#PastmeetsPresent

Old Quarteira meets new

Quarteira is one of our ‘go to’ places for a lazy stroll. It’s a bit of an anachronism, with high rise hotels and apartments dominating the seafront. Stroll along the lengthy promenade in one direction and you come to the Fish Market, with a little harbour beyond. The ‘smart’ resort of Vilamoura is on the horizon. High rise of a finer calibre. Stroll back the way, and where the promenade ends you have a wonderful expanse of beach. This way lies Vale de Lobo, and the truly ‘smart’ set. I don’t really belong in either, but I don’t mind to take a look, now and then. I rather liked the exhibition of fishermen, erected by the sea.

But the real purpose of today’s post is to share with you a little of what Quarteira was, ‘back then’, before the developers arrived. A series of signboards have been placed along the front, flashbacks to the 60s, and I found them fascinating.

The backs of the signs indicate their situation on the seafront. I haven’t kept to order, nor have I included all of them. A couple I find particularly poignant. Life wasn’t easy back then.

I don’t know how much of the small print you can read, but one of them tells of the ‘Vestigios Romanos’. Offshore the remains of a Roman settlement were found. Now that’s antiquity! But let’s end with a smile. Wednesday’s are market days and I have a fondness for the cheese stalls. This character was peddling his wares. Salad, anyone?

Linking this to Becky’s Past meets Present. I hope she likes it.

Present meets past?

I wanted somewhere suitably elegant to end my daughter’s visit to the Algarve, and they don’t come any more elegant than the Estói Palace. In A palace in warm sunshine, back in November 2014, I suggested that it might make a good venue for afternoon tea. Do you remember it, Paula? Long overdue, I think. The sun was just sliding down the sky when we got there and the terrace looked so inviting.

What a study in opulence this place is. No need to introduce you to azulejos after Monday’s post but I can never resist sharing a few more beauties.

More restoration work had been carried out since my last visit. The small summerhouses were a picture, with their vibrant stained glass and painted walls and ceiling. The grotto was open and my son-in-law, who has a particular interest in ironwork, studied the details with interest.

Enough of admiring our reflection. It’s time to go indoors for refreshment. Truth be told, it really couldn’t compete with the decor.

Does that window look familiar, Becky? You’ll be happily ensconced in your Algarve life by now. I’ve taken liberties with your Past meets Present. I’m sorry! You did such a nice job on the Palacio not long ago. Paula- I thought you might like an update for Traces of the Past?

Oddly enough, the waiter said they only had cheesecake. Ah well! Cake’s cake, isn’t it? There wasn’t a crumb left when son-in-law had finished.

Time and tide…

It’s one of those sights that has always gladdened my heart, since I first started coming to the Algarve- the pontoon bridge at Barril that links Tavira Island to the mainland. With the tide low, the gangplank descended steeply, but by the time you had walked to the beach, loitered a while, and walked back again, the current would be sweeping in, and have raised the bridge to level. It never ceased to amaze me.

Every visit to Tavira has always resulted in at least one crossing, there and back, and I suppose I had started to notice the signs of wear and tear.

But no more than one notices the wrinkles on an old friend. I have lingered by that bridge to watch the sun glinting off the water, and set, in a glory of colour, at the end of many a day.

I suppose change is inevitable. I don’t always accept it with a good grace. In July this year I arrived at the bridge and gazed in admiration, tinged with horror. My bridge had gone, to be replaced by a shiny new model, with no ups and downs, or rusty bits.