Algarve Blog

This Algarve blog ( em Portugês) is intended to keep you in touch with the latest in Algarve affairs. Now that I'm living here, I'm trying to keep you updated with what's going on in the Algarve and around those wonderful beaches.

So, here's my regular take on occurrences in what used to be my favourite vacation spot... but is now my favourite place to live.

The Delights of Algarve in Spring

Our guests this week (Steve and Jonathan) have been getting around a bit in Algarve, and loving it, of course.

Possibly the only minus was that, when they drove up to Foia (highest point in the Algarve) to enjoy the view, the day was pretty much like it was last time we went there... low cloud, no view, and 10 or 12 degrees Celcius cooler!

Not much fun, unless you're an Eskimo.

We did get a report on the renovations to Querenca, though - and the village is back to its beautiful best (see photograph). The square has been un-cobbled and is now 'tiled', the roads are fixed and the buildings repainted. Not sure how the high-season shutdown last year will have affected the small businesses there, but it can't have helped. 

Here's hoping the disruption will all have been worth it for them.

Sunday 30 March 2008

High Tension in Sotavento

Eastern Algarve is to be the next recipient of ugly HT power lines and mega-pylons, I read recently. After residents near Silves managed to campaign against a similarly unsympathetic routing through their peaceful valley, it's now the turn of folks who live between Tavira and Tunes to become agitated.

And they've already had their first meeting. As usual, what sticks in people's craws is the lack of consultation. The plan is announced as though everyone should celebrate it with enthusiasm, and then the relevant authorities seem surprised that the news is not welcomed by those who will be adversely affected.

Encouraged by the success at Silves, I can imagine the protagonists girding their loins (what, in this heat!) for a long campaign. I wish them well in their protests.

However necessary such eyesores might be, you can bet they won't be sited anywhere near properties owned by those in authority or the top brass at the electricity supplier, REN. Funny that, isn't it?

Friday 28 March 2008

Sticking their noses into other people's...

Socialists! Doncha love 'em? The control freakery they often exhibit takes some understanding, if I'm to believe the media reports I see and hear.

They're no different in Portugal, either, it seems. The Socialist bloc in government at present want to ban some forms of body piercing. Smacks of Big-Brother-ism to me...

For myself, I can't begin to imagine why anyone wants to have a tongue piercing. And, of course, some of the braver souls go for piercings in parts that I won't even mention on a family-oriented website. But, so long as they're adults, making a free choice, what business is that of the government?

By all means regulate the outlets where these procedures are carried out, ensuring that they are hygienic and that the practitioners are suitably trained and know what to do should - perish the thought - something go wrong.

After that, though, in a western democracy, the politicians should keep their noses firmly where they belong - in the trough, gobbling up taxpayers' money!

It's easy to see that none of the interfering politicos has shares in a piercing and tattoo parlour.

Or am I really becoming as cynical as Nev suggests?

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Algarve Festivals

Easter is a good time for catching Algarve festivals. This weekend, we managed to catch the Flower Torches Festival at Sao Bras de Alportel, and also the Festa Pequena (Little Feast) of Mae Soberana, in Loulé.

We only saw a bit of the Loule procession, because we'd lingered in Sao Bras to see the presentation of the prizes for best flower torches, listen to the dedicatory poems being read, and hear the folk music ensemble from Boliqueime who performed gamely for almost an hour.

I mention gamely because, while the attentive audience was seated in the warmth of the sun, the unfortunate performers were on stage in the shadow of the church, and the wind swirling around them kept it cooler than they'd have liked.

The flowers were still strewn around the streets from earlier in the day, and the bunting and decorations were flapping about in the breeze - all adding to the colour of a typically Algarvean occasion.

The music reminded Nev of Orff's 'Schulwerke' - simple, rhythmic and often repeating. 

A relaxing way to spend a gorgeous, sunny Algarve Easter afternoon. 

Vive Algarve Festivals!

Monday 24 March 2008

Backstreet Sleuthing

We went looking for an art gallery in Faro a few days ago. I was sure we'd been there before, but Nev disagreed. Anyway, it took ages to find it - and we didn't much like the exhibition once we got there.

But, I do like strolling around Faro's back streets. I'm always amazed at the sights and sounds.

This time, we passed a walled, gated garden that caught our eye (even hot on the trail of the elusive gallery).

It was locked, but that did not stop your intrepid reporter insinuating her camera through the bars of the gate to capture the 'secret garden'.

We may try to find our way back to that part of Faro on a sunnier day and take another pic!

Saturday 22 March 2008

Citizen Cain

Yet more thrills announced for Faro, the Algarve's nominal capital city. It's to have the first 'citizen shop'.

