crashing surf.  The remains of St. Vincent were brought here in the 4th Century A.D. and crows guarded the grave.  In the 1100's the King of Portugal had the grave exhumed and the remains brought to Lisbon - and the story is that two crows guarded the remains during the journey.  This is the same St. Vincent whose statue, church, and monastery we saw in Lisbon.  Later in history Sir Francis Drake was sent by the queen of England to destroy the buildings on the Cape.

​It is drizzling on and off this morning and we debate whether or not we should proceed with our plan to return to Loulé to go to the Carnival.  William says it's up to me.  Faced with the prospect of just hanging around the apartment watching Netflix for the day I finally decide we should chance the weather and go.

We Uber to the Albufeira bus station in a light drizzle.  When we arrive in Loulé at 1 pm it is raining very, very lightly.  We enjoyed the restaurant (Café Q) where we had breakfast on Saturday, so we return.  The manager recognizes us and greets us. Nice!  We enjoy a leisurely meal.

After lunch we walk the eight blocks to the first entrance we see to Carnival where a queue has formed for buying admission tickets.  We notice that this is Bilheteria #1 and decide to look for other ticket booths (and to see a few more streets of Loulé).  We find Bilheteria #3 and pay the 2€ per person admission fee.  Since the Carnival show runs from 3-5:30 pm we still have 20 minutes before they open the gates.  We use the time walking around looking at the food booths and catching glimpses of the Carnival participants as they make their way to the show area.  As we do we notice that the rain has stopped.  Yeah!

It's a beautiful day, 21C (70F) with blue skies and brilliant sunshine.  It is time to get out!

While William relaxes with his coffee and e-mail in the morning, I take a 45 minute walk to explore the area away from Centro. It is mostly uphill.  I find a couple of small parks and a good point to view the white apartment and condo buildings built on the hillsides.

Loulé is a town 32 km (20 mi) from our apartment in Albufeira.  We Uber to the bus station for the 8:40 bus.  On our way the Uber driver mentions that Loulé has a Carnival, which he thinks starts today.  At the bus station we pay 9€ each for a round trip ticket and in 40 minutes we're there.

Today is the day for our 2 1/2 half hour boat cruise.  We walk to the marina for our 12:30 departure.   I am surprised that the boat is almost fully booked.  The XRide boat captain organizes the group onshore then seats us on the boat.  We are soon underway, clearing the marina and moving parallel to the shore.