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Newsletter April 2005
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by: Nigel Anteney Hoare |
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I began last months Newsletter with comments about
Carnival and Easter and how those movable festival dates are calculated.
This drew a response from Friedhelm Nolden who told me that he has been a
regular visitor to Carvoeiro for the last 35 years! Friedhelm explained
that Easter “is always on the SUNDAY after the first FULL MOON in spring
time”. Thus this year you take the 20th of March (spring equinox) and wait
for the full moon. That falls this year on the 25th of March and as
Friedhelm says “surprise, surprise the next Sunday, the 27th is EASTER”.
Thanks for that information Friedhelm and if you have some recollections
of Carvoeiro back 35 years ago, or better still photographs, please get in
touch with the
Webmaster so that you can share them with us.
March started with some much needed rain. The 1st threatened rain all day
and then in the evening we had a good steady downpour. Not the crazy stuff
that simply runs away but good earth drenching rain. Next day we had more
but by Friday 4th things had cleared up and the sun shone to give some
respite for the few tourists around. The temperatures however remained
very low and we were still suffering from the icy blast coming down on us
from northern Europe.
We were away from Carvoeiro from the 8th to the 15th and on our return
found that the weather had a much more spring like feel to it. The
mornings and evenings had lost that cold edge and the days were sunny and
bright.
Arriving late on the 15th we had a meal at our local restaurant A PALMEIRA
on Rua do Cerro (up the hill past the Municipal Market) A Palmeira is a
Portuguese owned and run restaurant specialising in fish and seafood. They
do particularly good seafood rice which is available just for one person
which is a little unusual and very reasonably priced. Quite easy to park
near the restaurant as well which is a bonus in summer! Try it. Next door
is a great little Alisuper Supermarket run by Sr. BOTO and his wife. They
stock a very wide range of goods with a nice charcuterie and bake those
delicious fresh baguettes every morning.
No sooner had we returned than St. Patricks Day was upon us and the Irish,
residents and visitors alike, made sure as usual that everybody knew it.
If there is a nation on this earth that knows a better way of having a
good time I would be pleased to hear! I dropped into
SULLYS after work that evening at
about 6,30pm to meet someone and was having a quiet beer when all hell let
loose as we were invaded by a mob of Irish revellers on what seemed to be
the second lap of a Carvoeiro pub crawl! FLAVIO was flat out pulling pints
and pouring drinks. PAULA, a local lass of Irish descent knew he was short
of ice so had brought two bags with her – very well organised the Irish! I
managed to take a few photographs to try and convey the chaotic scene and
then made a hasty exit before I got enthused with the celebrations and
joined up with them!
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About this time the weather changed dramatically and we were subjected to
what is known as a “su-oeste” pronounced “swest” which basically meant
that the wind had veered to come from the south east as opposed to the
normal westerly direction. I guess what we get is something to do with the
Levante wind which sweeps up the Mediterranean through the Straits of
Gibraltar.
For Carvoeiro this “su—oeste” always brings strong warm winds and grey
skies with a strange sort of low “haze”. The sea water warms up but takes
on a dirty look and you notice the waves coming to shore from a different
direction. It is quite weird and always lasts a few days. If the wind
veers more from the east I understand, rain may follow but by the middle
of the following week although the wind had dropped and changed direction
we still had no rain.
Some work colleagues were up from Gibraltar on business over the weekend
of 19/20 and had stayed in the
HOTEL CARVOEIRO SOL to be close to the action. On Saturday afternoon
we met up with them at HEMINGWAYS to watch the Wales v Ireland Six Nations
rugby match. There was as usual a good, well humoured and vociferous
mixture of Irish, Welsh and other nationalities there with MURRAY and
HAZEL the bosses present and PAT also helping out. Murray being a Scot
went on to see the later match when his team were soundly beaten by
England to win the Calcutta Cup – sorry Murray but ....!
One of the guys from Gibraltar, being Welsh, left HEMINGWAYS particularly
happy and we finally managed to recoup some of our betting losses incurred
over Englands previous poor showings!
