A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

Some people don’t understand why I enjoy going on holiday with my parents. Perhaps they find the idea strange, this 27-year-old excitedly packing for a week in the sunshine. Maybe it is a bit odd that I look forward to 11am beers by the pool with my Dad, enjoying piri-piri chicken overlooking the sea with sister’s choice of sangria or sipping cocktails in a bar with my Mam. There is a familiarity about it, especially with Portugal. I remember aged seven being excited for my first proper holiday abroad, with new clothes to wear and a Barbie magazine to read on the plane. While I may have swapped matching dresses with my sister for bardot dresses and the Barbie magazine for Glamour, that excitement never goes away on a family holiday. The rush of the plane as it’s lifts you away from regular life into one where it is perfectly acceptable to drink cava for breakfast and snooze in the afternoon sun will always be magical.

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

I am under no illusion that I’m a lucky girl, my relationship with my parents and sister couldn’t be better and to still be able to travel with them in my late twenties is a dream. The way we gathered each evening for supermarket wine and nibbles on my parents balcony, pink and blue skies awash overhead made me so deliriously happy. Your family are your people, those that understand you the most – whether it’s my incessant need to document everything for my holiday video or my sister’s steely determination to work on Spanish translation when the sea was calling. I know my Dad will always choose the chocolate ice cream, that my Mam will need to hold a menu at arms length and my sister will be delighted by tiny jugs of sangria. Sometimes a week just isn’t enough time to reconnect together when we live such busy lives these days.

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

Alvor is a special place for us. It’s where we first travelled to as family twenty(!) years ago on a plane, my sister and I playing in a rubber dingy in the pool and singing karaoke in the village bar. As we wandered the cobbled streets, we noted the changes and the restaurants that stay the same. That beautiful sea in all hues of blue and the rock formations are reassuringly familiar and the piri piri chicken in the restaurant overlooking the beach is always delightfully the same. While I love to travel and explore new countries and hear new languages, there is an argument for relaxing in what can often feel like a home from home.

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

A Magical Family Holiday in the Algarve (and a video!)

For the reason that this was a holiday to celebrate my father’s birthday (note the pink flamingo float gift), we mostly sunbathed, ate, swam, wandered into town, ate some more and drank a fair bit. We did do yoga on the beach one morning and tackled the gym, my parents both braving early morning runs on the deck, but for the most part we simply relaxed. And therefore there’s not much to entice you to travel there with restaurant recommendations and sights in this post, but trust me this is one pretty fishing village in the Algarve that is worth switching off in. And if that happens to be with your family, even better. I know my holiday wouldn’t have been made without mine.

Comments

  1. says

    Nothing more priceless than spending a wonderful time with our beloved family and ones. I can see how much you really enjoyed the moment (y) You inspired me to have such a beautiful moment with my family

  2. Hannah says

    No shame in spending time with your parents! I’m Filipino and family is the most important thing in our culture. I am turning 28 next month and I was still traveling with my family until I got married in March. My mom was a flight attendant in the 80s and well-traveled, so it was fun when she got to take me all over the world! Enjoy your family, my dad passed away 4 years ago and I miss him everyday. BTW, that beach is gorgeous and I need to take a dip there!

    Hannah
    Floraful

    • says

      This is so true Hannah. Especially now that my sister and I have long left home, it’s so nice for us to get together like old times and just hang out and enjoy each other’s company. That sounds like an amazing time during your childhood travelling with your mom, very jealous! Sorry to hear about your father, I’m grateful for my family every day x

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