Walking down to the supermarket is just that - walking down. Lapta stretches uphill from the sea up the mountainside - maybe three kilometres. Could be more as the village thins out and eventually ends in the upper reaches somewhat before the mountain top. And on its way includes a bit of everything - shops and bars and restaurants along the main road near the sea. Orange and lemon orchards and not quite orchards in people’s gardens. Modern flats both completed and in progress - sometimes in progress that appears to have been halted. Old stone buildings in beautiful condition as well as some that are little more than ruins, or are doing service as sheds or animal shelters. And there are modern villas as well, some of which have made an attempt to blend with the traditional architecture, others not so much.
Because the village is old, and probably also because the hillside is steep, no road leads directly anywhere. But unlike Albufeira, where the roads seemed to have been built on the rollercoaster principle, so that a trip to the market really did feel as if it were uphill both ways, Lapta roads follow a slalom principle, rarely heading straight uphill - or straight anywhere. Narrow, crooked, and occasionally petering out so that what at first appeared to be a short cut ends in someone’s garden.
