Pedro Seromenho In the maelstrom of the crisis, the small creamy coloured grub decimating the region’s palm trees is often ignored. Householders desperate to stretch purse strings come to the conclusion that Red Palm Weevil (RPW) is unstoppable, and so do nothing. […] »Gourdasi
Lakicevic With the festive season well and truly upon us, artists and craftspeople up and down the Algarve are going all out to “work” the Christmas markets – the last available selling venues for the rest of the winter. The consensus is “no-one’s buying anything”. […] »Mendes Bota Six weeks ago, Algarve deputy José Mendes Bota posed a series of “inconvenient” questions to Energy Secretary Henrique Gomes. The 12 queries challenged the sense of the Government decision to award oil and gas exploration rights - within a sensitive […] »Laurinda Seabra Laurinda Seabra, 56, describes herself as a “seasoned social entrepreneur”. A former mechanical engineer in South Africa’s mining and petrochemical industry, she discovered early on that her real interest lay in helping businesses grow. […] »Artaviva! In a brave “leap of faith” three 50-something craftswomen have opened a unique new retail space in Lagos. When shops and businesses all over the town are closing in the grip of financial crisis, Artaviva has taken the plunge – with a “completely […] »Says Carlos, 48, driving instructor in Lagos Last week a horrific head-on collision involving a car full of Algarvian teenagers coming home from a rave left three young people dead and families plunged into mourning. Another senseless waste of unfulfilled lives. The kind of horror story splashed […] »Paulo Figueiras Eleven years ago Paulo Figueiras, 47, opened Lagos Zoo on a 3-hectare plot of land outside rural Barão de São João. Thousands of people have since fallen in love with the place – many of them visiting time and time again. The zoo sits like a little […] »Algarve’s new British consul In recent years, British Consuls to the Algarve have come and gone, but last year long-term Algarve resident Clive Jewell, 54, took up the post, and he’s hoping to be in it for the long-haul. A fluent Portuguese speaker who loves living here and […] » In this new series we’ll be talking to people who “go the extra mile”; people who don’t just take what life throws at them, but reach for more. First up is Dutch resident Carolien van Leusden. Just started on a 4th round of chemotherapy in a long […] »Barry Hatton On the eve of Portugal Day (10th June) we take a look at our national identity from a different perspective. We speak with Barry Hatton, a British journalist resident in Portugal for the last 25 years who has recently written a detailed account of […] »Tiago Francisco His name is Tiago Francisco, he’s just turned 33 and he’s one of the youngest golf course directors in Portugal. Since the beginning of the year he’s been responsible for running the latest Oceanico Group development, Amendoeira Golf, between Alcantarilha […] »AECCP By the end of the year, low cost fuel for professionals will be a reality. It may not be the miracle that the Portuguese economy needs, but it’s an initiative that could create conditions for “a saving of 15 to 20 per cent of the operational costs […] »Maria João Neves Why do we dream? Do our dreams have anything to say about our lives? Do they control our lives? Maria João dos Santos das Neves, aged 38, a doctor of Contemporary Philosophy, university professor and philosophy adviser believes that they do. […] »Natividade Gomes Augusto Natividade Gomes Augusto, 39, was born in Celourico da Beira, the land of Portuguese aviator Sacadura Cabral. Coincidence apart, her path in life was to be inextricably linked with the history of aviation. A Sociology graduate decorated by the Portuguese […] » Certainly, you’ve already heard of Naturism. Basically, it is a very simple philosophy – to live free of clothes and preconceptions, in harmony with the environment and at peace with others. Respect and healthy family relationships are fundamental […] »Portimão Global Ocean Race The latest interview with Felix Oehme and Boris Herrmann on board the sailing yacht Beluga Racers.
