Portugal - Cabanas do Lago — Yarko On The Go

Albufeira da Barragem de Santa Clara, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO100 1/100 f11

Change of Pace

Back home, it’s quite common for us to book a few weekend getaways out of the city in a quiet cabin by a lake or the ocean and just relax in peace enjoying the views and explore the surrounding nature. We’re not typically doing quite the same abroad, and yet somehow this location called to us, and I’m glad it did. A bit of tourist overload in Lagos drive us to seek out our next stay a little off the beaten path. When we found the Cabanas do Lago on airbnb it immediately stood out with its 4.99 star rating and promise of simple and quiet serenity. It happened to have a pocket of availability for a few nights so we booked it as the next stop on our trip.

We had plenty of time to get there ahead of check-in, so decided to take a scenic route up along the west coast then cut back inland towards our destination. We knew we’d pass through some small towns along the way, so figured it easy enough to sort out lunch on the road, and perhaps stop at any destinations that caught our eye while we were at it. The hope was that our son would at some point nap in the car, leaving us an afternoon to settle-in to the cabin before having dinner. If you enjoy driving/riding, the roads in this area are sublime. We avoided the major highways and A roads and stuck to the windy roads that weave their way through the rolling hills. The roads are largely empty, generally cambered in your favour, and a delight of corners and short straights connecting them. A short squeeze on my arm reminded me that our econo-box Citroen was probably not at it’s best at my preferred pace, but even at a decent canter it kept the drive interesting. So would Google Maps, it turns out, as once again relying on it in this corner of Europe was not without it’s problems -read on and see why!

Praia da Amoreira

The weather was lovely on this travel day, so we decided to make a bit of a detour to stop at a beach to enjoy our first peek at Portugal’s west coast. It differs significantly from the south-facing Algarve, with broad white sand beaches, rather than the more secluded cliff-lined coves. It also faces the full brunt of the Atlantic ocean with larger waves and steady breezes. Amoreira sits where the mouth of a river meets the Ocean and we’d read that it was among the more beautiful beaches to visit in the area and was also flanked by a restaurant. Our map showed the beach as roughly 9km off our main route of travel, so not a big deal. We faithfully made our way along the revised route until we came to stop by a cliffside restaurant overlooking a beach. Our beach. Uh oh. Wrong side of the river.

While the route certainly took us to a place we could view the beach, there was no way to safely reach it from this spot, with a cliff and river between us and our beach destination. I checked my inputs into Google Maps and indeed the app thought we could access the beach from here, but no such luck. I would take 18km of driving to bring us to the beach just a couple hundred meters away. Fortunately, this little detour passed some stunning views, and with the little guy asleep in his car seat ahead of schedule, we decided to stop at a few spots on our way back to take a few photos where we wouldn’t otherwise be comfortable with him running about.

Aren’t we supposed to be over there? Lagos, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO320 1/200 f16

Looking down upon Praia de Monte Clergio, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO125 1/200 f16

Praia de Monte Clergio, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO200 1/2500 f3.5

Eventually we made our way to the beach we intended to visit, and just in time for the weather to start to turn. We spent a scant few minutes on the beach before the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped. Oh well, time for lunch anyway and time to get back on the road. As the detour set our schedule back a bit, we decided to skip the beachside restaurant in favour of picking something up at a shop or bakery along out main route.

Rocky formation on Praia da Amoreira, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO400 1/100 f16

Praia da Amoreira, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO125 1/200 f8.

Waiting while Vicky finds us some food, somewhere in southern Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO100 1/1250 f4

Cabanas do Lago

The Albufeira da Barragem de Santa Clara is an enormous man-made reservoir supported by a concrete dam at it’s west end. As we approach the area the dam becomes visible towering over a small valley. The road soon changes from paved to dirt, but nothing most cars can’t handle. We snake along it’s winding path and turn off onto a steep sided valley that surrounds one of the hundreds of coves around the perimeter of the lake. At the end of the road we see the large main house appear through the trees and are immediately greeted by one of the smiling hosts, Filipa, as we arrive.

