Keen Blog – Algarve – June 2021

Chelsea are Champions League winners! Wow, what a season.  We watched the game in our Algarve hotel room as it seems did most of the other British guests in the hotel.  My old jinx of losing big matches when on overseas travel is now well and truly broken.  Our room service waiter during the game sounded German - we like Germans.

There is very little planned for this week except sun, nice food and relaxation. But we will need a few days after the stress of the testing protocols.  To journey to Portugal we had to buy 3 COVID-19 tests each.  The first one was taken on the Wednesday before we left on Saturday and promised a result within 24 hours. It actually took 60 hours and arrived just 10 hours before we left for the airport.  Mrs K's result arrived ahead of mine and there were a few anxious hours trying to work out what to do.  I did suggest Mrs K travel without me and I would follow later. That seemed very acceptable to Mrs K but thankfully (for me) was unnecessary.

The immigration line at Faro was predictably long (British Airways flights almost by the hour) but it moves at a decent pace despite all the paperwork that has to be reviewed.  Our drive to the hotel in Carvoeiro was just 45 mins from Faro airport. Mrs K's navigation assistance included the usual "you should have turned right there".

But all that stress is forgotten when we arrive at the hotel overlooking a rocky inlet and are shown the pool terrace which will be our home for the next week.  The hotel porters are all bullish about the big game on Saturday night and they prove to be right. The feel good mood is quickly in place.

On Sunday morning the Germans have reserved all the sunbeds next to the pool....except it seems that the vast majority of guests are British and after all we like the Germans.

Breakfast was a military operation.  It is your normal buffet but everything has to be served to you.  No touching. We are even given a paper bag to store our masks in while we are seated.

It's a typical British bank holiday Monday in Portugal - overcast.  So we decide to jump in the car and drive along the coast. Eventually we end up in Luz.  We were here in 1986 (we think).  It was also a BA Holidays short break from the days Mrs K worked for the airline.  We stayed in a very modest villa on the beach and it came with its own resident dog which we immediately befriended.  The holiday was also memorable for the fact that our coach crashed on the way back to the airport. The holiday rep was badly injured and we had to jump out through where the windscreen had been, over the poor guy that was still trapped in his seat and in agony. Horrible.

From what we can see, the Algarve is still pretty quiet. About half of the restaurants are closed up and the areas populated with holiday flats look like ghost towns.  Presumably it’s still not that easy for most northern Europeans to make the trip here. Very few Germans. Shame.

Luz is also infamous for the disappearance/kidnap of Madeleine McCann. Mrs K spots the church where the mother went to light a candle for her lost daughter. Hard to imagine what they went through....and probably still are.

But apart from a coach crash and missing girls, this is a beautiful spot.  We enjoy lunch overlooking the beach. We noticed that people don't spend long in the sea.  The temperature is 64F which I am told requires a wetsuit and should be treated with caution.  Good enough for me. In fact I haven’t even been in the hotel pool yet. Mrs K went for a dip and lasted 10 seconds.

Tuesday is day 1 of missing work so in a way my first day of holiday.  It’s our 4th day here so I am just starting to chill. Mrs K says I am a slow starter.  Attire for breakfast time has become ultra relaxed but I feel like I am barely keeping up with averages. People watching is the sport. We watch a chap walking in with a baby. He is completely oblivious to the fact that the baby is being sick down his T-shirt. He passes the child to its mother and leaves to change his shirt. I would have just carried on, I think. And probably did. 

It’s another cloudy day as expected so we have another road trip planned - this time inland. We visit the castle at Silvas which dates back to the 10th century when the Arabs were ruling here.  You can walk the bastions around the entirety of the castle. For much of it, there is an unguarded 5-10m drop on one side. We pass a group of primary school kids.  This would not pass health and safety in the UK.

From there we drive further inland to Foia which is at 900m. There is a great view of the coast. We can see Lagos and Portimao.  But its a bit chilly up here so we have a quick coffee and head back to the village of Monchique for lunch.  We manage to park right outside the main tourist attraction which is the door of the church.

That evening we catch a taxi to a swanky restaurant on the other side of town. Mrs K fancies a drink this time.  The restaurant is called the Hexagon but the building is in the shape of an octagon...oops.  But the food is excellent and Mrs K gets to enjoy some champagne and a dessert wine. 

Next morning, we are out early before breakfast to enjoy a walk down to Carvoeiro beach via the boardwalk which traverses the rocks along the coast. Due to Covid-19 it is a one-way system and we arrive at the wrong end. But it’s quiet, so we carry on.  Just a few people out with their dogs.  It's nice and sunny and we feel very pleased with ourselves after our 2 mile walk before breakfast, especially given that our plan for the day is to sit by the pool all day.  Again, all the beds are taken by invisible guests but we commandeer some stacked up beds and find a spot on the hotel lawn.

The UK Government has changed its policy on Portugal, moving it to the amber list. That means we will fly back to the UK 3 days before quarantine is required.  But we hear other guests around the pool desperately trying to change their flights back to the UK.   Chaos.

We have to do our 2^nd test, prior to travelling back. Hoping it won’t be as stressful as the first. Mrs K has organised a test by video in which someone watches you take a test and you have to send a photo of the result within minutes. We are hanging on for 15 minute before anyone answers our video call but we both pass with flying colours. What a palaver.

Thanks to Covid everything in the hotel has to be booked.  Mrs K is told she can't go to the gym until Thursday because it is fully booked up until then.  Even then she will have to go at 7am.  Final night we are booked into the hotel fine dining restaurant. We tried to book on Tuesday but it was fully booked for 3 nights solid.  Before that we go to the rooftop bar which we expect will be quiet but when we find our way to it we are asked if we have a reservation.  No. We are ushered to an ordinary table set back from glass panels which stop the guests falling into the pool 6 floors down.   There are some tables which jut out but I noted the construction earlier from my sunbed and am happy not to be seated there.  

At the restaurant, we work out the routine when the waiter brings me my tasting menu wine. Mrs K asks the waiter a question mid-pour. That is enough to distract him and my wine glass ends up unusually full. It works the first time anyway. 

Mrs K has been sipping my wines throughout the meal and is worried about the walk to the ladies but she makes it.  After 6 courses and 5 glasses of wine (and a cocktail to start) I am just worried about making it back to our room.

Next morning, we go for the early breakfast and get the best table looking out to sea. It’s amazing how captivating the blue ocean and the perfectly straight-line horizon is.

At Faro airport we bump into Rio Ferdinand and Amanda Holden in the Costa Coffee. Neither ask for our autographs.  Rio is a 'big unit' while Amanda looks like she is made up to go on stage.  No one makes a big fuss.  Rio is on an Easyjet flight to Gatwick. Mrs K is disappointed with that.

It has been a much needed break but the stress around all the test protocols and all the mask wearing took a bit away from it for me.  Read an amazing sci-fi book called “Project Hail Mary” written by Andy Weir who wrote The Martian.  I highly recommend it, especially on Audible.

Here’s hoping we can get to Mexico in July.