Algarve, Portugal

Red rocks and rugged red cliffs will always remain my most memorable vision of Portugal’s most southernmost province – namely The Algarve.



It was spring-time when I visited the province, and the trip was classified as a ‘Winter Sunshine Holiday’. I travelled with my husband and daughter, and our plane left a wet Gatwick to land at a Faro Airport that was bathed in sunshine!

We had booked to stay at a villa in an area known as Alicantarilha, which stood high on a hill that overlooked both a wide expanse of land and the distant coastline. With our chosen location being somewhat ‘off the beaten track’, we’d hired a car for the duration of our stay, and it was there at Faro Airport awaiting our arrival.

The villa, when we reached it, exceeded all our expectations. In fact, it was ‘luxury personified’. It even had its own secluded garden and swimming pool, and its interior had all the necessary criteria, including a well appointed kitchen, a well fitted bathroom, and a delightful lounge – which had even been equipped with a fire-place that had been filled with local logs. It would seem that we had made ‘the perfect choice’!

We had considered booking accommodation at the beachside resort of Armacao de Pera, The Hotel Garbo having been our particular choice, with its picturesque position perched directly above a beautiful expanse of sand and sea.

In the event, we managed to secure ‘the best of both worlds’ by visiting The Hotel Garbo during the daylight hours and indulging in ‘regular lunches’ at its ‘Outdoor Grill’, which then enabled us to utilise its spacious terrace with swimming pool, which had been built into the cliffs and directly overlooked that panorama of sand and sea.

Accommodation on The Algarve coast can, of course, take numerous forms, ranging from both luxury and modest hotels, to villas and apartments and even campsites.

With beaches bordering the Atlantic Ocean extending for a hundred miles along the south coast, and the area boasting 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, The Algarve is the obvious choice for a ‘sun holiday’. However, it is also regarded as a ‘Golfers’ Paradise’. ‘Golf By the Sea’ is considered to be particularly appealing and the premier golf courses, it is claimed, are located at a variety of coastal resorts. It is also claimed that one of the best known courses to be built in The Algarve is ‘The Penina Championship Course’ which was designed by the golf-course architect Sir Henry Cotton in the 1960s, which is overlooked by the five star ‘La Meridien Penina Hotel’. The same hotel owns The San Lorenzo Golf Course, claimed to be ‘one of the top five golf courses in continental Europe’. In fact, The Algarve has even been described as ‘A Golf Land’.

With the lure of both golf and winter and summer sunshine regularly drawing tourists to The Algarve, ‘Buying and Selling Property’ has now become a popular trade, with people electing to either purchase holiday homes or retire to The Algarve.

The favourite ‘resort towns’ are numerous and include Albufeira, Lagos, Praia da Rocha, Vilamoura, Alvor, Armacao de Pera, Carvoeiro, Monte Gordo, Sagres and Quarteira – to name but a few! And there’s certainly no shortage of ‘night entertainment’ in the Algarve for nightclubs, casinos, discos, restaurants and bars abound.

Likewise, The Algarve’s gastronomy has to be tasted to be believed!

With a few exceptions, we dined out most nights. Soups, shellfish, fresh fish and meat seemed to form many of the dishes on offer. A particular Algarve favourite seemed to be ‘fresh grilled sardines’ – known as Sardinha Assada. This dish was always eaten straight from the charcoal grill and was available either as a ‘snack’ or a ‘main meal’. One particularly memorable meal was ‘Cataplana’, which combined a mixture of prawns, shrimps, crabs, large prawns, clams, pork fillet, chicken, bacon, herbs and seasoning! ‘Arroz de Marisco’ proved to be another favourite meal and featured a rich stew that was made up of a mixture of every kind of available fresh shellfish. In fact ‘fresh’ would appear to be the ‘operative word’ with regard to fish in the Algarve – for only freshly caught fish was ever used for cooking.

‘Wine drinking’ it is claimed, has become a virtual past-time in Portugal. And it appears that there are more than a hundred different types of Portugese wines in existence – in addition to the internationally renown and long established Ports and Madeiras. In fact, Portugal is apparently known as ‘the fourth world producer of wines’.

While the villa where we stayed was ‘positively idyllic’ and our daily visits to Armacao de Pera were most enjoyable, we felt bound to undertake at least one ‘day-trip’ while we were staying in The Algarve. And our chosen destination was The Algarve’s highest peak, namely the Peak of Foia in the Serra de Monchique, which was situated almost 3,000 feet above sea level, and which was purported to provide the most stunning landscape views of the entire Algarve. Described as ‘one of the most interesting excursions to be made in The Algarve’, we opted to make the trip by ‘tourist coach’ rather than use our hired car. And as the coach wound its way up the steep hills that led to the summit we knew that we had chosen wisely! It was a particularly picturesque trip, the verdant hills of Monchique being breathtakingly beautiful. Our journey took us through Caldas de Monchique, a little hamlet spa that seemed to be nestling within a tract of barren moorland.

It was a spa that had been in existence since Roman times and was renowned for its therapeutic waters. In fact, it was claimed that drinking the water fresh from its springs was supposed to make one feel ten years younger!

Here at Caldas de Monchique the coach drew to a halt, and all the passengers were invited to ‘take a break’ and explore the little hamlet spa, and perhaps taste it ‘waters’ which were also purported to cure ‘reheumatic complaints’, ‘digestive disorders’ and even ‘skin complaints’. Afterwards we continued on the final ascent. The road wound northwards and we passed some remote farmlands and forests. Then our coach drew to an abrupt halt. We’d finally reached our destination! We’d arrived at The Peak of Foia!

The summit itself was within walking distance, and soon we found ourselves standing on the highest point in The Algarve - a point that had been marked by a carefully installed obelisk. Here we all remained, standing in awed silence for a while, gazing down at the panoramic view that lay spread before our eyes – which extended from Portimao Bay right up to Sagres. It was indeed an unforgettable vista – and the perfect finale to an unforgettable holiday………

Roberta Crookes has worked as a newspaper journalist throughout most of her life, writing news stories, editorial features, advertisement supplements, and reviews. And in the course of her work she has interviewed many famous people from all walks of life. She has also managed to combine parallel careers in both journalism and acting, and, being Welsh speaking from North Wales, her main television featured parts have been Welsh language roles with BBC Wales.