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Hmmm, nice cup of tea. I'm sat here catching up with "personal admin" after ten days in Portugal and enjoying what I've missed during that time -- a cup of PG Tips.
We could have bought some out there but I just couldn't bring myself to part with the cash. Like everything else out there tea bags were just way too expensive. A box of 40 costing about 4 Euros. Same went for anything branded and "British" that had to be imported in. A box of 24 Weetabix was about 6 Euros. In one shop I saw a loaf of sliced bread for 4 Euros.
Maybe it's because we went to The Algarve, which I've never been to before, but it did seem even more expensive than any other Euro member country I've holidayed in recently.
I think what really drove home how expensive it all was is the cost of the Euro. At the moment it costs more or less a Pound Sterling for a Euro. Not only is this more than it's ever cost but it makes it a lot easier to look at the price of something and work out it's equivalent cost "back home". Tea bags at 4 Euros being 4 quid and about four times what I'd expect to pay at home.
The holiday itself was nice and something I needed to do, if not just to give my typing fingers a rest then to get away from the stress of work for a while and unwind.
That said, I just wish we'd gone to Greece instead. We always go to Greece. The only reason we didn't this year is because the flight time is at least an hour more than to Portugal and we had two kids with us.
The thing I love about Greece is the food. It's all amazing. I can't say the same for Portugal. I only had one meal that I thought was anything other than average.
All in all, I just wasn't that impressed with The Algarve, despite the fact everybody seems to love it so much.
Anyway, enough whinging. Whether I enjoyed it or not doesn't really matter now I'm a dad. It's all about the little ones and they loved it. Here are the photos.
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Tea. Best bit about Britain.
I was at the BlackBerry HQ in Waterloo, Ontario for a few weeks. The hotel I stayed at had coffee and tea for free... kind of. They had a filter coffee maker, so making the coffee was easy. But how do you make the tea? Apparently you're expected to use it empty to boil the water. Which is all well and good, except the resulting "water" was still coffee tinged. And don't get me started on Tim Horton's. :(
So far the only place I've had decent tea outside of the UK was Japan.
Not to rub it in, but my missus (who is expecting with our first! Yikes!) went to Greece last week with some of her family and she said she had a great time!
Still... you have to go in the first place to find out whether you like it or not, so one to notch up to experience.
Great to see you're back Jake. As a citizen of Portugal, now residing in the US, I can agree with your statement regarding Algarve. In my lifetime I've only visited twice and Algarve for me is not Portugal. The area has been too modified to accommodate tourism. I remember while trying to book some reservations in one of the vacation communities I was surprised to find out that no one spoke Portuguese. When we sat down for breakfast the waitress looked at us like we had tentacles growing from our heads when we placed an order in Portuguese. I quickly corrected myself and spoke English and all was good.
I am very patriotic, but Algarve, in my opinion, is disappointing. Everything is expensive, the food is not authentic, the culture is flat and it does a bad job of representing the rest of the country. Next time fly into Lisbon and head north to the beaches of Nazare (about 1.5 hour drive). The water won't be as warm (Atlantic vs Mediterranean), but you'll keep more cash in your pocket and you'll come away feeling like you experienced something special.
I kind of suspected that might be the case Jorge and I like to stay open-minded and never form an opinion on a country as a whole based on my limited experience of an area spoiled by tourism. Same as I hope visitors to London don't think the whole of the UK is like that. It isn't.
Water not as warm? It must be bloody cold then. The water was take-your-breath-away cold where we were.
Jake
I've experienced the cold water in Algarve as well. It all depends how far away from the Atlantic you are. I've noticed the beaches close to the Spanish border tend to have warmer water. I actually just checked the sea temperatures in both places and they are about on par at the moment, so you wouldn't have noticed too much of a difference. The website below offers a good barometer on beach conditions like waves, sea temperature, etc.
http://www.surf-forecast.com/
My daughter is headed to your side of the pond this week to visit her English cousins. I'll whine here about expensive. I can give my poor child 100 US dollars and it is immediately cut in half in British Pounds! Oh well, Its good for her to see her cousins.