The Portimão Global Ocean Race is nearing its end. Two young men, Felix Oehme and Boris Herrman, 27 and 28 years old respectively, sailed around […] »Old glasses for Cambodia Almost everybody has an old pair of glasses at home. Broken, old fashioned, shoved away in a drawer somewhere…What if we told you that, very soon, those old glasses could help someone else see better? A. Rahmani, 44, is an optometrist (eye doctor) […] »Parque Zoológico de Lagos The news of the week at the Parque Zoológico de Lagos is the tiny baby Siamango gibbon born to a family colony on one of the many primate islands – but only a few metres away, news of another kind is about to unfold. Next month, a trio of female […] »DECO Faro We’re starting the year with the word ‘crisis’ emblazoned across our foreheads, and probably across our wallets as well. But, in reality, what are the true consequences of the crisis on our everyday life in the Algarve? If you look around, you don’t […] »Aurízia Anica On average, one woman per week dies at the hands of her current or ex-husband, partner or boyfriend. This year, 46 women have already died - victims of physical violence and psychological abuse. This is an old, deep‑rooted problem according to Aurízia […] » |  As the New Year begins, concerns in Monchique centre on a recent Government announcement that the nation’s mining sector is one of the “motors of economic reform”. There are currently two bids to prospect for feldspar on Monchique’s south-facing […] »Chris Plumb As the eurozone crisis lurched through this “make or break” week, we spoke to a moneyman who believes a return to national currencies is the only answer. Chris Plumb, 56, worked in money markets for 24 years. He’s been watching events in Europe and […] »Leonardo da Vinci programme It’s one of the nature tourism havens of the Algarve, but Monchique is not without its problems. There’s the threat of open-cast mining to southern hillsides – and the fact that marketing, according to tourism coordinators, is “pretty piecemeal and […] »British ambassador to Portugal Multi-lingual, with a background working on European issues, the latest British ambassador to Portugal is mother‑of-two Jill Gallard, from Northern Ireland. Taking up her appointment as the 2nd female ambassdor ever to have been appointed to Portugal, […] »Joyce Craveiro, owner of sex shop «Love me More» When the bottom fell out of the property development market, gamine interior designer Joyce Craveiro, 37, asked herself “what next? What interests me?” The answer was “erotica” – nothing sleazy, more the high-class end of the sex toys market. […] »Aleksandra Serbim For 10 years, Brazilian Aleksandra Serbim, 39, worked as an institutional psychologist in homes for the socially deprived, the very ill and young delinquents. She saw “so many horrors” – and experienced a number of terrifying personal assaults in […] »Rolf Osang Less than two months ago, travel writer and art connoisseur Rolf Osang, 62, opened the largest centre for art in the Algarve. Located in Lagoa’s run‑down “Adega Cooperativa” winery, it has hundreds of square metres of space, and is rapidly attracting […] »Alfred Lang Alfred Lang, 67, is a pharmacist and electro-acupuncturist by profession who switched to homeopathy early in his career when he “noticed that people really weren’t getting any better” in spite of all the medication they were taking. He’s been practising […] »Luís Conceição Luís Conceição, 36, is a rising star among quality musicians in the Algarve – still a field very much in its inception. He began composing professionally at the beginning of 1993, and since then has written over 200 original pieces – a number of […] »Faro He’s a man that gets noticed: a solitary figure exhibiting billboards with Biblical messages, here and there throughout the Algarve. Is it a form of extremism, or simply the expression of a strong faith? Is he a messenger out of kilter with an era […] »Director Nuno Ribeiro unveils how Meet Nuno Ribeiro, 44, the pedagogic director of the school that promises to be a breath of fresh air over the field of regional training courses. It offers classes at night for those who work during the day. It offers practical courses to those […] »Says Maria João Martins Excessive speeding, traffic violations, lack of civic responsibility. Anything goes on Portuguese roads – but what if we told you that many Portuguese drivers rarely feel any guilt for the accidents they cause?
This is the conclusion of a study […] »Rui André Rui André, 34, is the young PSD (Social Democrat Party)/ Algarve candidate for Monchique Town Council. In the upcoming elections, he’ll be confronting the longest serving mayor of the century: Carlos Tuta – veteran socialist, in power for the last […] »4th Exhibition of Renewable Energy & Sustainable M Energy is the challenge of the 21st Century. With oil getting more expensive and less avilable all the time, and the planet becoming hotter and more polluted, a change in technology is not simply an environmental and philosophical issue, it’s a question […] » Albert Einstein once said that if bees disappeared “man would only have four years of life left”. It’s a quote that recently became particularly pertinent. In 2006, bees began disappearing in huge numbers the world over. “Colony Collapse Disorder” […] »António Goulart For António Goulart, leader of the Algarve Trade Union, there are reasons for alarm. The region is close to reaching, if not overtaking, the worst unemployment situation since 1990. Perhaps even worse, everyday he witnesses “a silent death”. […] »German School of the Algarve There are three German schools in Portugal: in Lisbon, Oporto and in the Algarve. For twelve years, Christa Liebig, a graduate secondary school teacher, has headed the Deutsche Schule Algarve (German School of the Algarve), located in Silves. […] »Carolien Van Leusden Every day four women die of breast cancer in Portugal, while another 13 are diagnosed as suffering from it. Experts in the field talk of a ‘national epidemic’ as the disease is increasingly attacking younger women, under the age of 30. No-one knows […] »Underwater Archaeology in the Algarve It’s Indiana Jones with bottles! Nautical archaeology is a whole new science. It really only began in the late 60s – and thus the 3rd generation of underwater archaeologists are all still in their 30s, fighting fit, with excellent lungs and endless […] » |
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