Day No. 73 - Banksy in Lagos ...

Today we want to look around a bit in Lagos. - Lagos was once considered a stronghold for brave sailors. From Lagos, under "Henry the Navigator", numerous ships set sail to explore the African coast. Captain Gil Eanes dared to sail beyond Cape Bojador (Western Sahara) in 1433, his 14 predecessors had abandoned the tour for fear of the alleged end of the world.

Saturday is market day in Lagos, so we want to start here. So it is called for us shortly before eight, out of the feathers. - Two days on the campground are more than enough for us. - So we quickly stock up on water for our outdoor shower and drinking water reserves and then we're off.

Shortly before the market, we come to a traffic circle. In the middle of it a chimney with a stork's nest, complete with clattering stork.

In a small village I could have imagined that, but Lagos has about 30,000 inhabitants.

The market consists primarily of two market halls, in which old mothers and fathers advertise their goods. On the one hand, seasonal goods are deliberately advertised, sustainably without marketing statement. - On the other hand, one notices that tourism has not bypassed this market. On many beaches there are tasting snacks and some of the traders speak to us directly in German or English. But at the latest, when you see the live animals in the cages, you feel that here is still a lot of tradition and original market. - We are particularly taken with Virginia. With the German surname Stückemann, she praises full-bodied home-baked wholemeal bread. She does this in such an incredibly charming way that we hardly notice how crisp her prices are. - Whether the bread keeps what it promises, we will report in the next few days.

We then first wander a little through the old town of Lagos - it is good to explore on foot. This is nice, but no more. But the city can score with its street art. We were completely thrilled. You could almost think Banksy was here. At least the combination of a soldier, in connection with the armed Little Red Riding Hood, reminded us very much of him. We were particularly enthusiastic about a mural, which combines the traditional Portuguese tiles, with a portrait. - Surely a street art tour would have been worthwhile here, because we can't imagine that we discovered everything important so purely by chance. - As I said, the city did not particularly inspire us, although it is often described as a highlight of the Algarve. - Therefore, we want to at least the altarpiece in the Igreja Paroquial de Santa Maria not unmentioned. This fits wonderfully with the street art.

We are drawn to the city beach Praia da Batata and thus to the cliffs. This is only a few steps away along the palm-lined harbor promenade. After our tour, one thing is clear above all, we must come back to look at the cliffs a little more closely and look for more street art. Maybe we need to give Lagos another chance. - But for now we are thirsty. We have a drink at the Mar Restaurant. Burgers and sweet potato fries are served at the neighboring table. It is done around me. Quickly ordered, it was worth it, everything is as delicious as it looked.

Now it's time to get back to Hector, whom we left at the campsite. - As soon as we are on site, I receive a few more calls. On the way, you always get more information from home than you thought before. Both good and bad. But a lot of things are easier to digest from a distance. - We have to step on the gas if we want to find a suitable place before sunset. - Spontaneously we decide on park4night for a place in a lagoon. The clear hint, "here may not be spent the night", we overlook once again.

Already the approach turns out to be exciting. Already 3 km before our destination, Ria Alvor, at the mouth of the rivers Ribeira de Odiáxere and Ribeira do Arão, the road turns into a potholed dirt road. To our right we have a view of a kind of moorland. Suddenly we see a colony full of birds. Are those storks? No, that can't be, is our first reaction. That would be far too many. Nevertheless, we take out our binoculars. And then, oh wonder, there are hundreds of storks in the marshy landscape. If only we had a telephoto lens. So we observe the birds a little and save them, instead of in the computer, in our head. - Then we rumble on.

The dirt road suddenly ends at a dam. Behind it a beautiful lagoon, including a bay. We see a few kite surfers. The sun is already relatively low in the sky. Apart from us, there are only two cars - soon it turns out that they belong to two apnoea divers. Obviously they are professional divers, but since they only speak Portuguese, the contents of their bags remain a secret, which is yet to be revealed. - After they have peeled off their neoprene, we are alone at the site. I still think a little about what they are diving for. I guess mussels. I have a lot of respect for this hard work under water. As a recreational diver who is used to carrying enough air in his compressed air cylinder, it's hard to appreciate how demanding diving with a reserve of lungs is. - Even in my best days, I could barely last more than two minutes without air. Today, I'm happy to hold my breath for a minute. When you think that the world record is over twenty minutes, I can't think of anything else. - In my younger years, the film "In the Intoxication of the Deep" was not only considered a cult film among divers, but was also my favorite film for a long time - it is fictional, but borrows from the apnea diving record holders Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca. At the time, a depth record of 120 meters was not considered realistic. Meanwhile, the current record is almost 100 meters deeper. This means that a diver not only has to hold his breath for an extremely long time, but above all is exposed to a pressure that is about ten times the pressure of a car tire. - Simply murderous. - Nice that I never had to earn my money by diving.

Realization of the day: If we should be woken up by the police tonight, it would still have been worthwhile to drive to this place. - No one can suppress the images we have in our heads.