It is too late to go to Algarve, Jake. I arrived there for the first time in 1989 and it was the nicest palce on earth that you could imagine. Not only everything was very cheap compared to Germany but also the tourism still was at a low level.
Lagos was my second home (literally) these years and I met my wife there (she was also from my hometown in Germany, but we never met before Lagos)
You could get there 1 litre of Cristal (my fav. beer there) for 100 Escudos, that was about 50 Euro Cent. I especially loved the White's Bar. It was in a small cellar and always about 50°C hot in there. Great! Nowadays I can recommend to visit Porto. It is a very nice city and you can taste Port Wine day long.
And the best meal were Frango Piri-Piri some kilometers to the country from Lagos. And in every street people made sardinhas on little BBQ apparels on the street using eucalyptus semen on the charcoal. But nowadays everything changed. Last time I went there I was also very disappointed.
But there are still some spots on earth that are untouched. Some....
Come on Jake, last year you went on hols in the UK and complained that it was too expensive, just admit it, you're a tight northerner.
At least the children had fun, which is what its all about really.
You remember me too well Phil! Although I'd dispute the tight part. It's just that I'm a whiner. I don't mind spending money if I feel I'm getting value back.
For Mark Teichmann -
Mark, 'eucalyptus semen on the charcoal' in the UK we would say sap - not semen as it has a slightly different meaning.
Paul,
thanks for your hint. That is one of the problems of learning English through reading Irvine Welsh books, too much of the wrong vocabulary ;-)
Wish I knew you were coming here.
Algarve is for British tourists only, that's why the food sucks and it's much more expensive than anywhere else :)
There are much better places to stay here.
I have to agree with my compatriots above. Portugal has this "urban legend" of being a cheap country because wages are low - nothing could be further from the truth as you witnessed. And it's not only Algarve, although this area is most likely worse than the others.
As for the food, you are not the first tourist that complains about it, and I understand why. Although Vitor and Jorge above mentioned this, I'll try to explain with a bit more detail... in the Algarve it's hard to get a regular portuguese meal or a typical course. It seems restaurants try too hard to please foreign tourists by giving them food they're used to (or, to quote a coworker, "If I had wanted fish'n'chips I'd have stayed in Ireland!").
As Mark said above, 20-odd years ago, Algarve was totally different, and it has changed for the worst.
If you ask me, the best place for a relaxing holiday in Portugal would be in the interior, near Covilha or Guarda - and I'm not from there so I'd like to think I'm not biased :-) . You get hot weather, river beaches, fantastic food (the best beef in Portugal comes from there) and as it's not a typical "tourist spot" you won't get crowds/confusion. Also potential for some nice landscape and monuments sightseeing.
Hi Jake and guys,
My family is portuguese and we have a little apartment in Vilamoura. Despite that, no i am not rich although now I live in Switzerland : )
Since my wife and I moved we are not going to Portugal or Algarve for vacations anymore. Even with a place to stay the expenses are too much!
There are a lot of interesting and cheaper destinations across europe.
This summer we went to Sardegna and we had the best time. Dont worry, I was also the whitest man on the beach : )
Its a great place to go with your kids, since they have a lot of space to play around and the water is warm and the sea is not dangerous.
I would recommend June or September since its cheaper and peaceful (July and August there are too many italians there). Olbia, Santa Teresa de Gallura, Alghero are good choices since they are near Costa Smeralda in the north where you can find the best beaches.
The only disappoiting things we saw in Sardegna was that some beaches in the north have payed parking (1.50 to 2 euros hour) and that you pay "coperto" (2 to 2.50 euros a person) everytime you sit in a restaurant even if you sit inside!
My advice is to rent an apartment/house, the local supermarkets are not expensive. I am already looking for next year vacations : )
I am sure you and your family will have a great time!
Best wishes mate!