The month of October began with no let
up in the hot sunny weather. Whilst mornings and evenings had cooled down,
once the sun was up it was glorious. Quite unseasonable really!
Despite the sunny weather it was time to think about the coming winter
with its inevitable colds and coughs. At work we arranged our usual Autumn
flu injections for the staff with a couple of nurses coming to our offices
from a private clinic to administer them.
We also had one of our annual works health inspections. Firms over a
certain size are obliged to contract with one of the many specialist
companies that come and give all staff the once over – blood pressure,
heart, blood and urine tests etc. The firm we use arrive in a large van
which is set up as a small clinic. They hook up to our power supply and
away you go. I guess this is reasonably advanced system for some countries
who have no practical health at workplace arrangements. Anyway we all
passed and I was given my annual instruction to lose weight!
The beginning of the year saw news in the national and local press that
seven currently toll free roads were to become tolled. This included our
own Via do Infante - the A.22. It was announced that the toll levels for
each will be based on the GDP of the area concerned and as the Algarve has
a higher level of income than other parts of the country we will pay more!
Even worse the suggestion is that whilst “locals” living within 30 kms of
the road will get a 3 or 4 year amnesty from tolls tourists will be
charged! Just the job for the arriving British tourist with no Euros eh?!
Especially at a time when tourism is at a low ebb here. This news led many
to rightly observe that all the good done by the new road will be swept
aside and traffic will simply revert to using the non toll EN 125. The
Algarve business associations are up in arms about it, worried that news
of extra road charges will affect tourism in already difficult times. They
have organized a mass protest on 12th November at 10 am asking everybody
possible to use the EN 125 to demonstrate that it can’t cope with the
traffic. Lets see what happens- I will tell you next month!
The hot dry weather prompted a Government Minister visiting the Algarve to
warn of possible water cuts and this again had upset the tourist
associations as likely to put tour operators off the Algarve. Tourism, the
lifeblood of the region is sure under attack.
On the First Sunday of the Month we took advantage of the good weather to
go to Armação beach. There were plenty of people there enjoying the sun
and the water was actually warm! Certainly warmer than it had been in
September. There had been reports of a line of red algae appearing off the
coast and this could be clearly seen. Investigation had been underway to
determine if this was harmful but to date I haven’t seen the results. The
appearance of the algae had been attributed to the extremely warm
temperatures this year and follow on from a blue algae seen a few years
ago. As the water temperature drops it is assumed this will disappear.
Another freak of nature.
The same day I was interested to see on the BBC programme Antiques
Roadshow a person who took along a painting by Patrick Swift for
evaluation. Patrick or “Paddy” Swift was an early settler in Carvoeiro
arriving here about 1962 and lived in a house past the lighthouse on the
road to Alfanzina. Irish by birth, he was a well known artist and literary
figure and founded the OLARIA DE PORCHES (Porches Pottery) at Porches
where he set about reviving the regional craft of hand decorated pottery
making. I think I am right in saying that Paddy Swift died in 1983 but the
pottery still runs today under the watchful eye of his daughter Catty, I
think and her husband (who met her after arriving from the UK in the early
80’s on a bike!). Anyway the art expert on the Roadshow explained that
Swift was now “very collectable” and reckoned the painting in question was
worth at least £15,000! I wonder if those early 80’s pottery plates I have
got are worth a bomb?!
About this time I picked up the latest edition of the GOODLIFE magazine. I
thought what a good publication it is, full of interesting facts and
information and giving a different slant to the other English language
publications on the coast. It is published by Lagoa based VIP Publications
run by Peter Daughtrey and Len Port two long time Carvoeiro area
residents. Keep up the good work chaps!
Something that surprises me here about Sundays is that garden centres are
all closed. Despite living here well over 20 years I still have the
English idea that Sunday might be a gardening day when one could pop along
and get some plants and stuff. Certainly in the UK Sunday is a garden
centres big day. I know many people here are on holiday and gardening is
furthest from their minds but lots of us do live here and some of us even
have to WORK(!) so Sunday is a useful day for us. Any views?
