Olhão Is a Developed Fishing Village
Oct. 19: Well, travel can wear you down, or at least I should say it can wear me down. Despite it being the end of summer weather, I have managed to get a bit of a cold. But I wasn’t going to let something like that stop me. We woke up at the palace and we knew that we didn’t want to hang out in the strip mall developments and that our best bet was to get out in nature and experience what we believed the Algarve was truly about.
I did a little bit of internet research and found a boat tour for the Ria Formosa. We were attracted to this because it was a bit further off shore and we knew there was a full day of exploration wrapped up in it. I called Sabino Boat Tours and spoke with João and, with a stroke of luck, he had a tour that didn’t leave until 11am. Perfect timing! This gave us time to eat breakfast at the pousada and we lavished in our own tour of the palatial gardens and continued having our fun playing out acting like royalty.
After the tour of our realm we headed south to the town of Olhão, and found João’s kiosk amidst rows of kiosks with other tour guide operators. At the meeting point, we saw that our five Belgian boat mates were smoking up a storm. We don’t generally ask for special accommodations, but we asked the João if smoking was allowed on the boat. He said yes, sure. He thought we were worried that we could not smoke. But then we expressed our strong aversion to smoking. He very diplomatically established a non-smoking rule for our tour.
Cigarette Packs Show Pictures of Lung Damage – Love It!
He introduced us to Miguel, our captain, and soon enough, we were off into the Ria Formosa or the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa. Before we had even left the port, Miguel was proudly referencing Portugal’s seafaring days and Portugal’s glory for a couple of centuries during the Age of Discovery. We had heard plenty about the Age of Discovery on our trip and were realizing that it is an important part of the cultural heritage. Portugal has so much of its land bordering the Atlantic, that when imperialists did most of their exploration via sailing, it just made sense that Portugal was a superpower. For an important period in the nation’s life they led the world in their ability to sail to the Americas and bring back resources such as gold, for their own country.
Doesn’t Miguel Look Like a Portuguese Fisherman?
Soon enough, we were out on the lagoons, which is a special ecosystem with a constant mix of tidal inflow and outflow. Because the tides shift so much each day, it opens up the opportunity for people to go out in low tide and harvest clams from the seabed. They only have a four hour window each day when the clam beds are accessible. Although Miguel hasn’t personally done this work, he knew a lot of details about how the clams were raised, including seeding and harvesting and even marketed. He demonstrated the backbreaking three point stance required to harvest the clams. I tried it for just a few minutes in the boat and I felt it in my back, so I can only imagine what it’s like to dig for four hours every day.
Digging Clams Is Literally Back Breaking Work
The oyster farming depends on the same tidal variation, although they are grown horizontally in sacks laid on racks that look somewhat like bed frames. Miguel told us that ironically the Portuguese do not like raw oysters and most of these were going to the French, who LOVE raw oysters.
These Racks Are for the Oysters
The islands in the Ria Formosa are sparsely populated, compared to the rest of the Algarve coast. Miguel mentioned that they have rules against foreigners limiting whether they can live or buy land there. However, we did see vacation rentals owned by foreigners advertised on the internet. So I am not sure exactly what the rules are. In any case, everyone who lives on the islands makes a living off of the sea, either directly or indirectly and they try to keep it that way. These are tight knit communities with a strong sense of what their roles in that world are.
Culatra Island from Afar
Fishing Port Close Up
Behind the seafaring life there is another whole scene going on with hashish and contraband coming in from Morocco. The men in the lighthouses see the boat traffic, but it’s not really their job to deal with that, as long as the boats are sailing safely. There is something like the coast guard that deals with the illegal activity, but their coordination leaves something to be desired. So the Moroccans just drop these big barrels of hashish on the beaches and tell the pickup people where to find it. Apparently it’s been working like a charm for years.
Another unexpectedly wonderful aspect of the day was our friendly Belgian companions. They all turned out to be a total delight and we chatted freely about all sort of things. A couple of them had just gotten back from a tour of American’s National Parks in the Rockies. We spent a good deal of the conversation dispelling or confirming what American life is like. They were particularly incredulous that Trump was doing so well in the presidential race and made comments like “we do not understand how anyone in the world could vote for him.” They were scared, particularly because he’s so chummy with Putin.
Our Belgian Friends Enjoying Lunch With Miguel
They seemed to like Dan and me and didn’t want to offend us. So they diplomatically found a way of expressing their perceptions of Americans. They would say things like “we don’t mean to offend, but you are superficial” and “we don’t mean to offend, but you feel entitled.” And lastly, and this had me laughing, ”we don’t mean to offend, but you are prude”. I responded that the US has 330 million people and their perceptions certainly describe some and maybe even too many, but surely not all Americans.
Our magical day with Miguel and the Belgians brought us to some laid back villages. On Culatra Island we had a wonderful lunch. We finally got to sample grilled sardines and the Portuguese version of salsa. The salsa was similar to a Mexican salsa, but Miguel pointed out that the peppers and tomatoes needed to be roasted first and the raw onions are added afterwards. After lunch we had a lighthouse tour, as well as a brief stop to take in the open waters of the Atlantic.
Grilled Sardines and Roasted Pepper Salsa Are the Algarve’s Signature Dishes
Miguel turned out to be a true Renaissance Man of the Sea. He spoke four languages fluently and gracefully flowed back and forth between them as he interacted with people from different cultures. Dan and I were impressed to overhear him talking in detail about the hypothalamus. And he was not even talking in his native tongue! He has much scientific knowledge, yet he also complements it with practical knowledge from experience. For example, on our way home we stopped at Ilha da Armona, Armona Island. Just standing on the dock Miguel was able to give us impromptu demonstrations of several sea creatures.
He is committed to the environment, as reflected by his obvious deep connection to the Ria Formosa. And he was extremely generous with his time. We were out for six and a half hours rather than the scheduled five hours. It was high tide on our way back and the clam and oyster beds were underwater. In fact, we came back sailing over some of the beds.
Miguel Is in His Element
He Reached in the Water to Pull Out a Sea Cucumber
We said our goodbyes to our new friends and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset as we walked along the shore toward the car. Back at the palace, we used the spa to properly cap the day.
We Reached Shore By Sunset
As you know from last night, the dining options in Estoi are pretty limited. TripAdvisor wasn’t very encouraging either. However, we had noticed Galeria dos Sentidos right across the street from where we turned into the Pousada. We decided to give it a try, realizing that nothing could be worse than last night. It was a cute, cozy place and turned out to be pretty good. We sat at the bar and joked with the server about the dire circumstances that led us to track his restaurant down. We were heartily laughing, telling him we felt like refugees fleeing the Pousada restaurant. He was all too familiar with our situation and said people come in there every single night, telling him the same exact story!
We had a fabulous day, but since I had managed to wear myself down at this point in our travels, I was happy to call it an early night and quietly retreat with some hot tea, while doing a bit of blogging.
A Few More Pictures from the Faro Area
Cute, Funky Portuguese Beach Home
The View From Atop the Lighthouse on Culatra Island
The View From the Palace Spa