Hemingways

[Ernie]

Good , I think CM was spot on about the inverted snobbery. I dont even know from all your dislikes on various posts why you bother with CVO

[Gary/Gaynor]

Quite often Gary and I would take a welcome ‘Pat’toastie (god bless her)and beer at Hemmingway's on our way back to our apartment from a nice morning at the beach. Personally we like to spread around a bit. Harry's Bar sometimes for Lunch as Ida and her team do some cracking sandwiches, Mextabixo for the view, beer and Campari soda for me. Sometimes the square for a good coffee at the Grand cafe. The fact is we have choice which is what it is all about when on hols. I mean living in Holland we don't always insist on Dutch cuisine. There is Indonesia, Thais, Turkish Moroccan etc etc. I love the fact that we now live in a world of diversity no matter where you are and is there anyting that is traditional attached to any country anymore?
Anyway can't wait for 31 st May when I will back in CVO yehhh
Gaynor

[Michael Crane]

Good , I think CM was spot on about the inverted snobbery. I dont even know from all your dislikes on various posts why you bother with CVO

I don't think snobbery comes into it. There's many places I won't go into simply because they don't have anything that attracts me.

[EMM]

We chose the place we want to live because what it is not as much as of what it is.
One of the main attractions of Carvoeiro for us is that it does not appeal to the mass UK market.
Carvoeiro is not a resort like Albufeira , PDR , Villamoura , you need only to look at the new ( up market )developments such as Monte Santo Vale Da lapa, Boa Nova, and soon Villas Mourim plus others to see that it is changing .
It is being aimed ( as is the Algarve and Portugal ) at new markets for tourism and property buyers.
Many of the places we have been discussing are yes, English based and were aimed at a market that was predominately English and Irish but we and they are on the decline.
You need only to ask around to see just how many bars etc who rely on this market that have closed and are closing every year in other resorts to see that aiming your self almost exclusively at an English speaking clientele is going down the path to eventual decline .

I know a little about the market, since last autumn I have been involved on the fringes of the Portuguese property market .
I have not had one English client, but have had 3, hopefully 4 sales. The clients have been German, Dutch and Swedish and the last thing they are looking for
are " Anglo centred " resorts, bars and restaurants.
In fact they have all specified areas that are NOT English focused. One Dutch client specifically listed Carvoeiro as one of the resorts he did not want.
Any visitor to Carvoeiro this winter would have heard fewer English voices and far more from the rest of Europe, putting it simply they have more money to spend and dare I say it higher standards end expectations.
We all want Carvoeiro to do well, its just my opinion for what it is worth that it will achieve this by change and improvement and not by clinging on to the atitudes and facilities of the past.

Its 2011 not 1999.

[bruce]

Emm why do you dislike the English so much?
I have never seen so many properties for sale/in derelict conditions as we did on our two trips to Cvo last year,
I would think the sellers don't give a monkeys who buys them.
Excuse me for saying this but you come over as an inverted snob.

[EMM]

I want to see a vibrant , successful Carvoeiro and that wont come from catering to what is left of the UK mass market.
Just look at what has happened to the Black Stove, created for and aimed at a market that no longer exists in any numbers.

Walk around Albufeira or PDR and see the number of boarded up business that almost exclusively served the UK market, do you want to see that happen to Carvoeiro.
As for those derelict properties you talk about it will be a long time before UK buyers return in numbers ( if ever ) wanting to buy them.

There was a feature on the news this morning , the only sector of the UK overseas travel market that is showing any growth is the " all inclusive holiday ".
Why is it so popular with the Brits,because they know just how much the holiday will cost and they know they will be served with the familiar and as much as they can eat or drink.

That spells death for small resorts like Carvoeiro , it is already causing problems in those Portuguese resorts where it is on offer as british holiday makers stop spending their money in local bars etc.

As for calling me " anti English " that too is total ****. I accepted long ago that we no longer have an empire and rule half the world and can demand that everything should be done our way to suit our requirements.

[Gary/Gaynor]

We live in Holland and I have to say it was a Dutch Reisbureau that introduced us to CVO 6 years ago as it was a poluar resort for the Dutch then apparently. Maybe not anymore? Carvoeiro is still popular with Quinta do Paraiso and Colina VIllage, Albufeira and Praia de Rocha are also popular with one of our biggest tour operators. Weren't there a lot of Dutch owned resturants and businesses in CVO at one time to my recollection? I could be worng here.
Gaynor

[carvoeiro1]

There she goes again.

