An Autumn break with easy access by direct flights has a lot going for it before we snuggle by the fire and give into winter.
A week in Faro, Portugal, fits the bill for two of us who have been recommended our lodgings by an experienced traveller.
The food will be good, the wine from all over Portugal as usual a treat, the architecture will be interesting, the history long and varied and the beaches long and sandy. She is right.
Lodgings can make or break a holiday. You may prefer an anonymous, large hotel in which to hide, or you may choose a more personal experience by staying in a guest house. Choosing the latter proves our best move.
Casa 1923 is a beautifully, sensitively converted, Art Nouveau townhouse which has a downstairs studio, suitable for a couple, while a first floor two bedroom apartment has full facilities with washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, good gadgets and a plunge pool. The conversion was done by owner Vânia Brito Fernandes, an architect in partnership in PAr (Plataforma de Arquitectura).
It won architecture awards for this and other buildings, respecting the Art Nouveau style, revealing the original surfaces and paint colours.
As well as having her studio downstairs, Vânia lives here with her husband Pedro Sancho, a multi-talented boat builder and carpenter.
He will cook a meal for guests on request, and if you are lucky he may even show you how to make the traditional dish cataplana, the versatile stew, most often of fish, cooked in the traditional cataplana clamshell lidded pot.
There is excellent seafood in and around this part of the Algarve. He will also organise boat trips in the area, sometimes in person, relating as much history of the area as you can absorb. ( casa1923.pt)
There is plenty to see in Faro, which has a long history of occupation by Romans, Byzantines, Visigoths, Moors, Spaniards and Anglo Normans.
The city on the Ria Formosa lagoon was a fishing port and stop for traders of minerals as well as fish and other commodities, with the first recorded settlements in the fourth century BC of the Phoenicians who came from today’s Lebanon. Salt was the precious commodity harvested, as it still is, to a lesser extent, in the flats of the lagoon.
500 years of Moorish occupation ended when they were defeated in 1249 by the Portuguese King Alfonso III.
Later, the Jewish community, growing and contributing hugely to commerce and the development of craft industries, were expelled unless they converted to Christianity. Some did, some pretended to, so we can still see a richness of crafts and industry in the region.
English marine privateers set the city on fire (yet again), but by first looting the library of the Bishop of Faro, they saved the first printed book of Portugal, a Torah in local Hebrew, and other books which are now in Oxford University Bodleian library.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1577 resulted in a tsunami along the coastline.
With Lagos, then the capital of the area, devastated by the waves, Faro, least affected due to the protection of the lagoon of Ria Formosa, became the capital, as it is today.
The Municipal Museum, housed in the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Assunção (built by Manual I of Portugal and the local bishop), is worth visiting for its gardens and calm cloisters.
The unique ossuary chapel has the tiered remains of 1,245 monks’ bones and is located to the rear of the heavily gilded Igreja do Carmo church.
Bago Wine Bar, near the museum, offers music indoors during the autumn and winter. Lunch comprises the best salads we enjoyed in Faro. They proudly only serve Portuguese wines — 140 in all.
Faro has particularly good restaurants with excellent, always fresh, seafood and the area’s pastry shops (pasteleria) are superb.
This ‘Portuguese fusion restaurant’ is exciting, and has the best bread in the city. “I like to tell stories through food, including memories of my time in Mozambique and Thailand — my favourite style of cooking with ginger, nam pla, salt.”
Chef-owner Josefina Cardeza’s 20-40 seater (depending on the weather) serves us local oysters with a piquant hint of wasabi and sweet raspberry.
A beautifully textured firm, delicious cod dish surprises us too. “Codfish naturally gets salty after a few days”, she says “Salt is not necessary. Textures are more important than taste, and we keep those natural too.”
The cod is served with the best ever crisp half circled polenta cakes, flavoured and coloured with squid ink. Lamb comes with a delicious sauce of After Eights, and sweet potato.
Later, crème brûlée has a hint of grainy mustard. It works! Chocolate orbs were sublime showing Josefina’s playfulness and creativity. With two glasses of good rosé, €69.50 is good value.
A dynamic husband and wife team of chefs, Didier, a Parisian, and Portuguese Lilia, are creative chefs.
They point out that the name belies a broader menu which includes fish. Food includes a starter of superb beef carpaccio, and a dish of sumptuous large shrimps in a creamy sauce flavoured with ginger.
Fillet steak is the best flavoured meat of the trip served with Dauphinoise potatoes. Curried prawns are excellent.
Profiteroles, light, rich and delicious seem perfectly timed with Gregory Porter on the stereo. And to finish, lemon sorbet comes to the table where vodka is ceremoniously sprayed over it with an atomiser.
The set menu (€49.50) is particularly generous. Wine prices are fair. Excellent, with mineral notes, Soalheiro Vinho Verde Granit was €33.50.
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Leonel Pereira’s former two Michelin stars are reflected in this slightly formal style. Skipping starters, tender 18-hour cooked pork is succulent, the sirloin steak properly cooked but doesn’t have the deep flavour of some Irish beef. Light hazelnut mousse with salted caramel ice-cream is good with plenty to share. All washed down with a good, dry, in house sparkling wine (€28), the bill comes to €137.80. CHECKout is a wine shop and more casual restaurant attached, open during the day from 10.30.
- (R. do Castelo 7 – 8, 8000-243 Faro, Portugal Open 19-22h every day, except Sunday.)
Good in-house pastries and coffee. Comfortingly basic surroundings.
- R de Portugal 12A. (Not to be confused with Cinderela restaurant at 1 r. de Dezembro).
Very good eggs Benedict and Eggs Chelsea (breaded eggs on ham, avocado, chia seeds, pickle and hollandaise, €11.50).
- (R. Dom Francisco Gomes 9)
Boat trips along the coastline from Faro can be booked, but we take a taxi to Olhão (€7-10) to see the extensive Saturday market. Small farmers bring their produce, and there is also a very good, covered food market on the promenade.
Boat trips cost €30 for three hours shared with a few others, with stops usually at three islands. Book at kiosks at the end of the promenade where the freshest fish is served at the boat club — Grupo Naval de Olhão.
At one of the boat stops, at Culatra, there are very good fish restaurants. The schedule allows for eating.
Loulé Loulé is a charming town, a €13-18 taxi away from Faro, and is worth it just for Loulé Criativo where, in a beautiful 18th century former palace, crafts are made in studios.
From guitar making to jewellery made from recycled materials, furniture made from salvaged wood, beautiful textiles, copper cataplana pots, and watchmaking, many can be seen being made and may be bought in the shop. Invigorating creativity.
- Location: Palacio Gama Loba. R. de N Sr de Fátima.Tel 351 289400829. loulecriativo.pt.
This relatively unglamorous café and shop has really delicious pastries and good coffee. €2.90 for two coffees and a pastry is hard to beat.
- Largo Gago Coutinho 22. Open Monday-Saturday 7am-7pm.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair have direct flights to Faro from Dublin and Cork.
Some twice a day, some ex Dublin six times day, which can change by the season.
