If you have been following my social media posts over the month of May you will have seen I was able to squeeze in two little weekend breaks in the sun. One was a hen do for my soon to be sister-in law in Portugal and the other a few days with a good girl friend in Lanzarote.I am a sun worshipper and both of these destinations ticked that box and more. So I thought I would cover off some of my highlights from the hen.
Nicolas Hen in Lanzarote
This summer is wedding season for my family. My two brothers decided 2017 was the perfect year to get married. So after my brother Damiens wedding on Easter Sunday in the gorgeous Ballintubber Abbey (yes, where Pierce Brosnan got married) it was time for my soon to be sister-in laws Hen in Portugal. Having left all the arrangements up to the bridesmaids all I had to do was get on a flight with my sisters and enjoy the weekend.
I had never been to Portugal but I will definelty be back. Landing in the airport (which is currently being renovated) we walked out into an overcast day feeling somewhat subdued by the lack of sunshine and the flight. However the portugese welcome was felt from the moment our driver grabbed our luggage , pointing out all the local amenties, shopping centres, water parks etc and telling us at one point that the Portugese and Irish have a lot in common we like to drink, dance and have fun.
(Quick aside here… we flew with Aer Lingus from Dublin and I have to say I have never experienced customer service like it on an airplane before, the team of flight attendants were friendly,cheerful and obliging, nothing was too much work. It set our trip off to a great start. Oh and I felt even more like a star blogger as Pippa O Connor was also on our flight (yes I was a bit of fan-girl but that’s another story.)
Portugal is beautiful we drove through farms of orange trees and grape vines, passing gorgeous sun drenched villas until we landed in our final destination Albuferia. The clouds started to part as we arrived at the hotel.We stayed in the new town area in the MGM Muthu Hotel at Forte da Oura.
Met be our overjoyed hen party we checked in quickly and headed straight for the pool for a few cocktails and to catch up on all the gossip. I would highly recommend the Hotel it had a vast beautiful foyer with Wi-fi access, the rooms were spacious clean and practical. They also had plenty of pillows, a spacious balcony and tea making facilities (my main needs!).
Albuferia had the perfect mix of activities for our hen, we sunned ourselves, partied to the wee hours on the strip ( some hens even danced on tables and bars but I shouldn’t be telling you that as what happens on the hen stays on the hen 😜). We went on a boat trip to see bottle-nosed dolphins and had a BBQ in amongst the gorgeous caves on a private beach. What more could you want.
As a destination for some weekend sunshine and with a quick flight I will definetly be back to visit the coast line of Portugal soon.
Emer D xx
EmerDBlog 