That evening our friends ate at CASA DO BIFE and were very enthusiastic
about the food, the service and the bill! They particularly appreciated
that they had asked the owner to select a bottle of wine for them and
hadn’t been ripped off by him choosing an expensive one.
Sunday morning it was out early to Faro to drop my wife off for her EUJET
flight to Kent International(?) Airport to collect our children for
Easter. Returning to Carvoeiro I stopped at Intermarche (car park full at
0930?!) where I bumped into my son in law. He told me of a large Police
operation the previous evening where all road exits out of Carvoeiro had
Police road blocks! It seems a few had been caught out with being over the
alcohol limit. Whether this had anything to do with a much larger
operation in Quarteira and elsewhere in an attempt to also flush out
illegal foreigners I don’t know but it is a real warning on the drink
drive front
With my mother in law staying with us for a month, just after 10,00 it was
off up to the little Church of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação on the cliff
top. This being Palm Sunday the church was packed with worshippers
standing in the porch to try and see the service. As usual palm fronds and
olive branches were distributed to celebrate this important day in the
religious calendar which commemorates the spreading of palms and clothing
in Jesus' path as He entered Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion
Sunday evening we had a meal in O CANTINHO. It was good as usual. The
place has had a face lift and gone are the football scarves hanging over
the bar. It has been painted and looks good and fresh. Next on the agenda
I was told, probably for next year, are remodelled toilets and new floor.
On Monday 21st I had to make an evening round trip to Seville airport to
collect my family for the Easter holiday. On the Huelva-Seville motorway I
ran into a heavy rainstorm which looked promising for the Algarve perhaps,
but on return to Carvoeiro the streets were still bone dry.
The newspapers were by now reporting that 60% of the country was in a true
serious drought situation with the Algarve and Alentejo the worst hit
areas. The chief of Portimão Bombeiros resigned due to the apathy of his
superiors to face the oncoming fire risk season saying that he had no
stomach for their inaction. If things continue like this we will be
suffering fires in May this year!
Wednesday 23rd started really dark and sure enough about 11am we started
to get some of the much needed rain. Mixed feelings now as we do want it
to be good weather for the Easter holiday and the tourists who are taking
an early break but also so need the water. In fact once again the rain
never came to much at all.
Easter week saw the usual arrival of tourists and by Good Friday things
were looking more promising. As always there were plenty of Spanish cars
about, our neighbours taking advantage of the motorway to get a change of
scenery.
Easter weekend the weather was largely good with mixed sun and some cloud.
Temperatures were creeping up and the evenings had lost their cold edge
making it quite pleasant. I had a few reports from business people that
Easter was not living up to what was hoped and passing through town the
bars and restaurants didn’t seem that busy. I wondered if it was simply
too early for people to be risking a break?
The Easter period saw greatly increased activity on the part of the
traffic Police who had mounted their usual “Operation Pascoa” (Pascoa =
Easter) to try and bring the road accident toll down. This coincided with
the introduction of a new “Highway “Code” with increased penalties and on
the spot fines for traffic offences. If you haven’t the means to pay there
and then the Police can seize your driving documents and you have 15 days
to pay up. Also introduced was the necessity to carry a fluorescent yellow
jacket in the car (note - not in the boot!) to be worn at any time there
is a breakdown or accident. Whether this applies to foreign cars here just
for holidays or not I am unsure. Maybe safer to buy one but make sure it
is marked EC 471 on the label so that it complies!
Operation Pascoa resulted in 12% fall in accidents compared with the same
period in 2004 but still saw 17 deaths and 676 injured (53 severely).
Moral is – pay attention when driving in Portugal, you may be a safe
driver but it is the others you need to worry about! The new Government
has pledged to halve road accidents over the next 4 years!
Wednesday we dined at O ANTÓNIO and as usual had a pleasant and reasonably
priced meal. Quite busy really but not really warm enough yet to sit
outside although a few hardy souls were trying it. António was working in
the kitchen which I think is always a bonus for the diners and the usual
staff were in attendance. All in all very enjoyable.
The final days of the month saw very good weather with temperatures
climbing into the early 20’s but some Mad March winds to cope with as
well.
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