We were back to Seville for a couple of days early in October, on business
this time. We had made a quick visit there at the end of September to spy
out some local restaurants for hospitality purposes and had stayed in a
very pleasant new hotel called PLAZA DAS ARMAS right by the river and the
old bus terminal - now converted to a shopping mall. The hotel is very
close to the centre of Seville and well priced if booked in advance over
the internet. We found two great eating places there, one is a well known
tapas bar and restaurant called CASA BLANCA and the other just 100 metres
away is LA TABERNA DEL ALABARD. Both served splendid food. The former is a
fairly small place with a bar area as you enter serving tapas to
vociferous locals and with a 30 seater restaurant at the rear. The latter
is housed in a magnificent old Spanish aristocrats house and serves really
delicious food in various different sized rooms served from a very well
run central kitchen. Well worth a try if you are in Seville
Whilst there I heard by telephone that heavy rain had hit Carvoeiro just
before lunchtime on Friday 8th - the first real rain for long time. It hit
Seville early evening with a torrential downpour catching us all
unexpected with our summer clothes and no rain protection. When we got
back to Carvoeiro on Saturday afternoon we noticed a big change in the
weather, much cooler with mixed sun and cloud. We dropped a colleague at
Tunes Station to catch the express to Lisbon. Tunes station used to be
like something out of the Wild West, you know - two or three gunslingers
always seemed to be waiting for the train to arrive bringing some amigo of
theirs for a showdown or to rob the local bank. However as part of what I
guess was the Euro 2004 general revamp, it is now very smart indeed. The
AlfaPendular high speed train can be caught from there and there is a
regular normal and express service to Lisbon and Porto. It is the
interchange station for the coastal line as well. Rumour still abounds of
a line right through to Seville which would be good.
By mid week the weather seemed to have settled back into a routine of
rather chilly mornings with lovely clear sunny days. On Friday 15th having
dropped my wife at Faro airport late morning to visit the UK and collect
our children for half term, I joined some friends who were staying at
Rocha Brava and we ate at ELE E ELA. Very good food indeed and great value
at 25 Euros a head I felt. Another friend, Graham Groom, his partner Galia
and her daughter Julia came in for a meal to celebrate Galias birthday.
Dropping the others back at Rocha Brava for an early-ish night, I opted to
join Graham and Galia at the ROUND UP for a drink or two. It was about
half full with IRISH DAVE belting it out as usual. We decided to wander
over to MUNGOS which was very quiet indeed. The season sure seems to have
finished.
I had heard from Jan Zegers, owner of
O PATIO, MARTINS GRILL
and GRAND CAFÉ etc, that an old
friend of mine, Alvaro Rosa, ex bar manager at SMILERS in the 80's whom
some of you will remember, had suffered a heart attack and was in Portimão
Hospital. The next day, Flavio of
SULLYS confirmed this to me so I resolved to go and see him. Alvaro
was a fine bar manager and had left Smilers to take over his fathers snack
bar which had been based for many years in the old Portimão Market Place
(now replaced by the underground car park and pleasant square at the
bottom of Rua do Comercio). When the old market was torn down, as part of
the Portimão re-generation scheme, the stall holders were offered new
premises at the new market place near the Portimão Fire Station.
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Their snack bar is known as Casa das Bifanas and Alvaro and his brother
have carried on their fathers tradition of serving the best "bifanas" in
the area. For the unitiated, a bifana is a bread roll (papo seco) filled
with hot, thin sliced, pork. Not just any sliced pork mind, but pork which
has been cooked according to a secret recipe (each bifana maker has his
own!) in a large frying pan on a gas ring. Basically the mixture of oil,
garlic and other specialities in the frying pan rarely gets changed and
more thin pork slices just get added to it as the cooked ones get used.
The bifana specialist slices open the roll and wacks a generous helping of
the hot sliced meat into it. He may ask you if you want it “com ou sem”.
If it is “com” then he dips the cut side of the roll into the frying pan
mixture! Delicious!!
Anyway, before I could visit him in hospital I heard he was discharged and
back at work (you can’t keep a good bifana chef down!) so on Saturday
morning at about midday I went to Portimao to see him. The market was
still thriving with local smallholders selling their home grown produce
outside the main market and gipsy women singing the praises of their
stocks of sweaters and ladies knickers – one euro each! Alvaro was there
looking fine, a bit slimmer but his usual smiling self. One of Alvaros
bifanas is never enough so I ordered two straight away and a nice glass of
vinho to wash it down (you don’t ask for tea at Alvaros!).
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My wife and children arrived back at Faro in the evening on a slightly
delayed EasyJet flight from Stansted. They came fully equipped and
complete with mother in law, the children on a two week half term and
mother in law on a months change of scenery from the Isle of Man. The
delay and my pathetic culinary skills meant a quick visit to the Chinese
restaurant - good as ever and great value.
