Avenida Dos Descobrimentos

When we were planning the trip, Albufeirra seemed to be a city dedicated to mass tourism, without the charm of the small fishing villages that can be found in the Algarve. Indeed, the centre is a riot of nightlife, clubs with loud music, and tourists crowding the few streets of the old town. But along the Avenida dos Descobrimentos, a sort of ring road around the city, you can find a compact cluster of white houses contrasting with the deep blue sea. This is not the Mediterranean, it's the Atlantic Ocean, but the architecture would not be out of place in a village in Greece or North Africa.