Algarve Early one morning at the airport, a transfer arrived with the baggage compartment full of luggage, bags and… a person in a wheel chair! As if was luggage. A recently opened hotel reserved the less interesting rooms, without a veranda for the guest […] »Limitezero It is a cable that connects two countries: Portugal and Spain. The smugglers who used to cross the Guadiana years ago under the cover of the night would have longed for something like this. But it was only after investing 250,000 euros and after […] »João Marco With minimal resources and a serious and motivated team, independent filmmaker João Marco of 37, debuted his first independent feature film a charming 92 minute drama/thriller entitled «The Other of Us», earlier last year. It has been well accepted […] »Olhão The idea was to create a different kind of association. Independent of any form of public body, free of subsidies; able to be self-sustaining. Project “Harmonia” began in Olhão in 2010. It is open to the general public, offering services like physiotherapy, […] »Nick Downs Sometimes it takes an old head to come up with a new idea. Nick Downs is 79, but he has a plan that could take Silves’ oranges and make them nationally, if not internationally famous. It is an idea that would boost local employment, as well as regional […] »Ana Sofia Reboleira At the age of just 32, she’s already discovered 11 new species deep underground. Indeed, one of her discoveries has been hailed as the deepest living animal ever to be found on the planet. Ana Sofia Reboleira is an emerging heroine in her field - […] »Bruno Burnaz and Hugo Rodrigues The talent and ability of two calçada men from Estói (men that lay traditional Portuguese cobblestones) has been requisitioned over the last few years by legendary bass player Steve Harris - the leader of world-famous heavy metal band Iron Maiden. […] »Jacinto Palma Dias 1929 was a fateful year for the Algarve. You could say it signalled the beginning of an identity crisis that has remained apparently irreversible ever since. The date marked the beginning of the end of the architecturally popular decorative mouldings […] »Da Torre A few days ago my four-year-old daughter asked me if I knew of a shop full of toys. I told her that I did. And off we went, in search of this magical place that is still unknown to so many parents. You’ll find it hidden away in the borough of Loulé. […] »Joana Cabrita Martins Equipment designer, Joana Cabrita Martins, 28, from Faro, is practically unknown here, but her illuminating work in creative recycling is turning lights on abroad, quite literally. Joana concentrates on lighting fixtures - taking old lamps and combining […] »João Beles João Beles, 36, from Faro, is a young man who has dedicated himself to the world of natural medicine. From the beginning of his career he has set out to compile all the scientific investigation into medicinal plants that is going ahead in universities […] »Pedro Diaz At the beginning of October, the team from “Diverscape” - the Sagres’ dive centre based at Porto da Baleeira - notified authorities that they appeared to have found the sunken remains of a 17th century ship. The wreck, between seven and 10 metres […] » A president hoists the nation’s flag upside down at a state ceremony, and nothing happens. A student uses the nation’s flag in an art installation and he faces criminal prosecution. Elsio Menau, 28, from Quarteira faces a possible two-year term in […] » Point 3.43 in the pact made with the troika refers to “a significant reduction in the number of town and parish councils” in Portugal. Against a backdrop of controversy, our administrative geography is set to change. First up is discussion for a […] »Luís Nadkarni, Faro Mountaineer, potholer, grotto explorer, skipper, sailing instructor, tour guide, musician and journalist. You could say Faro-born Luís Nadkami was a real-life Action Man. He has been one of the pioneers of windsurfing and mountaineering in the Algarve […] »«encontros do DeVIR» September will see the birth of a new cultural festival - one that also acts as a wake-up call for today’s Algarve. In the year that it celebrates its 18th birthday, the DeVIR cultural association, based in Faro, invited Portuguese creative personalities […] »Quinta da Calma It has been open for around 30 years, and started as a family project, under the auspices of a German man and American woman - both of them interested in yoga. Over time, Quinta da Calma in Almancil has developed the conviction that it is everyone’s […] »Jill Swyers Imagine a radically different diet - one based simply on vegetable juices, shoots, seeds, seaweed and raw foods. All of it tasty but with no added salt, sugar or seasoning. In fact, completely natural. Would you be willing to revolutionise your diet […] »Mindfulness, relaxation, conscious breathing and m After a number of years involved in meditation groups in the Algarve, John Hogan has just created “The Wellbeing Prescription”, to pass everything he knows on to the public at large. Whether individuals, or people in groups, Hogan seeks to teach […] »Jody Lot Algarvian Jody Lot is the new World Spearfishing Champion. He won the title at a championships organised by the World Confederation of Underwater Activities (CMAS) in Vigo, Galicia, Spain, earlier this month. Since 1954, only six athletes have mastered […] » It’s called Beach Ultimate, and it’s a mixture of football, basketball, American football and beach volleyball, played with a flying disc (Frisbee™). Unisex teams of five play against each other – with “goal” being whenever a player wings his or […] »Filipe da Palma Showing until the end of this month at the “Biblioteca Central de Gambelas” of the University of the Algarve is an exhibition featuring 400 photographs taken by Filipe da Palma – a photographer who has been collecting images of the region’s popular […] »Projecto Querença Nine months ago, a young group of graduates from the University of the Algarve moved to Querença, a little village in the interior within the borough of Loulé. They took with them skills in biological agriculture, ecotourism, new technologies and […] »Ria Formosa: A new documentary is in the wings on Ria Formosa. “Formosa – a miragem da Atlântida” (in the shadow of Atlantis) is intended to be very high-quality, in the vein of BBC nature programmes. Its mythologically-inspired title comes from the fact that […] »Miguel Vieira Diseased cork trees, plagues of weeds smothering natural vegetation and a human population in rapid decline. These are