[bruce]

Lucky for Portugal they have got the 'English' to bail them out!

[Jaylay]

We live in Holland and I have to say it was a Dutch Reisbureau that introduced us to CVO 6 years ago as it was a poluar resort for the Dutch then apparently. Maybe not anymore? Carvoeiro is still popular with Quinta do Paraiso and Colina VIllage, Albufeira and Praia de Rocha are also popular with one of our biggest tour operators. Weren't there a lot of Dutch owned resturants and businesses in CVO at one time to my recollection? I could be worng here.
Gaynor

20 years ago there were more Dutch businesses than English, and I think this year that is likey to be the case again.

Definately more Dutch visitors this winter than Brits.I worked in the tourist industry for many years and have always said the best businesses where the ones who could draw their clients from all nationalities, over the years visitors from most countries have had good times and bad. Now it is the bad times for the Irish and British, on the reunification of Germany it was the Germans ( they would share a plate of food and only exchange 10marks a day to spent (pre euro))

Hopefully it will be the Spannish again who will provide the restaurants and bars with that extra business that is needed in our current economic state, they are in a poor way themselves but for the population bordering onto the Portuguese borders it is cheaper to come here by car than to go to the Costas.

Different nationalities spend their money different ways, it is usually only the Anglo Saxons who spent a major part of their holidays in the pub (yes I do like a drink myself) maybe the current trend is why we are seeing more ice cream parlours opening up in the village .

[CM]

And sex shops

[Jaylay]

Not seen one in the village yet, but the local strip club was set up by a Dutchman, several years ago

[Polli62]

I have never seen boarded up premises in Albufeira, empty maybe but not boarded up, lots of other resorts are just the same & yes EMM as Bruce says its us English who will be helping to bail out Portugal, so stop being so anti English as that's how you come across with lots of your postings. Bet you don't mind the English/ Welsh/ Scots or the Irish renting your property though for holidays.

[EMM]

The satement " English helping to Bail out Portugal " says it all to me. I wonder how the ordinary Portuguese would react to such a statement.
The UK does not actually have to give any money to Portugal . As a member of the EU our last labour chancellor agreed to underwrite part of the EU support for Greece , Ireland and now Portugal.
The only money that the UK has actually paid out was an independent loan to Ireland.
Only if Portugal were to renage on its new ECB loans in the distant future would the UK have to pay out anything .

I am not anti british I just choose not to patronise certain establishments popular with some british I did not know it was compulsory .
The majority of those who have stayed with us, be they English, Dutch or Swedish would not either, In fact some have gone out of their way to tell us NOT TO take them to such places again.
They are entitled to choose where to spend their Euros as are we.
" Boarded up " is a metaphor for shut down, it still means the same.
Tell me why is it that some British seem to need to have familiar things around them when they go on holiday to another country??
Those of us of a certain age can remember holidays abroad in countries without, english beer, breakfasts, roast dinners, TV etc.
We certainly did not miss any of them nor did the lack of them stop us from having a good holiday.


I

[sunman]

I am not anti british I just choose not to patronise certain establishments popular with some british I did not know it was compulsory .

EMM, what does that mean? the issue is that as you say, you choose not to patronise some establishments, but other people do, and you should respect other folks choices, not attack them, why would it be such a deal to you?


Tell me why is it that some British seem to need to have familiar things around them when they go on holiday to another country??
Those of us of a certain age can remember holidays abroad in countries without, english beer, breakfasts, roast dinners, TV etc.
We certainly did not miss any of them nor did the lack of them stop us from having a good holiday.

why should folk explain why they like familiar things around them whilst abroad to you? friends of mine often stay in The Almansor, I join them for breakfast in the hotel, piles of eggs, bacon, beans, tea etc etc, and an international customer base, have you wandered up there and berated the management? And on the odd occasion I've been into Hemmingways lots of people drink bottles of Crystal, Portuguese Lager. There are what, three Chinese restaurants in town? two Indians? Pizza restaurants, hamburgers, all good 'English' fare.

so again, please, continue to enjoy whatever you choose to do, but if someone comes over here for a bit of sun and r&r and chooses to drink tea, eat bacon sandwiches, read The Sun & watch Corry on their Sky telly think about leaving them alone, they're not doing any harm.