Europe’s forgotten corner

Press, 2 March 1982, Page 20

Europe’s forgotten corner

By

KEN COATES,

London staff correspondent of “The Press”

. Far removed. from other European resorts with their towering tourist apartment blocks, swimming pools, casinos and lavish golf hotels, the Algarve in southern Portugal, is like a step backwards in time. In the off-season, even the fun-sun-seeking tourists are absent. ■; The Algarve, with its favoured climate, stretches for 150 kilometres along the south of Portugal, the tiny country which in a single century discovered and explored nearly two-thirds of the inhabited globe. Long before that, the Moorish invaders had swept into the region and were later followed by the German and English crusaders. Cut off from the north by the Caldeirao and Monchique mountains, and separated from Spain by the Guadiana River, the Algarve developed a distinctive character. There is evidence of Moorish ancestry in lean, alert faces and dark, piercing eyes. Before it was “discovered” by the eagleeyed European tourist developers, the region had changed little over the centuries. J

of Europe, though tourism has changed that and has brought comparative wealth to the Algarve. This is an ancient land of cultivation, provided the red earth is irrigated, growing lemons, oranges, pomegranates, almonds, figs and carobs. But while there are obviously well-to-do farms and fenced vineyards, here and there farmers are hard at work using a mule and an old-fashioned, single furrow plough.

You don’t have to travel far to find villages with rough cobbled streets, small dark houses with stone floors, dark interiors and no modern plumbing. Many housewives still do their laundry outside in a concrete tub using a washboard and a piece of bar soap, or scrub it clean'in a stream or river. Dressed in

black, older villagers ride in richly decorated donkey carts, with J (Jesus) and M (Maria) elaborately lettered on the tailboard, for this. is a .country in which Catholic traditions are still strong.. We had been lucky to buy six weeks beforehand in. London one of the few packages for a week between Christmas and New Year. These are limited by the few flights from London to Faro in the winter, though hotels, villas arid holiday apartments are almost empty. The Algarve’s tourist bonanza is crammed . into the summer holiday months. But off-season, for £156 each we were able to buy return flights, very comfortable, serviced, self-catering accommodation, and a Mini hire car (plus insurance and tax), thrown in, for a week.

Even the favoured Algarve this ,year was exposed to the lash of winter, though' without the biting cold of London. We arrived on Boxing Day to stay at the holiday village, Aldeia Das Acoteias. Half a mile away, the Atlantic pounded on the golden sand of Praia da Falesia and those distinctive fishing boats of the region, with painted eyes in. the shape of fish, had been hauled well up under the spectacular red cliffs. - Fishing is still a major industry. But for most of the week, the weather-tanned faces of the fisherman remained turned towards the sea, waiting for the storm to pass. The types of fish caught are as

numerous as the ways of cooking and preparing them: Sardinha assada, Simply grilled sardines, washed down with local red wine, were delicious. Other fish famous in the region are. mullet, swordfish, razprfish, runny, turbot, cod, crab and clam.

Memorable also was the dish called cataplan, in which clams, ham and Portugese sausage, flavoured with onions and paprika, were served. It is no use expecting to pop into an Algarve restaurant for a quick meal. Service is hardly snappy. The Portugese take the sensible view that holidaymakers should be relaxing, and a good meal is not to be rushed. Excellent meals were astonishingly cheap — 120 to 140 escudos or the equivalent of £5 to £6 for two, with a bottle of wine. The region has become a haven, for drop-outs, some of whom are worrying the authorities. There is talk of a “means, test”, on entry. We enjoyed trundling along the coast exploring the towns and villages. Albufeira was nearby with its narrow streets and little restaurants and bars, and had a definite Moorish flavour with white houses built up the hillsides, and a horrendous traffic problem. In an old-fashioned basement store rich with the smell of spices and figs, we selected a bottle of port with a picture of Christ on the label as a trademark. It must be good with Jesus on the label, said my wife. It was, and though we searched shelves elsewhere, we never found another bottle.

Swissair carried its one hundred millionth passenger on its February 23 flight from Kennedy Airport in New York to Zurich. The figure is based on traffic since Swissair began commercial operations on March 26, 1931.