A Reason to Return to the Algarve: Ponta da Piedade

As we embarked on our move to England, our list of places to see in Europe while we lived here was long. We quickly came to the realization that we wouldn't get to see it all, especially if we wanted to travel at a pace that allows us to actually enjoy the experience. So there was an unspoken rule that we wouldn't go somewhere more than once while we were here.

Rules are meant to be broken though, right?

Of all the trips we've taken in the last couple of years, I came home from Portugal last December overwhelmed by how much I loved it there, and yet somewhat unfulfilled, knowing we hadn't seen as much as I wanted. The cover of my Frommer's guidebook called out to me... that majestic site, Ponta da Piedade, was only 30 minutes from our resort in the Algarve but we never saw it.

Martinhal Resort in Sagres: My Stress Reliever

I've been thinking about stress lately. How much is too much, where it comes from, how I react to it, and what can be done about it. Probably because I've been dealing with it lately, mostly related to driving. In the last 4 weeks, these things have happened:

• Rented a car in Lisbon, only to have it break down on the highway an hour away from anything. Now I know what being stranded on a Portuguese highway with two little kids feels like. For the record, my children handled that scenario way better than I did.
• Got a cab back to Lisbon, only to pick up a new rental car and scrape it against a guardrail coming out of the airport parking garage.
• Back in the UK, I got a speeding ticket for going 36 in a 30 (caught by a speed camera). Then I learned that if I get just one more speeding ticket in the next two years, I'll have my license revoked. Instead, I have the pleasure of taking a 4-hour speeding awareness class on a Saturday afternoon to get it cleared from my record.
• Studied my tail off for two weeks and passed my written theory test, the first step in a two-step process toward getting my UK driver's license.
• Had my first driving lesson to prepare for part 2, the actual driving test. When's the last time you kept your hands at ten and two and performed a perfectly executed parallel park?

White knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel? Yeah, that's been me lately. I swear I'm not a bad driver, just prone to bad luck apparently.

But something else happened during the past month that found me more relaxed than I think I've ever been since becoming a mom. We spent a blissful 36 hours at Martinhal Resort in Sagres, Portugal. (It should have been 48 hours... damn you rental car!) It was the highlight of what was already a pretty magical week in Portugal.