Just off the Algarve coast, a mere 10 minute ferry ride from Olhão, lies the picturesque little island of Armona, one of a small group of islands that form part of the Ria Formosa National Park.

You can get to Armona easily by ferry or Rio Taxi. The ferry costs Euro 1.45 each way and takes around 10 minutes. It can get quite cool and breezy during the crossing at this time of year so it’s best to carry a thin jacket or to sit below deck.

The protocol for ticket buying is a little confusing. At first we purchased them on the ferry itself. The ticket seller, usually a cheery, rather plumpish lady, would take our money then rip the ticket before handing it over.
On one occasion though it was a young girl collecting the money. She just handed us the ticket without the usual tear. As her attention seemed to be on the people sitting behind us we presumed she had forgotten so jokingly Kelvin, my partner, ripped it for her. Big mistake! A minute or two later a rather sour faced man came checking the tickets, ripping them as he went. He feigned not to speak English and just growled at us in Portuguese. We tried to explain that the tickets we we’re offering to him had just been purchased expecting to get some back up from the girl ticket seller but she just stood there staring at us blankly. After a few heated words and a sulk from Kelvin we paid again.

Another time the tickets were being collected as you boarded the ferry and we were sent back up the pier to buy one from the small booth that had always been shut before. It was a bank holiday and the ferry was quite busy so I think the rule of thumb is that if the ticket booth is open that is a good indication to buy your tickets from there as you will not get on the ferry without one.

The much more costly alternative are the Rio taxi’s – Speed boats that can carry up to 8 people but will set you back around Euro 20 each way.

The island itself is made up of one large and one small village at each end of a long stretch of beach and scrub. The larger of the two is Armona village, where you disembark from Olhao. Fuseta, at the other end is little more than a shanty town of a few huts and dwellings.

Armona village consists of one main main walkway with a rabbit warren of very narrow lanes on either side, two – three villas deep. The main path takes you past a long line of detached villas of all shapes, sizes and colors with pretty little gardens. About half way along is “Orbital”, a featureless camp site of neat little huts and a small childrens play ground. It is surrounded by a tall mesh fence giving it the air of an open prison. It is not somewhere that I would want to spend my holidays but it seems very popular with the Portuguese.

The walk along the beach from one village to the other takes around 2 hours, a little longer if, like me, you spend your time collecting shells (or cockles) along the way. We started our walk around 9.30 am when the weather was quite pleasant. We passed very few people and Kelvin even went “au natural” for part of the way. There is no shade on the walk and even at this time of the year it got very hot by the time we headed back.

We were quite sweaty and thirsty when we arrived in Fuseta but there were no shops. There was however, a cafe/restaurant but it was closed and as it was around lunch time I can only presume it is only open in season.

If you fancy making a day of it you can walk to Fuseta, take a ferry across to mainland Fuseta (the island villages are named after the areas on the mainland) and a train back to Alhao. I can’t say how long this takes but I have been told you can get back to Alhao in plenty of time for the ferry back.

Out of season the island is practically deserted but in July and August it is flooded with Portuguese families seeking the cooler temperatures away from the mainland.

We arrived in the last week of April for 3 weeks and for the first few days it was quite cold but the weather soon changed to glorious sunshine. May seems a good time for a visit, beautiful weather and sandy, deserted beaches although May day is a national holiday so the island does see quite a few locals arriving on the ferry. In fact I have been told that in the main holiday months there are wall to wall bodies on the beaches and the waters are full of jet skiing teenagers.

We have found 4 cafes/bars that are open at this time of year and there are possibly more in the season. Two of them are at the ferry terminal, another, halfway along the main walkway to the sand dunes (this one has a good little shop next door) and the last is at the end of the main walk way.
There are no internet facilities on the island although we did get a connection through Algarvedigital briefly when the weather was bad.

