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Newsletter November 2005
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by: Nigel Anteney Hoare |
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Saturday 1st October was really hot. We spent it on
Caneiros beach which was simply beautiful with even the sea remaining
warm. This is our current favourite beach especially now the August
madness has gone for another year and the crowds are less. In the evening
we met friends in the ANTEAK BAR and then on to THE ANGEL for what can
only be described as a lively evening! On Monday the 2nd a partial eclipse
of the sun was visible mid morning but it didn’t seem to reduce the heat
at all! Just made things a little darker at around 11 am!
Monday evening we met up in the CARVOEIRO BAR with a work colleague who
was over from Gibraltar with his girlfriend. I like this place – sort of a
"proper pub" with very well served drinks. We then went to eat at CASA DO
BIFE. This restaurant has had a slightly mixed bag of comments on the
Restaurant Forum but we have always found it to be very good indeed.
After the meal it was on up the hill to the
BAR HAVANA.
There were still plenty of people about enjoying the fresh evening air
wandering up and down Estrada do Farol to and from the square.
On the Tuesday we again tried the lunchtime menu at the Anteak Bar. As I
mentioned last month and was also posted recently by Ellie on the Forum
this is very good value indeed. I hope they can keep it up.
Wednesday saw the annual bank holiday to celebrate the inception of the
Portuguese Republic on 5 October 1910. The day began with the usual series
of very loud explosions set off from the headland overlooking the beach.
The square was cordoned off for some entertainment to be held later. The
Portuguese Republic came about when the reigning king, Carlos I, returning
to Portugal after temporary exile, was assassinated in his carriage by a
republican mob . His son Crown Prince Dom Luis, in theory, automatically
succeeded him but he was in the same carriage as the king and was also
assassinated about 20 minutes later making him probably the shortest
reigning monarch ever. King Carlos’ surviving 18 year old son Infant Dom
Manoel was proclaimed King Manoel II but he was forced to leave the
country during the ensuing revolution. On 5 Oct 1910 the dynasty was
finally declared deposed. Poor old King Manoel was permanently exiled from
Portugal where he died without heirs at Twickenham, Middlesex, UK on July
2nd 1932. At least he wasn’t shot!
Notwithstanding our remorse at the happenings of the 1910 revolution, we
took off to Caneiros beach again. Arriving early, parking was not a
problem, a nice coffee at the little bar at the top of the beach steps to
set us up and then a relaxing morning before some lunch at the beach bar.
It’s a hard life at times :)
The weather was fabulous – warm sea again and a really busy day for the
lifeguard with all the sun beds rented out and plenty more people on the
sand. This is a very well run outfit indeed. They have even experimented
with a super-duper, purpose-made, wooden sun bed complete with a very
thick circular mattress. This is built for two people (more if you are
skinny!) and you rent it for the day complete with either a bottle of
Espumante or if you want to go really potty - a bottle of Moet. I think it
is 40 euros with the Espumante and 70 with the Moet. Very decadent eh? It
is under a nice shady canopy and looks sort of vaguely regal. My mind
wandered back to old King Manoel as I was inspecting it!
The fine weather continued until Sunday 9th which was local election day.
We woke to heavy rain which continued more or less all day and, in fact,
on and off for the next 3 days. Much needed rain at last to help begin to
fill the depleted reservoirs behind Silves. The bad weather didn’t seem to
put the voters off as the turnout was similar to 4 years ago. In the Lagoa
area, generally speaking, the PS – Socialist party, made inroads into the
PSD – Social Democrats majorities. Lagoa remains with the PSD Mayor in
charge although only by the slender margin of 221 votes. However the
Council of Lagoa is locked with equal seats held by the PSD and PS, the
CDU candidate is holding the deciding vote. Could be interesting!
Carvoeiro continues with Jorge Pardal as President of the Parish Council
with the PS strengthening their majority on the Parish Council by 6 seats
to the PSD 3.
The overcast weather continued and we saw more rain on Tuesday 18th. There
was a real change in the weather now with things generally much cooler all
round.
In the national press the Algarve got a nice mention as it appears that a
South African film maker has chosen the Faro area as the perfect spot to
develop a studio to produce adult movies due to the climate (outdoor
shots?), reasonable labour (?) and other costs. He intends to make dozens
of films each year using eastern European “actresses”. Apparently he
hasn’t looked at using local talent so far! So keep your eyes open and you
may be surprised by some of the filming on the beaches here next year!
