If you want to see knights riding proud horses and damzels (not) in distress donning their best adorned garments parading the narrow cobblestone streets in the joyful rhythm of medieval music, then you should be in Silves about this time of year. Between 8 and 17 August 2014, the 11th edition of the Medieval Festival of Silves takes place in the Algarve.

Nobles and peasants, kings and queens, knights and buffoons, acrobats and singers crowd the center of Silves in an unprecedented festivity of light, colour and happy sound. There are countless activities, from tournaments and visits to the Castle of Silves, to concerts and street shows.

The entry fee is just 2 Euro/ day and participation to different events is also accessible – for the tournament, for instance, the price is 5 Euro, the same price being applied to a visit to the Castle. Medieval experiences are a bit more expensive, reaching the price of 35 Euro for adults and 17.50 Euro for the little ones. To get completely into the atmosphere of the Feria, you can always rent a costume. They come in all shapes, sizes, styles and colours and it only costs 2 Euro for children and 3 Euro for adults respectively to become somebody else from long ago, at least for a day.

All you need to know about the Medieval Festival of Silves can be researched online, but the experience has to be lived! So if you are in the Algarve, take a ride to Silves and join in all the medieval fun!

The Algarve ports lost their autonomy after the creation of the port and Maritime Transport Institute – MTI – in 2002, in effect taking the decision-making process away from the place that would be most affected, the Algarve region.

Regional administrations were created in 2008 for the ports of Figueira da Foz and Viana do Casteloe in order to free the MTI – the Douro/Leixoes, Aveiro, Lisbon, Setubal/Sesimbra and Sines ports were already managed independently.

But even so, the Algarve had nothing to say in regards to these independent administrations which made it the only region not in control of any of its own twelve fishing ports, three commercial ports, four marinas and six recreational ports.

For a while now there have been various individuals who have said that the MTI hasn’t been giving enough importance to the regional port management which in turn has prevented the Algarve ports to receive much-needed investments. This has also lead to a lack of improvements in terms of maritime accessibility and the connections with other means of transport have also been neglected.

The workers of the Algarve ports have issue a document stating their views on the subject as well, saying that it is quite incomprehensible how the region of the Algarve, with the maritime capabilities at its disposal, doesn’t have any say in how those affairs are conducted.

They also emphasized that the ports are an important part of the Algarve’s economy and a sector which can still see growth for a long time.

It remains to be seen whether or not some measures will be taken as a direct result of the various official channels that have been used to solve this conundrum.