There isn’t a lot to do on the island out of season apart from relax and soak up the rays. Although it is actually illegal, being a nature reserve, most of the Portuguese spend their time cockle picking, mainly I think for their own suppers, although there does seem to be several professional pickers out there every day. Not that there appears to be a shortage of shell fish as you will notice if you walk along the beach as the tide is going out.

During our time on Armona we were introduced to a Michele, a lovely lady from England who has been living on the Island for 20 years. Michele rents out villas for the owners and is very accommodating and helpful. The villas are affordably priced in and out of season and her son, Henry, is hoping to be able to offer boat trips in the near future.

If you are interested in contacting Michele with regards to renting out a villa please tel:
(00351) 963241483 – Michele
(00351) 963429437 – Henry
e-mail: hennas_18@yahoo.com.br
Write: Michele and Henry Edwards, P.O.Box Apartado 415, Olhao 8700-913, Portugal

Situated on the shores of the beautiful Laguna de Apoyo, a 200m deep volcanic lake, the Monkey Hut is a great place to chill out for a few days and wash the dust from your hair.
There is a variety of accommodation to choose from. The main house has dormatory at $10 and single/double rooms $16/$18, there is also a separate cabana that sleep 2-4 persons $45-$70. You can rent the house for private groups from $230 per night. Prices are in USD. Children under 4 are free of charge. All rooms have fans and hot water. There is a communal kitchen and a barbecue pit for the use of the guests and the cabana is well equipped with mini kitchen, microwave and shower.
The hostel runs on an honesty system, where the guest keeps a record of the snacks and drinks consumed and the bill is added up at the end of your stay.

If you don’t want to spend your time relaxing in a hammock listening to the sounds of the howler monkeys or splashingaround in the crystal clear waters there’s plenty of other free activities – bird watching, Kayaking, basketball or hiking through the jungle that surrounds the lake.

If you don’t have the time to spend a few days at the lake you can pay the entrance fee of $6 and just spend the day. The Monkey Huts sister hotel, The Bearded Monkey in Grenada, provides day trips on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at a charge of $1 each way for transport.

To get to the Monkey hut you can take the truck provided by the Bearded Monkey or take a taxi from Granada $10-$15.

Contact details:

The Monkey Hut, Laguna de Apoyo, Tel: (505) 887 3546; e-mail:thebeardedmonkey@yahoo.com
Web site: www.thebeardedmonkey.com/monkeyhut.htm

“A late arrival 11 PM arrival and no hotel rooms! No taxis, dark streets, heavy luggage, looked like a real adobe pueblo save for the bars, restaurants, hostels, live music, drumming, fire pits and young Chileños and Europeans. We finally got a place for the night at Hostal Puritama. However, it was a 3-bed room for $18,000 pesos or $36 US which is more than we usually spend. It had a shared bath a freezing walk across the yard but we decided it would do for the night.
The next day we changed to an inside $28 US room with shared indoor bath.
This is an expensive town as is most of Chile.”

You can find Hostal Puritama in the main street of San Pedro de Atacama. It is constructed with adobe (sun-dried clay brick) and offers backpacker type accommodation.
It has hot showers and guests have the use of a kitchen to cook in.
The Hostelry offers clean double, triple and quadruple rooms. Some of the newer rooms have a private bathroom.

Contact details:
Hostal Puritama, caracoles 113. centro; Tel:(56-55) 851540 851416; email:hostalpuritama@sanpedroatacama.com

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The Viktoria is a medium sized, family run, two star hotel one row back from the sea. It offers basic, reasonably priced, clean rooms and apartments. It has large double rooms, several studio and two bed apartments and one three bed apartment, the hotel also boasts a jacuzzi which I believe is available to guests in the summer season.

The double rooms are large and clean, with balconies, fridge, air-con, tv and phone and, while we were there, Hristo the owner was installing an internet system that runs through the electricity cable enabling you to plug your lap top into a socket in the room to get on line. There may be a charge for this service though so check before you surf.

