«The real Algarve»

A Costa Vicentina portuguesa, em todo o seu esplendor e... com grande destaque, hoje, no The Times Online.

January 23, 2010

Costa Vicentina: the real Algarve

Skip the golf - the awe-inspiring beaches, cliffs, pine forests and rivers of Costa Vicentina are well above par

When a friend of mine suggested the Algarve as a good destination for a winter break, I thought she was joking. Golf, bad architecture and all the trappings of rampant tourism aren’t for me, and she knew it. I could only assume she meant that there would not be as many screaming children at that time of year and fewer conversations about the back nine. But then she smiled. “No,” she said. “Not that Algarve. The other one.”
Fast-forward a few weeks and I am a convert. There are, indeed, two Algarves, and one of them is wild, unspoilt and almost unknown, even among the Portuguese.
The one that we Brits know, and many of us love, is the Algarve of the south coast — of Albufeira, Faro, Lagos and dozens of other busy resorts. The one to which I was expertly steered is the Algarve of the west coast — of Bordeira, Aljezur and Odeceixe, collectively known as the Costa Vicentina.
Here, from Cabo de São Vicente, its southernmost point, to the northwestern provincial border 50 miles away, you won’t find a single golf course or ugly resort. Instead, there are awe-inspiring beaches, rolling dunes, towering cliffs, pine forests and pristine rivers. Instead of handicaps and hangovers, the conversation turns to hiking, surfing, birdwatching and fishing.
The reason is that this entire stretch forms part of the South West Alentejano and Costa Vicentina Natural Park, one of 13 nature parks in Portugal, with rigid restrictions on construction and commerce. Building is almost totally banned and the landscape wild and unsullied.
But there are drawbacks. Young locals have little work and are often squeezed out of the property market by foreigners and Lisbon professionals. And, for the likes of you and me, there aren’t a whole lot of places to stay. Since the 1960s, when package tourism took off, and subsequent decades, when the nature parks were created, west-coast communities have struggled for survival, with young people heading south for work. The authorities want to encourage eco-tourism on the Costa Vicentina to protect these communities, but are wary of any building .
My partner, Suzanne, and I are discussing whether this is an irresistible-force-meeting-immovable-object scenario, as we check in to our lovely house at Aldeia da Pedralva, a development now seen as a potential solution to what we eventually call an intractable problem.
Pedralva is actually a tiny village near Vila do Bispo, towards the south of the Costa Vicentina. Four years ago Lisbonites Antonio and Filipa Ferreira discovered it while looking for a holiday home. “The village was falling down and only seven people remained from about 220 in the 1970s,” Antonio says. “Well, we bought one place and then came back a few weeks later and bought two more, and the idea just sprang from that.”
The idea was to buy as many of the houses as he could and rebuild them using local craftsmen and materials, creating a sort of holiday village. The benefits seemed clear: no new building is allowed in the park except on existing sites, so this would provide work for locals, accommodation for outsiders and the continuation of a village that would have crumbled to dust. So far, Antonio has tracked down more than 200 relatives with claims on the old buildings and, with two more partners, bought and reconstructed 31 houses, spending €4 million and attracting a further €1 million from the local council for lighting and cobbled streets.
The result is beautiful and has caught the eye of the chaps in the Algarve’s tourism department. Former inhabitants have been looked after and even expect to make a killing by selling home-grown vegetables to a new local restaurant — L-Colesterol — due to open soon.
So, feeling that we have contributed to the survival of a little piece of Portugal, we set off to sample the magnificent beaches and beautiful walks. The first thing you notice is a complete lack of touristic paraphernalia. Stretches of wooden pathway protect against erosion, but that is all.
You can drive to more than 20 beaches in less than half an hour, and each has its own characteristics well known to regular surfers and windsurfers. Our favourite was Bordeira. All the coves and beaches along this coastline are battered by the Atlantic, with some waves touching 4m, yet they are more awe-inspiring than foreboding. There are no tacky beach bars but there are fine restaurants, set back from the sea, selling fresh seafood. The poor exchange rate means that few places in Europe are cheap, but two can eat here, with wine, for less than £50.
At gorgeous Amado beach we ate sea bass al fresco — in December sunshine — at Restaurante Sitio do Forno. I ran up a fortune on my mobile phone, pathetically calling London to tell people I was sunburnt.The weather wasn’t as good the next day, but we still managed a glorious lunch of sea bream at Restaurant Castelejo behind the beach of the same name. Heading north, the Aljezur old town is worth a visit — particularly its 10th-century Moorish castle — en route to the top stretch of the western Algarve at Odeceixe. It, too, seems to be experiencing a renaissance. There are more readily available rooms here, mainly for surfers lured by the wide empty beach and its breakers.
But beaches aren’t the only pull. You can walk through forests of pine, eucalyptus, fig and almond, and are never more than a sniff away from fresh thyme, myrtle and rosemary. Near Carrapateira you can see otters, gulls, terns, cormorants and flamingos, while inland are hawks, falcons and kingfisher. We did a 10km walk, finishing at Bordeira beach with our guide, Nicolau da Costa, a diver who harvests the local barnacles. As you walk, the landscape changes constantly. One minute pine forest, the next sand dunes. You might find yourself picking mushrooms on open scrubland, or snatching herbs on a hillside.
As well as seafood, the countryside lends itself to hunting, so expect rabbit, wild boar and game birds. We would not have found A Eira do Mel in Vila do Bispo without a local tip. I had tender wild boar braised in red wine, and we shared crunchy carrot with cumin, sardine pâté and fresh quails’ eggs. The local plonk was surprisingly good. Farewell then to the Mateus Rosé.
With Pedralva village admired as a model for the future, the Costa Vicentina’s natural beauty will be with us for some time. But, just to be safe, why not store those golf clubs and get down there right away?

por Steve Boggan


NEED TO KNOW
Getting there Monarch (monarch.co.uk) flies to Faro from regional airports from £86 return.
Car hire Auto Rent (autorent.pt) on 0800 0324979 (freephone)
Where to stay Cottages at Aldeia da Pedralva (www.aldeiadapedralva.com) from €560 per week to €1,260 peak. Guide: Nicolau da Costa (967 932 206, nicolaudacosta@gmail.com). From €30pp.
Where to eat A Eira do Mel (00 351 282 639 016), Castelejo (00 351 282 639 777).
More information visitalgarve.pt