The Cabanas do Lago property consists of a two storey main house and a pair of smaller cabins, all nestled into the side of a steeply sloped terraced hillside. The ground floor of the main house is communal and contains the kitchen and a living/dining area as well as a patio dining area with a view towards the lake. The family that owns and operates the property lives on the second floor. Our cabin was just the right size for the two of us essentially two rooms; a large bedroom, and a bathroom with shower. Glass doors making up the west wall give us a view onto the valley from our bed and ensures it’s nice and bright inside. (Cabin Photo Credit: Victoria Petriw on the XPro2)

Within minutes of arriving Filipa and her husband Luis make you feel at home and like friends of the family. The wine and beer flows and Filipa prepares an amazing meal for us to all share together on the first night. This would very much be the theme of this stay, particularly in the evenings with us hanging out with Filipa and Luis into the late hours of the night, learning about life in Portugal and how they decided to relocate their family here from busy Lisbon a few years prior. As you might suspect, other guests we met here tended to be fairly like-minded travellers as well, and we enjoyed hearing each others stories and plans for what’s next. Most days and nights we cooked meals for ourselves in the communal kitchen area and enjoyed the relaxing surroundings, but did also make one excursion out for dinner to Casa Nirvana, about half an hour’s drive away, for a change of pace. Speaking of food, the little hamlet of Santa Clara a Velha sits near enough for quick grocery runs if needed and has a couple of restaurants as well.

Looking towards the main house from the garden, Cabanas do Lago, Ricoh GRiii ISO 400 1/8 f5

Cabanas do Lago, Portugal — View from the main house patio, note the water line, Cabanas do Lago, Ricoh GRiii ISO250 1/100 f11

Like staying at a friends’ house, Cabanas do Lago, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii ISO4000 1/25 f2.8

Activities in the area are naturally lake-centric and I was a bit hesitant to take the camera out most days for fear of dropping it in the water. An excursion on a canoe allowed us to visit the dam and enjoy a designated swimming area near it’s base, as well as a lovely food truck (bus) parked next to it with a rooftop patio of it’s own. It was at a point about 4 meters from shore, however; that we realized our son does not like canoes and was instead seemingly prepared to jump out of it at the first moment of inattention from one of us. “He’ll get used to it” was followed by 90 minutes or so of yelling and crying. Luckily, stuffing him full of empanadas helped, and the trip back was more relaxed.

There was an interesting tower near the dam, standing starkly with it’s brutalist design against the more organic landscape. It sat high and dry as a forgotten sentinel of a time when the lake was full to the brim. Remarkable to see it has a scale for water depth painted on the side, the bottom of which is many meters above the waterline. Another favorite activity for me was getting out on a paddle-board a bit before sunset and just exploring across the lake at random. Our hosts provide a variety of options for getting on the water and you’ll definitely want to give them a try. Stargazers also take note, it’s properly dark here in the evenings, setting the stage for beautiful night skies. The highlight for our son, (definitely not the canoe), was trying to track down the loudly croaking frogs that occasionally hopped around the property in the evening.

Tower on the Albufeira de Barragem da Santa Clara, Portugal, Ricoh GRiii

Back to Beaches

I definitely recommend this spot for those looking for a peaceful little detour and opportunity to meet and connect with some amazing people on your next visit to Portugal. Our hosts graciously shared an abundance of recommendations for the remainder of our journey, offering a multitude of dining options to explore, landmarks to see en route to Comporta, our upcoming stop, and activities to engage in within Lisbon and its vicinity during the later part of our travels. Our time at the lake ended all too quickly, but by the end we felt refreshed and ready for more exploration ahead.

Continue to Part III: Portugal - Comporta →‍ ‍

Portugal - Cabanas do Lago

Change of Pace

Praia da Amoreira

Cabanas do Lago

Back to Beaches

Portugal - Comporta

Portugal - Lagos

Yarko On The Go