08 Aljezur/Rogil – Odeceixe
Aljezur. The second-to-last stretch walking from Arrifana is along the road, so not too exciting, fortunately the last 20km are off road again. I was looking forward to reaching Aljezur for a couple of days because there’s a gelateria here that was open, according to their website. They were also open according to the sign at their door. But said door was closed, noone there, no ice cream. But there’s always hope – on the other side of the road, well hidden, there’s a tiny bakery and we tried it out – fantastic! I had not expected such a quality spot in a little inland village like Aljezur but was very happy to be proven wrong! Great bread, great pastries and nut bread, too. This is not the standard padaria/pastlelaria stuff, but a notch better. You can feel the love they put into their products. (A padaria, 118 A Rua 25 De Abril, Aljezur) They are also open from very early to late afternoon. đ
Dinner was at restaurant VarzĂ©a, which had good veggie options, solid, good food (and one of the few places that were open anyway), can recommend it. It was right across from our hotel, the Vicentina Hotel, which was also fine, like to praise the helpful and super friendly staff, breakfast was decent. The best thing about the location was that it’s next to the fire brigade, the super hot and horny Bombeiros of Aljezur! Portuguese Bombeiros were nothing underneath their uniforms, you probably didn’t know that. And their parties are legend.
Last thing – there’s also a fancy hip ’specialty coffee‘ place in town, Koyo, but that was disappointing. No decaf, the advertised hot chocolate was a brownie??? I don’t get it, but probably young people in strange clothing need a place to show off their coolness.
The first 8km out of Aljezur to Odeceixe are very boring again, so we decided to take a taxi to RogĂl and start our hike there. Wise decision! The path takes you back to the coast soon enough and then it’s one wow-moment after another again. Unfortunately, the last stretch from Odeceixe beach to Odeceixe is one of the most boring of the whole rota, I’d recommend trying to get a taxi to pick you up at the beach. But don’t miss the beach – labeled one of the wonders of Portugal and holy shit, it is beautiful!
Odeceixe. Nothing to write home about. We stayed at Casa Morais, which was interesting. I’m not sure whether I should say more or not. Lovely lady running the thing, but the breakfast is pure sugar. Best (only) place in town for veggie food, cake, and coffee is Ao Largo – nice people, good food, cozy atmosphere. Forget about the rest of the town, the only other thing worth checking out is the pretty windmill. Don’t waste time with anything else in the village.
