One of our classmates/friends and her husband invited us along for a shopping trip and lunch in Spain. This sounds exotic from an American perspective but it’s quite commonplace here in Portugal. Spain is about a 45 minute drive from Olhão and public transportation options are also available. It is a popular destination because a wide variety of things are available for a lower price than in Portugal.
We took an Uber to our friends’ house (about ten minutes away from us in Moncarapacho) and as we were preparing to leave a beautiful double rainbow sprang up overhead.
This was a lovely beginning to what would be a fantastic day of sightseeing, shopping, and dining.
We started out going to a large shopping complex, Michelle and I didn’t even have anything in mind but we had heard that some people just go for alcohol runs. I found a bottle of Four Roses Whiskey and we also grabbed a couple bottles of Tempranillo (one of our favorite Spanish varietals). At under €2 a bottle our only mistake ended up not getting enough wine.
We have quickly grown to love Portuguese wines which were more expensive on that side of the border. Our cart did fill up with a mishmash of things we didn’t need like potato chips (buy 2 get 1 free!), donuts (an 8 pack of a very yummy variety), and other non essentials. The store we spent most of our time in was very similar to a Costco.
We ran a few more errands in Huelva before heading to lunch at the lovely Restaurante Consolacion. We were impressed with the price of our meal and the quality of the food (we treated since our friends drove us around all day).
After finishing up in Huelva we started the drive to Ayamonte with only one last quick stop at a huge nursery. The following pictures are almost all from the car window, I just wanted to give an idea of the January countryside.
Next up we wandered around Ayamonte. Our original goal was to grab a coffee but sightseeing and a bit more shopping won out. A small ferry runs between Spain and Portugal. The town also had some incredible architecture. We were shocked at the extremely affordable real estate prices, sometimes as low as 1/2 of what you would pay in Olhão for an equivalent property.
After Ayamonte we headed back towards Portugal and Vila Nova de Cacela and the fortress of Cacela.
It ended up being a spectacular day! It was interesting to see the differences between the two regions including things like architecture, prices, and even the clothes commonly worn. We will definitely be heading back to explore more of Spain!