Prices for the double rooms start at around 80 lev (40 euro) in season including a simple, buffet breakfast and come down considerably in the winter months where you will be served a basic but adequate breakfast which varies from day to day.

The hotel has been known to lock it’s doors late at night in the winter if there are few guests staying so if you are planning a night on the town you might be advised to inform reception before you leave.

The family are quite accommodating and showed no objection to one of the guests bringing his dog, although this might be a different matter in the summer when the hotel is full. The hotel does get very busy in the high season so it is advisable to book in advance.

Contact details:
Family hotel Viktoria, 1 Primorska str, Balchik 9600, Balchik, Tel: +359 579 75593; e-mail: victoriabalchik@yahoo.com
Web site: www.victoriabalchik.hit.bg

I would not say that this hotel is bad value for money as rooms in general are not particularly cheap in the city centre but if you’re planning on staying more than a couple of nights I’m sure you will be able to find a better deal elsewhere.

Contact details:
Art Hotel, 59 Preslav str, Varna 9000, Tel: +359 52/657 609, Fax +359 52/657 609, e-mail: hotel_art@abv.bg
Web site: www.arthotelbg.com

Contact details:
Hotel Antik, 10 Ohrid str, Varna, Tel: +359 52/632 167, Fax: +359 52/632 168 e-mail: HOTEL_ANTIK@YAHOO.COM
Web site: http://galia-online.com/antik/

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In a typical Bulgarian village a few miles out of Balchik is the white walled home of Rita and Andy Hurst, a British couple who taken on the challange of starting a new life in Bulgaria.

We came across them quite by accident as we were driving around the area looking at potential properties and what a great find they turned out to be.

Not only did they offer us very reasonably priced accommodation but they had a wealth of knowledge for us to tap into as they have set themselves up as sales and construction specialists for that area.

They have two apartments that they rent out to tourists, a two bedroomed and an attic studio that take over the upper floors of their house. Both were modern, comfortably furnished and clean and at time of our visit both apartments were being rented at 50 leva per night.

They have swimming pool in the garden which is there for use of guests and although very small it’s great for the kids to splash about in or for the adults to jump in to cool down in really hot weather.

The downside is that the property adjoins a typical Bulgarian farm where you may well be wakened in the early morning by barking dogs, bleating sheep and goats and chattering farmers. Also, presumably because of the farm, we were pestered by an awful lot of flies as we sat outside near the pool; to be fair though we may have just been unlucky on this point as we were only there for one night and maybe it wasn’t a common occurrence.

On the whole Rita and Andy were very accommodating and did everything they could to make our stay comfortable and pleasant and we would certainly stay with them again if we are in the area.

Contact details:
Tel: (Andy) +359 885 014 834, (Rita) +359 889 981 336, e-mail: andy@trusthydrannia.com
Web site: www.trusthydrannia.com

One of the older hotels in Sunny beach the Hotel Globus is everything you would expect from a hotel that deals mainly with package holidays.

It’s right on the front line so rooms overlooking the strip can tend to get noisy at night in the height of season although those on the side street are relatively quite.

The hotel is large and clean but the reception and bar area does give the feel of a 1960′s Hairdressing saloon mainly due to the sky blue ruched net curtains.

It has ample amenities, a large indoor and outdoor pool, an internet room for surfing and gaming, a games room with pool table and table tennis and a gym.

The rooms are modern with mini bar and cable tv (complete with porn channel) and are well maintained and clean. We didn’t find the aircon cool enough for the heat of the day but it was enough to give us a reasonable night sleep.

The majority of staff are friendly but the meals aren’t up to much if you are on a package deal. If you order your food from one of the restaurants however it is of much better quality and reasonably priced.

As a package holiday guest we can’t fault it for value apart from the food but as part of the enjoyment about being on holiday is eating out this was never a real problem. We would definitely stay there again.

Click here for Room prices and booking details.