Not, as you might think at first glance, where you'd go to purchase a citizen for whatever your needs might be -

Rather, a call-in centre where said citizen(s) can go to access a plethora of wonderful services that would otherwise be spread far and wide throughout the city.

Services such as Lost and Found (whatever happened to police stations?) and the council's helpdesk (relocated from the council offices?) as well as service counters for varied public and private concerns.

And, in case you think this shop is going to be tucked away in a little back alley, and have corrugated tin roofing, fear not! It's to be a 1 million euro project, within the first floor of the Municipal Market, taking up some 2000 square metres of space.

The less-than-kind observer might be tempted to remark that such a space would soon be filled with the long queues of people waiting for attention, but there'll probably be overspill space...

The market building has cost a lot - some 23 million euros - and putting one third of the first floor to such use might go some way to justifying the expense, while they search for other 'entities' to fill it.

Thursday 20 March 2008

River Mud

As well as the inevitable summer roadworks (it's a requirement for EU accession, I believe) there's to be yet more mud headed the way of Faro.

The mayor has revealed plans for upgrading the riverside areas, including the access to Faro beach. It is alleged that the works will be finished by the end of the year...

... but doesn't that mean it'll all be going on during the tourist high season?

As usual, I'm left flummoxed by the logistics and planning, but I understand the grief will have been worthwhile when they unveil the new Faro riverside project.

Let's hope they're right in their predictions.

Wednesday 19 March 2008

Roadworks Ahead

And these will be major! It's long overdue, of course, but I'll bet that there'll be a lot of grief involved while it's underway.

The EN125 was the first and only east-west road artery in the Algarve, until European money financed the A22 (formerly the IP1) Via do Infante motorway. Given its age and its traffic, the EN125 has lasted reasonably well, but with all the efforts to get more tourists into the region (see Sunday's blog) the road system really does need to be upgraded.

First on the agenda, so it's reported in The Portugal News, is the bit between Faro and Olhao. The reasoning is to avoid traffic needing to traverse the region's capital in order to travel east or west.

Following on from that, Lagos and Sao Lourenco are keen to be next. 

It's planned to introduce more roundabouts, on the basis that they're more difficult to drive straight over than are crossroads!

It will take the best part of a decade, they think, so it should be finished just before they fill in the trenches that form the eastbound side of the Estoi / Moncarapacho estrada! (8 weeks and counting...)

Tuesday 18 March 2008

More Choice, More Pollution?

They're muttering about privatising Faro airport. That seems to be a first step toward the creation of another Algarve terminus, over in the west.

Since Algarve is such a compact region, it seems, at first sight, a bit strange to be considering a second airport, until...

... you realise that they don't think it's feasible to extend Faro airport, due to its location. (It's close to several urbanisations and to the Ria Formosa protected natural area).

So, if they want more flights and more tourism, then they need to expand, somehow.

Presumably, if privatised and managed by the same concern that handles the new facility, Faro airport would not be in a position to object to any proposals. Whereas, at the moment, it might well be a thorn in the side of any development corporation who could prove a future competitor.

Tourism is the Algarve's blood, so it's understandable that more tourists are on its wish-list. 

I just would love to see some proposals, not only for more Algarve flights, but also for ideas on how to decrease the associated ecological impact.

Here's hoping...

Sunday 16 March 2008

A Spot of Culture

Last time we needed to go to Almancil, I made sure we left enough time to fit in a visit to the wonderful Cultural Centre at São Lourenço. Despite my best efforts, we simply don't get there often enough - and I've never yet managed to attend a single one of the concerts and recitals that are held regularly.

As I've mentioned previously, the place is something of a gem. Situated just outside Almancil (to the east), it's a terraced collection of restored houses, nestling just beneath the imposing hill-top edifice of the São Lourenço church.

The founders are German, and seem to have a very strong association with such luminaries as Günter Grass, the multi-talented Nobel Prize-winning author and artist.

The grounds of the Cultural Centre are part of the 'show', housing as they do some stunningly original sculptures and artefacts. Turn a corner in the garden and you might be face-to-face with a larger-than-life Samson in the act of destroying the Philistine temple, a pop-art-decorated ceramic cow, or else a huge, menacing spider welded together from industrial parts!

Inside the multi-level building, there are a number of spaces that display plastic arts, and a good selection of signed prints can be purchased by those who can't bear to leave the culture behind when they leave...

No Algarve vacation is complete without a visit to this magnificent treasure of a place. Call in next time you're anywhere in Central Algarve and feast your senses.

Friday 14 March 2008

Twins!

So, the love affair between Albufeira and Linz, in Austria, continues apace. As I blogged previously, there must be something in it other than freebie exchange trips for the politicos involved, but what...?