Sunday was a mixed day with cloud and sun. I collected a friend from Rocha
Brava to join us for Sunday dinner. Rocha Brava seemed so quiet and she
confirmed that there were very few people around. Passing JULIOS plenty of
cars were in evidence as early diners arrived. With all the recent
building of apartments and villas in that area, Julios seems to have
mopped up a lot of the business that is around.
Monday 18th broke with the threat of rain and sure enough it came down
hard during the day. There were warnings of bad weather to come but whilst
Monday night was wet and the cloudy weather carried on with showers all
day Tuesday, nothing too bad came our way. In fact it was a welcome break
and whilst not that much fell it will help swell the reservoirs and avoid
water rationing.
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Tuesday continued cloudy all day with the odd shower. During the day the
wind strengthened and by nightfall was pretty strong. When I walked my dog
near my home, which must be about 400 metres from the coast, I could hear
the thunderous roar as the sea crashed against the cliffs by ALGAR SECO.
Next morning I passed by the Church to take a look. The sea spray and
dampness were evident as I stood looking down to the beach but the sun was
trying to break through and the promise of a return to good weather was
there. The storm brought sad news though when the national newspaper
Correio da Manha reported on Wednesday the tragic loss of a fishing boat
with 6 crew lost in the heavy seas further North about 2 miles off Aveiro.
The boat had been trying to make the safety of harbour when it was
presumably swamped.
I heard from someone in Monchique that all above 400 metes had been in the
clouds for two days! Things improved however and by Friday 22nd we were
back to some glorious sunshine again and a very pleasant weekend.
Sunday morning we decided to visit the clubhouse at
VALE DO MILHO GOLF.
Very nice it was too as we sat on the terrace watching the club members
tee off in the sunshine. My son was interested in some golf lessons so we
spoke to the friendly club professional DEREK LUTZ who fixed up a session
for the following day. The Manchester United v Arsenal Premier League
clash was being shown at the club on their big screen so we resolved to go
back in the afternoon to watch that. The club house seems to do well on a
Sunday with Sunday lunches and this day was no different. They are already
advertising their
Christmas
and New
Year catering arrangements which look attractive.
The weather closed in again on the Monday with thick cloud all day and
again we couldn’t see the Monchique hills. Poor souls up there must be
getting like troglodytes. Fortunately the rain stayed clear to allow the
golf lesson to take place which was greatly enjoyed – move over Tiger
Woods!
Tuesday whilst the UK was bracing itself for a fierce storm, we too
received warnings of bad weather coming in from the South West in the
afternoon. Whilst the dark clouds built up and threatened it stayed dry
and with friends we visited RESTAURANT KAZY in Silves for some delicious
chicken piri-piri. We had felt this place had gone off a bit lately and
thus we hadn’t been there for some time but on this occasion the chicken
and salad were superb and at 12 Euros a head including wine, water, soft
drinks and bits and pieces a great deal.
News was in of the result of the trial of 10 Albufeira GNR policemen for
corruption and extortion. This process stared back in 2002 and culminated
in heavy prison sentences being handed out on the men involved, one
receiving nine and a half years, and also on some business men involved on
the fringes. It is a sad state of affairs but it has generally long been
known that some police here are less than honest and presumably this will
send shock waves through the Police service generally.
That night the wind strengthened and the rain fell heavily confirming the
earlier warnings. On the Wednesday whilst the UK generally and especially
south west England was rocked by severe storms we had our own mini storm
with the much welcome rain coming in heavy showers. This continued much
the same on Thursday with intermittent rain and sunshine.
More sad news of another fishing boat pushed onto the rocks having lost
its way with nets around its propeller. This time, 6 of the seven man crew
were lifted off by helicopter but one poor soul lost his life in the sea
trying to swim for shore.
7a.m. Friday - still dark until the clocks change at the weekend.
Thursdays bright full moon was still hanging high in the mostly clear
western sky as the sun came up on what looked to be a promising day. Often
the full moon seems to herald a change in the weather. About time the
tourists had a break!
With their half term break about to end we decided to have a final dinner.
The childrens choice was KOH SAMUI the Thai restaurant. Ten of us gathered
there and had a great meal for 20 Euros a head including starters, wine
and some puddings. With a very early start to get them to the airport next
morning there was no chance of visiting any of the local bars for a
nightcap so it was back home and off to bed to take advantage of the hour
change.
Best regards until the end of November.
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