On Wednesday the weather kind of sorted itself out to the relief of all
the holidaymakers with young kids. In the evening we made our occasional
pilgrimage to KAZY in Silves for chicken piri piri (eat your heart out
Maisie!). On the way back we drove up Estrada do Farol to see what was has
happening. With work the next day we resisted the temptation to stop but
everywhere looked really busy.
On Friday it was an afternoon trip to Lisbon to attend a Trafalgar Day
dinner held at the Maritime Museum. It was a really good match of
foreigners (mostly British of course – I didn't notice many French about!)
and Portuguese. Suitably stirring music was played by the Portuguese Navy
Band and much toasting of Nelsons famous victory with port and dark rum.
We stayed over in a new hotel called the Vila Galé Opera virtually under
the bridge at Alcantara. Ideal spot to explore the Belem region of Lisbon
with its many monuments.
Saturday afternoon the unsettled weather cleared and Sunday and Monday
were glorious days.
On the Carvoeiro restaurant front I had noticed a sign outside the chinese
restaurant in Estrada do Farol, O GRANDE MURALHA offering an "all you can
eat" chinese buffet at 8,80 Euros a head. Always a sucker for what appears
to be a good deal and impressed by their "winter" initiative, we strolled
down there with some friends from London who were staying with us for the
week. The buffet was pretty good all in all with about 15 different
dishes. With a bit of wine and soft drinks etc we came out at about 10
Euros a head. It was quite busy – especially early on, with families
taking advantage of the fixed price. Having saved some cash on the dinner,
we couldn't resist a final cocktail, so up to the
BAR HAVANA
where I learned of a Halloween Party to be held there on the 31st. Jenny
and Craig are good at organising these sort of things now and then.
On the subject of food prices, regular newsletter readers (are there
any?!) will know that for some time I have been on a quest for the
cheapest lunch in the area. Sad I know, but sort of an obsession now! The
contenders so far have been the 10 Euros deal at the beach restaurant on
the fishermans beach at Armaçaõ de Pêra, 7 Euros or thereabouts at O
PESCADOR which is at Salicos and the 7 Euros for the all-in 5 courser at
Restaurant FATACIL. There are also the very cheap lunch snacks at THE
ANTEAK BAR where the main course costs just 3 Euros but I think the winner
this year must be the café at INTERMARCHÉ where soup, dish of the day,
water and coffee costs a princely Euros 4,90! It's pretty good as well as
long as the daily dish suits you of course.
The weather broke again on Thursday 27th with heavy rain all day. I
stopped at the ANTEAK BAR on way home from work (fatal) and had a few with
heavy rain more or less curtailing any ideas of a dash for the car!
Despite having been fairly well anaesthetised when I got to bed, I was
awakened at 6,30 with bright flashes of lightning out to sea and heavy
thunder overhead. It was simply pouring with rain. Enough to make me get
up and check rainwater drains to make sure we weren't getting flooded
anywhere. Lots of rain fell that day.
Clouds and mixed weather were the order of the remaining days of the
month. On Friday we arranged to try out the newest restaurant in the
Carvoeiro area, LA BELLA VITA. This is at Algarve Clube Atlantico,
Alfanzina. For those that can't place that, it is out of town past Rocha
Brava and keep going until you find Clube Atlantico just before Alfanzina
or "smugglers" beach. It is where the Indian gourmet restaurant was
located and looks as if large dollops of cash have been spent on
completely overhauling it. The result is a very nice, light and airy
restaurant. 10 of us ate from an extensive menu of pizza, pasta and other
dishes. The service was superb, the food simply great and all in all a
memorable meal. If they can keep this up it can become one of Carvoeiros
best. The bill was under 30 Euros a head.
Finally, for those visitors that love the juicy Algarve oranges and
freshly squeezed juice some disappointing news! I read that despite the
recent rains, due to the lack of water earlier this year in the Silves
reservoirs, the citrus crops in Silves and Lagoa did not receive the
irrigation they needed and thus the orange crop may be down by about 15%
this coming harvest. The fruit will be of "poorer
quality and smaller sizes".
To give an idea of the drought we have been through, the Arade reservoir
can hold 28 million cubic metres of water and at present has just 1
million including what has fallen in the last days! Looks like we need a
fair bit yet to avoid problems in 2006 and the authorities estimate we
need good rainfall for the next 3 months to guarantee citrus production
next year. So if you are over here in November to January and it rains –
think of next years oranges! You heard it here first!!
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