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Newsletter November 2006 - archive
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by: Karen Telling |
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Finally, the ongoing saga of Barney’s operations came to
an end, after one last evening out at Oasis on 5th October, the last
stitches were removed on the following day – and our lives could return to
some sort of normality. To celebrate our new-found freedom, we took some
friends to Bella Vita at Clube Atlântico, which was excellent as usual. On
Saturday 7th we were invited to a bbq with friends at their house close to
Poço Partido, towards the end of the meal we were treated to a firework
display, which appeared to come from the direction of the Almansor Hotel.
I’m not sure what the occasion was, or whether it was the hotel or a
neighbouring property, but the display seemed very professional and
rounded off our meal nicely!
The weather was still warm and sunny, and to celebrate my birthday the
following day, we went to Le Mistral – we had tried to eat at this
restaurant a few times during the summer without success, but in October
we had no problem getting a table. The food was very good, and it is one
of the few places in Carvoeiro where you can sit outside in a ‘tropical
garden’ environment.
On Wednesday 11th, we were invited to visit a friend at his house on Farol
Island which is just off the coast of the eastern Algarve. As we set off
to catch the ferry from Olhão the weather was slightly overcast, and as
the previous day had also been quite cloudy, I wasn’t sure whether it was
the best day to visit the island. However, I needn’t have worried, as we
made our way along the Algarve the skies brightened, and by the time we
arrived in Olhão the sun was shining and it was lovely and warm. There are
no cars on the island, so we parked close to the market and made our way
to the ticket office where our return tickets were a grand total of 3.20
euros per person! The boat was quite small, seating around 60 people on
two decks, and as there is no shop on the island at this time of year, we
were soon surrounded by locals bringing their supplies over from Olhão in
supermarket trolleys!
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The ferry left promptly at 11am, and we set off
past the flats that you can see from the air when landing at Faro, and
which were full of people digging for clams in the sand. The first stop
was at Culatra at the other end of the island, and most people got off
there, but we stayed on as the boat continued along the length of the
island until we reached the pier at Farol – the journey takes around 45
minutes in total. You can also walk the 7km along the beach from Culatra
to Farol. Our friend was waiting to meet us, and led the way down the
narrow paths to his house – as there is no traffic, there are no roads,
just footpaths. Farol is a really remarkable place – so quiet and peaceful
with absolutely no background noise of traffic and civilisation. We sat on
the terrace with a cool drink, and admired the view of the sand dunes in
front of the house, then went for a walk to explore the beach, just the
other side of the dunes.
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The beach is spectacular, with a wide expanse of golden sand and the sea
is crystal clear – and we had it all to ourselves! Most of the houses on
the island are holiday homes belonging to north Portuguese, and the island
is packed in July and August but virtually deserted the rest of the time.
There are a few permanent residents, and only two restaurants, both of
which open all year round – in summer there is also a small grocery store
and a café. We had lunch at one of the restaurants and another walk back
along the beach before catching the ferry back to Olhão at 4pm, this time
of year there are only 3 or 4 ferries per day, but they run more
frequently in summer. The island is beautiful, perfect for a bit of ‘time
out’ from our normal busy lives, and a paradise for bird-watching and
fishing – it’s definitely worth the trip and I’m sure we’ll be back soon.
We headed back to Carvoeiro and were surprised to see that the roads were
wet and the weather appeared to have been worse than at the other end of
the Algarve. |
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The weekend of the 14th/15th October saw the annual Better Living in
Portugal exhibition (BLiP) in Portimão. The event, organised by AFPOP, has
grown every year, and this time there were over 250 exhibitors in finance,
healthcare, interior design etc, in fact everything a resident or holiday
home owner may need. Alongside the exhibition was the Mamaratona charity
‘fun run’ to fund improvements in the research and treatment of breast
cancer – this year 1150 people took part, hoping to raise 10,000 euros for
the radiotherapy unit in Faro.
On the Saturday evening we went to Village Inn, as we booked at very short
notice we were lucky to get the last table, and when we arrived, were very
surprised to bump into some old friends that we hadn’t seen for a while.
We had a lovely meal, as usual, and my mother-in-law enjoyed browsing
through the paperbacks that Kathy sells for charity.
A few days later we got the bad news that a friend of ours here in the
Algarve had died following a short illness, as funerals take place much
quicker here than in the UK, the cremation was arranged for 2 days later.
Burials are much more common in Portugal and the nearest crematorium is in
Beja, in the Alentejo. We didn’t know exactly where it was, and there was
very little information on the internet, so we decided to set off in the
general direction and stop to ask for more information as we got closer.
