Category Archives: Blog
Loule Carnival theme for 2013 announced
The Loule Carnival is by far amongst the biggest events across the Algarve, it is definitely the biggest in Loule and the oldest in the region. It usually takes place in February over the course of three days – the third day being Shrove Tuesday and it’s a wonderfully colorful and noisy affair with music, dancing and all-around revelry.
It is reminiscent to a certain extend with the much more famous Brasilian carnivals, with people from all over the region coming to Loule to watch the procession and join in with the festivities in the center streets. In fact the city centre is closed off for the duration of the festivities, entrance to the area costing a few Euros.
Half of the Algarve hotels are closed for the winter
It appears that during this cold season – the 2013 season – the number of Algarve hotels closing their doors is expected to rise according to the Portuguese Hotel Association – AHP.
We tout the idea of visiting the Algarve during the winter a lot on this website because of the reduced prices, considerably smaller crowds and milder temperatures however we’ve also talked about how the tough economic times are battering the area, and today is going to be one of the latter types of articles.
Aljezur points of interest 1
Today we’ll talk about some Aljezur points of interest, because we’ve talked about the town in general in the past – about the great countryside and the coastline, as well as the many activities that you can pursue – but we didn’t really focus on the various tourism attractions that it offers, so that’s what we’ll do today, and we’ll start with a quick look at the historical and religious sites.
New Lagos licensing restrictions might hurt tourism
New Lagos licensing restrictions are about to come into effect in a very odd move from mayor Barroso; these restrictions will cover Lagos and its surroundings and this is surely to negatively impact the businesses in the region.
Lagos and the region surrounding it is currently a top nightlife destination for tens of thousands of holiday makers, however the regional council has recently decided to close all of its bars at midnight.
Piri-piri chili – The spice of the Algarve
The Piri-piri chili is regarded as being a Portuguese specialty and that is true in the general sense of the word, it is in fact an Algarve specialty which means that you can always find it while visiting the Algarve.
But even though the piri-piri is almost synonymous with the regions’ chicken, shrimp and a plethora of other dishes, it’s interesting to note that it wasn’t indigenous to the region. The piri-piri chilli, as well as other sweet chillies were brought by Portuguese seafarers from the New World. It’s not well known where exactly the piri-piri came from but what matters is that it has been part of the region’s gastronomy for many hundreds of years by now.
A quick introduction to the Algarve
For those of you who are new to the knowledge of the existence of the Algarve, we thought to make an article right at the beginning of the year to start you off with a basic idea of what the region of the Algarve is all about, before you dive into some of our other articles about different destinations in the region.
We’ve talked about, and most likely we’ll continue to talk about the wonderful weather, beaches and culture of the Algarve in the future, but today we’ll focus on things that are less obvious, although just as popular once you get there.
