On Saturday (September 15) we went to Olhão. This is a major fishing port just up the road from Fuseta. It has a huge market – fish plus fresh fruit and veggies and butcher shops. Ellen and I had a great time in the fruit and veggie market but Katherine found it a bit too noisy and overwhelming with all the people so she stayed outside with Alastair. The food was wonderful and a great price (except for some almonds and cashews that cost me a small fortune). I also managed to get by with a small amount of Portuguese and amazingly could understand the numbers when they told me the price. The fish market was extraordinary – huge amounts of fresh fish caught that morning. I bought a kilo of fresh sardines (much bigger than the canned ones we normally eat – about 12 centimetres long and super fresh). It cost me just €1.50. The market is built along the foreshore, which is part of the Ria Formosa – a series of lagoons and lakes separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a series of sand islands. Olhão was really bouncing as a farmers’ market was operating outside the covered market. Further along are huge salt pans where they still make salt – very much like ancient times.
In the afternoon we went to the beach on the Isle de Armona – one of the sand islands that creates the lagoon. So the beach is on the Atlantic Ocean. There are a number of beach shacks built into the sand dunes with very basic facilities. No water is available as those that were occupied had huge bottles of fresh water stacked up outside.
The beach was lovely – a long strip of soft white sand like an Australian beach and very different from the Cornwall beaches we had experienced. The water was also lovely – warm and very salty – easy to float with soft gentle waves (though the girls seemed to think some of the waves were gigantic). We had to catch a ferry out to the island – it had some visitors but mainly locals heading out for a Saturday afternoon’s entertainment. All were very brown and none did anything to protect themselves from the sun. Most of the women – whatever their age or physical condition – wear bikinis. It seems to be a very European thing that stretch marks and rolls of fat hanging over the bikini bottom are considered attractive (hmmm!).
We went out for dinner in Olhão to one of the many seafood restaurants. The girls surprised us by ordering octopus and rice. This was a wonderful aromatic dish – fresh octopus cooked in a tomato broth with coriander and other spices and rice. We shared everything – I ordered grilled sardines and Alastair the grilled chicken (mainly to ensure we had something the girls would eat if they didn’t eat the octopus). The grilled food was highly salted but delicious and cooked over a huge charcoal fire at the front of the shop. We had a choice of starters – bread, olives, soft cheese and Bruschetta-like tomato salad. All up including drinks it was just €39 ($62) for a feast that we could eat only about half of.
The other interesting feature of Algarve/Portuguese culture we noticed are the beautiful ceramics. Many of the buildings are decorated with gorgeous tiles – including the restaurant.
Carlene
In the afternoon we went to the beach on the Isle de Armona – one of the sand islands that creates the lagoon. So the beach is on the Atlantic Ocean. There are a number of beach shacks built into the sand dunes with very basic facilities. No water is available as those that were occupied had huge bottles of fresh water stacked up outside.
The beach was lovely – a long strip of soft white sand like an Australian beach and very different from the Cornwall beaches we had experienced. The water was also lovely – warm and very salty – easy to float with soft gentle waves (though the girls seemed to think some of the waves were gigantic). We had to catch a ferry out to the island – it had some visitors but mainly locals heading out for a Saturday afternoon’s entertainment. All were very brown and none did anything to protect themselves from the sun. Most of the women – whatever their age or physical condition – wear bikinis. It seems to be a very European thing that stretch marks and rolls of fat hanging over the bikini bottom are considered attractive (hmmm!).
We went out for dinner in Olhão to one of the many seafood restaurants. The girls surprised us by ordering octopus and rice. This was a wonderful aromatic dish – fresh octopus cooked in a tomato broth with coriander and other spices and rice. We shared everything – I ordered grilled sardines and Alastair the grilled chicken (mainly to ensure we had something the girls would eat if they didn’t eat the octopus). The grilled food was highly salted but delicious and cooked over a huge charcoal fire at the front of the shop. We had a choice of starters – bread, olives, soft cheese and Bruschetta-like tomato salad. All up including drinks it was just €39 ($62) for a feast that we could eat only about half of.
The other interesting feature of Algarve/Portuguese culture we noticed are the beautiful ceramics. Many of the buildings are decorated with gorgeous tiles – including the restaurant.
Carlene
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