The forecast was for fairly unsettled weather, and we ran into a very
heavy shower just after we left Carvoeiro. The weather improved slightly
as we crossed into the Alentejo, and we found the village we were looking
for quite easily, however there were no signs for the crematorium so we
stopped a woman passer-by and asked for directions, instead of just
describing where to go she insisted we follow her, and she very kindly led
us straight to the cemetery car park. There were still no signs for the
crematorium, but after a short walk around the cemetery we finally found
the building tucked away to one side, and fortunately we were still in
plenty of time for the simple, but moving ceremony.
We drove back down to the Algarve under heavy, grey skies, and the weather
deteriorated further during the evening, until we were woken during the
night by a thunderstorm. The next few days continued unsettled with a
further thunderstorm the following night, after a long, hot summer it was
quite refreshing to see some rain, and the temperature was still very
mild, but even so it was nice to see some sunshine again on the afternoon
of the 18th. We went out to Casa de Bife that evening, and sat at a table
outside while we introduced my mother-in-law to her first ‘stone steak’!
The following Saturday afternoon was beautiful, and we took advantage of
the sunshine to have lunch at Pedras Amarelas beach restaurant at Galé –
the beach was full of sunbathers and fishermen, and there were even people
swimming and surfing in the sea. Even though the weather continued with a
mixture of sunshine and heavy showers, unfortunately it still wasn’t cold
enough to light the log burner, but I did manage to light a few fires –
purely to test out the new chimney that we had built for us over the
summer!
The beginning of the following week was the annual budget and the
government’s continued attempts to ‘balance the books’. The country
currently has a budget deficit of almost 7 billion euros, which has
prompted cuts in public services and social security, and reforms in
public administration and bureaucracy. These measure are, unsurprisingly,
unpopular with government employees and there have been demonstrations in
Lisbon, and a two day strike by teachers, protesting at their low
salaries. The minimum wage in Portugal is only 385.90 euros per month,
compared to the European average of 804,22 euros per month, and only
Turkey, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Estonia
have a lower minimum wage – that really puts the situation into
perspective. To add to the financial constraints on the average Portuguese
citizen, electricity prices could rise by up to 15% next year. The market
is being de-regulated, which usually means more competition and cheaper
prices – but not in this case! Prices have been kept artificially low and
there is now a deficit of 399 million euros to be repaid, plus the
government is investing in more environmentally-friendly power sources,
and passing the expensive set-up costs on to the consumer. According to
the government, the proposed increases will be capped at 7.85%, but
whatever happens it seems that we will be paying more for our electricity
next year.
Overnight on 24th October we had more violent thunderstorms, and even a
mini tornado that uprooted trees and caused quite a lot of damage – the
roof of the new Leroy Merlin DIY store buckled, and had to be partially
removed, and one of the garden centres on the 125 near Almancil was also
severely damaged. The rest of the week continued with strong winds and
some very heavy showers – unfortunately the bad weather coincided with the
half term holiday for many UK schools, and there were a lot of families in
the village hoping for a last burst of sunshine before the winter set in
back home. The only really nice days were on Friday 27th and Saturday
28th, but by then most of the families would have been making their way
back home. The weather at this time of year is always a bit unpredictable,
but usually better than this week!
Statistics published for September showed that there was an increase in
arrivals at Faro of 40,000 passengers compared to September 2005 – about
50% of these from the UK. There are plans to increase capacity even
further and by 2009, a new state of the art radar system will mean the
airport will be able to accept 3500 passengers per hour, up from 2400
passengers per hour at the moment. I just hope there will be an equivalent
increase in the number of ground staff employed, or there will be very
long queues at the baggage carousels.
There are also plans for a new English language TV station ‘The Portugal
Channel’ which is aiming to start broadcasting in mid 2007, by satellite
to Europe, the UK and Ireland, and also online. The station hope to
showcase all parts of the country, plus programmes on food and wine, and
the sports and tourist facilities available, in addition to some
Portuguese films and documentaries. If the channel succeeds in getting off
the ground, it could be a great way for regular visitors to keep in touch
with, and learn more about Portugal.
Another new development that may be of interest to holiday home owners, is
the electronic mail delivery system from the Post Office. The service is
free, and you can now register to receive some, or all of your mail online
at www.viactt.pt
(only in Portuguese). I’m not sure how it is going to work, but it
could be very useful to make sure that bills etc are received on time so I
have signed up and will report on my progress, if there is any, next
month.
Just too late for most of the October visitors, the last couple of days
were beautiful and we spent my mother-in-law’s last night in the village,
sitting out at Oasis, with witches and ghosts running past celebrating
Halloween. After a seven-week stay, she was a bit reluctant to being going
back to the UK, but it made it a bit easier knowing that she already has
flights booked to come back for a month over Christmas and New Year! We
followed our meal with a nightcap at Imprevisto, we sat a table outside,
chatting with friends until almost midnight – still not cold enough for a
log fire, but never mind, I’m sure I’ll get to light the fire next month! |
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