Halloween in the Algarve

Loulé gets ghoulish this Halloween with parties for kids and adults on Wednesday Oct. 31st.

At 15:00 (3pm) a parade is scheduled for students from local schools to show off their costumes from Rua Maria Campina to Logo de S. Francisco. There will also be activities for the younger ones at the Cerca do Convento.

Halloween in Algarve

Later in the evening 21:30 at Alcaidaria do Castelo there will be a mask and costume event with DJ’s, street performers and fire artists.

Who or what will you be this Halloween!?

[update] Halloween night in Loule was fun and not too scary for the kids … for the adults, the bar selection gave us a taste of what was bubbling below the surface: Dracula’s blood shots, intestine shot (didn’t even want to look at this one), witches brains, and many more perfectly disturbing combinations. Here are some pictures of the night.

Past Posts on Loulé:

Cody’s Fight for Cancer - A Son’s Love

Cody Lee Smart Playing the Piano At any age the idea of loosing a parent is a freighting and emotionally wrenching thought. At the tender age of 9, it must be daunting - yet this is what Cody Lee Smart was faced with.

In 2006, Cody’s mother Yvonne, was diagnosed with breast cancer and although she was successfully treated at home in the UK, Cody was profoundly marked; not only by the possibly of loosing his mother, but by the treatment that saved her. This has driven him to take an unexpected path for a 9 year old - rather than be paralyzed by life’s cruel turn Cody chose to join the fight for cancer research in his own way.

Last year while on holiday in the Algarve, Cody stumbled into the Atlantic Piano Bar in Vilamoura Marina, and asked if he could play. When he explained, he wanted to play the piano to raise funds for cancer so no other child would have to walk his same course, patrons were touched and helped Cody with the first donations.

This past Friday we had the pleasure of not only meeting Cody and his family but Read more

Visit Algarve - More Ways to Get Here

Want more ways to visit Algarve? Well looks like this is about to happen. Yesterday there was a big announcement that EasyJet bought out ~~British Airways~~ [update] GB Airways.

How does this deal benefit traveling to the Algarve you may be asking? Well, news is that, flights will soon be available from both Gatwick and Heathrow direct to Faro Airport. I’ve also recently read talks are ongoing to bring 10+ low cost airlines directly into Faro airport for next year. The deals haven’t closed yet but there is definitely an initiate to open up more routes from across Europe directly into Faro, Algarve. EasyJet hasn’t provided exact details on dates and fares yet, but they look to be aiming at the first quarter of 2008.

Visit Algarve

We’d love to have more guests visiting Algarve, but hope the influx of more tourists, doesn’t mean less chestnuts to go around : )

Pasteis de Nata – Portuguese Custards

Do I have a treat for Algarve Buzz readers…literally, this is an exciting post, where I share a little history and recipe of one of the most famous Portuguese deserts of all - Pasteis de Nata “Portuguese Custard Tarts”.

The original recipe for Pasteis de Nata were invented by two Catholic sisters in the convent at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and called Pasteis de Belem, since then the secret recipe has been heavily guarded. Around 1837, clerics from the monetary, set up Casa Pastéis de Belém, the first shop to sell the pasteis, in order to raise money for the monastery that took centuries to build and today is an UNESCO heritage site. At the time the monetary and shop were easily accessible by ship, allowing tourists to quickly become familiar with Pasteis de Belem, and the news spread quickly.

Pasties de nata custard

Today, Pasteis de Belem are more commonly known around the country as Pasteis de Nata, and only the original Pasteis de Belem carry the name. The original shop also remains standing today and the Pasteis de Belem are still said to be the best. This is definitely a Lisbon must Read more

Marquês de Borba 2006 - Alentejo

For this week’s “Now Drinking”, we got a fantastic surprise, thanks to our new favourite wine site, Adegga.com. To help pick our wine, we visited Adegga who recommended the popular Portuguese wine “Marquês de Borba“.

So we put our faith and taste buds in the hands of the good folks at Adegga and chose a couple of bottles, from the results of the first one…we’ll be checking back with them again and again.

Marques de Borba Red Wine - Altenjo

A commanding rich wine, full of crushed dark berry flavours with a long smooth and creamy finish. We liked this wine so much there isn’t any left in the bottle to show you the depth of its colour. Guess we’ll just have to get another bottle : )

We enjoyed this bottle with a 3-cheese pasta and tomato sauce, and savory oven baked roast…the Marquês de Borba was perfect. Would highly recommend it with roasts, game, grilled meats and pasta/tomatoes dishes, a really great red that’s warm and powerful. This wine can often be spotted at good local restaurants, so diners and tourists can look for it on the wine menu.

Marquês de Borba

Produced by: João Portugal Ramos
Region: Alentejo, Portugal
Type: Red wine
Grapes: Aragones, Trincadeira

Vila Joya Restaurant in Algarve

A number of years ago, some friends and I decided, celebrating birthday “week” had so many more advantages then just birthday day, so I’ve kept on the tradition. And why not, you only live once! With that objective in mind, we squeezed as much out of the week as possible and made this year all about Algarve food and wine.

Having recently seen Vila Joya’s nomination for the World Travel awards and their 2 Michelin stars, we were curious as to what all the fuss was about and if in fact they deserved these coveted stars. Loving food as much as we do, and having been to a good number of great restaurants over the years, we thought we were well equipped to put Vila Joya Restaurant to the test.

Vila Joya Restaurant in Algarve

Vila Joya is in a quiet area of Albufeira, so discrete in fact we had a hard time finding the entrance. But their gracious host and maître d’, was wonderful in directing us to the gate.