Linz, it is claimed, has a high average income and commensurate purchasing power. I can see where the Albufeirense would want to tap into that, but what's in it for Linz? The city is due to be the 2009 European Capital of Culture (on the Buggin's Turn principle), so will be receiving much media attention anyway. 

I can't believe that the good burghers of Linz haven't already heard of the Algarve, and (presumably) considered vacationing here. So, will the twinning ceremony really have more of them reaching for their cheque-books (other than paying for the officials' flights to Faro, that is)?

When they visit Albufeira in December (to 'ratify' the twinning), the official Linz delegation will be bringing the 'Light of Peace', which originates at Bethlehem's Nativity Church, no less.

Assuming that they're flying (can't see them all hopping on a coach, if Linz's taxpayers are footing the bill) how do they propose smuggling that flame through security?

Answers on a postcard to Algarve Beach Life, please. (And, in line with recent BBC strictures, I can't offer a prize for the best submission, in case I've already chosen the winner...)

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Aquiculture?!?

It's on the up, it seems. 

Now that the world's fish stocks are dwindling, it will be necessary to increase the amount of fish farming (that's the aquiculture of the heading, so I learn) to meet the growing demand.

Sums up the human dilemma neatly, don't you think? We have an increasing need for something that's disappearing. Perhaps we could merge the next oil crisis with a fish crisis, and have a fish oil crisis.

The Portuguese fishing industry has been ahead of the game on this one, I read recently, since the fishing fleet has shrunk, while investment in aquiculture has increased.

Being a tree-hugging veggie, I'm in no position to know, but I'd have thought that there's a limit to how much farmed fish one can produce. I remember from my time in Scotland that there were frequent reports of one sort of disease or another decimating the salmon farms there. Presumably, a large mass of captive fish fed on an unnatural diet are just what a bug needs to thrive.

But, what about the effect on Algarve tourism? Will the Algarve coastline be blighted by a succession of aquiculture concerns, visible from those popular Algarve beaches?

Or will they turn adversity into triumph by selling Algarve cruises that offer the chance of spotting a captive bream or other peixe? When I find out, I'll report back...

Sunday 9 March 2008

The Jig's Up

The recent Burns' night celebrations were reported in the local press (yes, they have 'suppers' here in Portugal) and even brought some facts to light of which I had previously been ignorant.

Portugal has more Celtic connections than you might imagine, especially the northeast of the country. Apparently, the Portuguese form of haggis (for such exists, though I can't locate it in my English-Portuguese dictionary) is encased in a pig's stomach, rather than that of a sheep.

And bagpipes, known as gaita-de-foles, have been played here for centuries, with some tunes redolent of jigs and reels, I'm assured.

Quite why they don't celebrate Camões' Night, to 'big up' their own national poet, I can't imagine. Something of a PR opportunity wasted?

Friday 7 March 2008

Safe as milk?

I have no idea what Captain Beefheart had in mind when he named that album - but I doubt that it was a grocery store in Faro.

Alas, the Aliança, the oldest such store in Faro (just coming up to its 100th anniversary) has been closed down by those champions of public health, the ASAE.

Quite how many people have died or suffered illness as a result of the alleged 'deficiencies of technical functionings and of hygiene' during the last century is not known.

But, in a country where people die on the roads every day, due to poor driving and (sometimes) poor roads, it's nice to know the authorities are targeting the right things.

The unfortunate proprietor of the store is now trading from a smaller, provisional premises; some reward for the 50 years he has served his community.

Let's hope that he's soon back in his own store, and that, in the meantime, no-one has died on the truly dangerous stretch of uncontrolled roadworks between Estoi and Moncarapacho.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

What's in a name...?

There must be something about the corporate environment that affects the sense of proportion when it comes to memorable names.

I can understand the need to keep the 'brand' to the forefront in the public mind but, did anyone ever tell these folk about mnemonics? Whatever is made easier to remember will be remembered more easily - and you can quote me on that!

The latest 'doozie' to lurch into view concerns Algarve golf.

It seems that the Vila Sol resort at Vilamoura is teaming up with Marriott International group to introduce the brand of Renaissance to Portugal. So far, so bad - we have a Portuguese name, an American name and a French name (pass the Babel fish, someone).

Okay, it's damage limitation time. What's the new name to be? (Roll of drums, trumpet fanfare...)

Its - Vila Sol Algarve, Renaissance Spa and Golf Resort! 

Fairly trips off the tongue, doesn't it? Presumably, that's VSARSGR for short.

The brand aims to offer a more complete service, with golf courses, accommodation, spas and entertainment, so I suppose we should be grateful that they didn't go for an even bigger title.

It could have been:

Vila Sol Algarve, Renaissance Spa, Huntin', Shootin', Fishin', Crown Green Bowling and Golf Resort. 

Now that would have been memorable!

Saturday 1 March 2008

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