Living Life As It Is: Hidden gems in the Algarve

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Hidden gems in the Algarve

I was looking at this lady who was busy journaling. Her male companion was staring at an insect that rested on his pen. He was probably someone with the national geographic and she a travel writer or they may be just tourists with nothing better to do in the Algarve.

Travelling is always fun but digressing from the usual group tour whereby we trail behind a tour guide who holds a plastic bottle up high is certainly better - given that we know the routes of the strange country or better still if we have a friend who is nice enough to bring us around the strange country.

When I first learnt that we were going to the Algarve for a holiday, images of beer guzzing youth, crowded beaches and noisy nights flashed by – not exactly what I would make a beeline for. Known for its good weather and beaches, the usual tourist heading for the Algarve would check into a hotel usually in Albufeira, go to the beach, sunbathe and return to the hotel. He will do this every day until it is time to catch the next plane home in his new tanned skin. Nothing wrong with that, except that I would prefer to experience more.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a wonderful friend, Michael Henchy was there to collect us at Faro airport and unknown to us he had drawn up a meticulous plan to bring us to scenic sites in the many towns in the Algarve: Alcantarilha, Gaio, Monchique, Lagos. To add icing to the cake, he was extremely punctual and manoeuvred the narrow and often steep lanes of the towns with such dexterity.

To me some things make a wonderful trip: a comfortable bed, elements of culture, great food and friendly people.

I am easily pleased and a clean place to stay with basic amenities will make me happy. Imagine driving through high and ornately decorated cast iron gates into the rambling grounds of a beautiful hotel in Alcantarilha. The added bonus of us being the only guests there made me very happy indeed.

Portuguese architecture is beautiful. Archways and textured walls bathed in bright yellows, reds and blues reflect the vibrancy of Mediterranean life. Hand painted tiles with asymmetrical designs or pictorial images in colours not unlike that of Holland’s Delft blue never fail to win my approval. Flat roofs remind me of lazy days when idle kings would walk and view his subjects. Such was the flat roof that King David of old walked and saw his future wife Bathsheba.

There is this chapel in Alcantarilha that is decorated with human skulls and bones because the grounds that the chapel was built on was a graveyard once. Strangely, there is nothing spooky about looking at the skulls adorning the walls in Capela Dos Ossos unlike the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Kampuchea where looking at the skulls left me with sleepless nights. But then again, the circumstances were different as the skulls in the museum were those of tortured victims under the Pol Pot regime.

I saw the cork tree, the eucalyptus tree, the pepper tree and even myrrh shrubs on the way up to Foia (Monchique) which is the highest point in Algarve. I learnt that you can actually peel cork from the tree trunk just like a sheep being shorn. I saw little mounds of stones carefully stacked for good luck, similar to that along the Camino Walk.

Walking on cobbled stone streets conjure scenes of horse drawn carriages or wagons scuttling away in the dark. I tasted trickling spring water, home-made butter lemon buns, fruity yoghurt in glass jars and juicy pomegranates fresh from the tree. Deliciously prepared cataplana or Portuguese seafood stew and bacalhau com natas (creamy cod) will whet any seafood lover’s appetite. Incidentally, Sir Cliff Richard has a vineyard in Guia and the piri piri chicken originates from this part of the world as well.

A trip is never complete without some shopping. After hours of walking around the Faro old town, there are benches to lie down under a shady tree and let the Peruvian playing ‘Time to say goodbye’ on his musical instrument caress the weary tourist to sleep.

Finally, friendly people make all the difference – people who make you feel at home and at ease. It sounds odd but to me, language is not a barrier if I do not make it a barrier.

Sitting in a restaurant and having the waiter explain to you in animated gestures, halting English and fluent Portuguese what the name of the restaurant ‘ A Cisterana – Casa da Pasto’ meant, was a lesson in itself. In another instance, a hotel worker tried to apologise profusely in Portuguese about the disruption of the internet service in our room. Strangely enough I could make out what he was trying to say, the important bits anyway. This reminds me of another instance in Seville where a Spaniard explained to me in Spanish about the bull fight and I understood the gist of it.

I think I could sit for hours just sipping aromatic coffee and then suddenly getting shocked out of my wits when the bells pealed unfailingly. What made it more endearing was that the bells pealed twice every hour...once before the hour hand reached the designated hour and again when the hour hand reached the designated hour. This was certainly most beneficial to those who needed to be reminded of the time. An enigma indeed.

So to all who love travelling, if at all possible, go down the road less travelled. Seek out the hidden gems in a new country and you will be amazed at what you will find. And in the words of Arnold Swarzenegger, I would say to the Algarve, ‘I’ll be back.’