three of the principal problems threatening to turn the interior Algarve into a veritable no-man’s-land. This analysis comes from […] » |  The colour of the sheep has darkened, due to the fact that the land in which they graze is still covered with the ashes from the fire which raged through the Serra do Caldeirão last summer. In Tavira, the already rare Algarvian Churra Sheep – an […] » Club Naval de Portimão (CNP) is organizing, together with the “Associação Regional de Vela do Sul”, an Optimist Team Racing Regional Championship. The teams will compete on 20th and 21st April in Rio Arade, opposite the CNP offices. If Portugal is […] »Hermínio Rebelo In the Portuguese world of wine, Hermínio Fernandes Rebelo, 76, is point of reference. Taster, fraternity member, teacher, lecturer, certifier of quality and author of the “Guia de Vinhos do Algarve” (Algarve wine guide), are just some of the functions […] »Alexander Rathenau Alexander Rathenau, 35, is a German lawyer in Portugal, and one of the very few legal professionals qualified to work in both countries’ legal systems. To establish a connection between the two nations’ laws - one that hasn’t existed until now - […] »Quinta do Barranco da Estrada, Alentejo When former biker/ hellraiser Frank McClintock, 54, first arrived in the Alentejan backwater of Santa Clara from the UK in the late 80s, the area was miles from any petrol station, devoid of phone or power lines and locked in an almost medieval way […] » Finalgarve the development company tainted by the BPN/ SLN banking scandal, finally took centre stage this week in a bid to allay fears over the environmental impact of their 220 million euro scheme for Praia Grande - the 349-hectare site that includes […] »Luísa Monteiro Love between women. Feminine homosexuality is the theme of the latest work by prolific writer Luísa Monteiro, 44, who compares each one of her books (there have been 24 in all - the majority small editions that have sold out) to wines, each one from […] » What would you say if we told you that the pupils of Loulé Secondary School study the skies through two gigantic telescopes operating in Australia and Hawaii? And that on January 5th they took part in an international asteroid research initiative? […] »«Apokalypsis» On 17th February this year the Algarvian architect, sculptor, artist, writer and researcher Victor Borges, died unexpectedly at the age of only 49. At the time, he had just begun a book charting the results of 20 years’ study into the origins of […] »Sérgio Niza Not many people are aware that since 1976, the Movimento da Escola Moderna (Movement for a Modern School), has been active in the Algarve - most particularly in the towns of Faro and Lagos. So says Sérgio Niza, 72, a teacher, educationalist and one […] »Kimahera The Algarve music scene has never been so busy and thriving - particularly when it comes to hip-hop and electronic music. Who tells us this is Pedro Pinto, 26, sound technician, producer, multimedia graduate and mentor behind the Kimahera recording […] »Lothar Vroegen An old “street sound”, very much lost in time, is returning to the fairs and flea markets of the Algarve. Dressed in a wonderful outfit, with more than 650 songs up his sleeve, German Lothar Vroegen, 44, has revived the art of the barrel-organ - […] »USKP Sketchbook in hand, they record what they see in all the places they pass through - seated, or standing - with pens, pencils, marker pens or watercolours. There are even those who use tablets. Some paint street scenes, others buildings, landscapes […] » Anyone who knows Olhão’s Saturday morning market will be familiar with the array of unusual vegetables offered at one of the stalls. They are grown by João Calças, 31, a young philosophy graduate and library specialist who exchanged unemployment […] »Piers de Laszlo wants to save Olhão British painter Piers de Laszlo discovered Olhão around 16 years ago. He immediately fell in love with the fishing town’s white houses and sunny terraces overlooking Ria Formosa, and with the myriad winding streets. Horrified by the decimation of […] »Radical Buggy The terrible forest fires of July had not been anticipated by João Pedro Santos, 42, when he began offering buggy safaris, three and a half months ago, in the heart of land that has been devastated. After more than two years battling with bureaucracy, […] »WeLikeSharks Next summer people will get the chance to observe, swim and dive with sharks in the wild, just a few miles off Portimão. This is the objective behind the “We Like Sharks” project, set up by a team of young biologists keen to create a new, sustainable […] »Karl Heinz Stock They’re called “Graces”, and they are all different, sensual, brightly colored and female. Until the end of September, they will be out in the open, attracting the attention of tourists at the Algarve’s most visited monument, the Fortaleza de Sagres. […] » His trademark image is a man in a turban - usually in the company of his favourite friend: Pulga, the little dog. He’s from Argentina, but he’ll tell you he’s a citizen of the world. After success on Portuguese TV, he has seen his popularity grow […] »August: wide eyes in Faro An informal group of young people going by the name of “Núcleo de Geeks do Algarve” is organising a completely new event for the region: the first “Manga & Comic Event” of the Algarve – an attempt to follow the example of other initiatives that take […] »Rita Domingues Imagine deciding one day to get rid of everything you didn’t need. You could start with all the junk at home – so that you’re just left with the bare essentials. Then, you could apply the whole philosophy to simplifying everything in your life. […] »Rolando Rebelo Rolando Rebelo has spent the last three years working on a book dedicated to the Rolling Stones. Following the same formula of books published in other countries, he sets out to evaluate the kind of influence the legendary band has had on Portuguese […] »Harry Klunder At a time when everyone’s talking about exports, a Dutch couple resident in the Algarve, along with a Portuguese businessman connected to the diamond industry, wants to create a new international brand name. The idea is to take six typically Portuguese […] »Bruno Paixão Its title can be translated as “Perspectives of a Neighbourhood – Life in Horta da Areia”, and the show opens on Saturday 19th May in Faro’s Museu Municipal. It’s an exhibition of photographs that is interesting for two reasons. First, because it […] » |
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