Hanging With Classmates in Lagos, Portugal

An Air Force Reunion

Brian, an Air Force Academy classmate and good friend, and his wife own a condo in Lagos, Portugal. Last week, I joined Brian and two other classmates for a week at Brian’s condo. We had a blast!

While Brian and I stay in touch, meeting Dave and Reggie was like meeting new friends with comparable backgrounds. Dave and I were in the same pilot training class (Willy 80-07) but did not remember each other well, if at all.

When we were not out exploring the town and local area, the time at the condo was spent catching up on each other’s lives and drinking wine.

Lagos is a coastal town in the Algarve region of Portugal. The Algarve runs across the very most southern part of the country.

Our first day in Lagos included a guided walking tour of the city. We started at the statue of the Boy King, who lived in the 1550s. The sculptor took some license and put him in a space suit. We toured the fish market and saw some historical buildings, fortifications, and quite a lot of street art. Our tour guide provided profound interpretations of each painting. We were skeptical but enjoyed looking at all of the art.

One day, we went to a winery about 40 minutes from Lagos. We received a tour to learn the history of the winery and then had a lot of good food and wine tasting! The wines were excellent and it was a good afternoon out.

Lagos has terrific beaches. To the west is a miles-long sandy beach with an elevated boardwalk to let beachgoers reach their preferred spot. To the east of the harbor channel the shore is lined with cliffs with small beaches between areas where the cliffs drop to ocean level. Again, a boardwalk let us walk along the tops of the cliffs, with stairs leading down to the beach areas. Brian and I took the long stairs down one time. It was 200 steps to get back up.

We ate a lot of great food. Fine dining a few times, eating where the locals eat a few times and shucking our own oysters one time. The food and wine of Portugal is excellent. Great wines can be bought for five to eight euros (1 euro is about $1.10) in the wine shops. We purchased and drank a lot of wine!

Brian and I drove to and stayed in Lisbon the night before our departure. We went to the famous TimeOut Market. We had some excellent food and drink and then possibly the wildest taxi ride of my life back to the hotel.

I will soon return to publishing aviation-related posts. I wanted to share some information about my trip. When military academy graduates get to hang out and share stories about their lives, it is always a wonderful time. Throw in doing so in Portugal made this a wonderful trip.

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