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Benigil
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Bruno
Benigil
Dear All,
Have just looked up your message board for the first time, found much interresting reading and many great photos.
I hitch-hicked the Algarve in 1981 and spent 3 months living off the Pria do Cavelho, near Benigil. Those were great days. The people were so friendly and even the local policeman - Georgio - gave me a lift in the police car when he was taking a prisoner to another region - Lisbon! He even came down to the pria one evening with a bottle of wine and a few other officers to check whether or not we were still there and hadn't been abducted by smugglers, who regularly used the hidden beach to bring in spirits and tobacco from Morrocco - we had a great fire on the beach and I and the other 14 travellers (from 5 different nations) sang with the policemen around the fire! We were later joined by the fishermen from Benigil, who pulled their boats up on the beach to find out wht all the noise was, they soon brought fresh fish and wine and we sang and drank into the twilight speaking pigeon Portuguese to each other - aah memories are made of this - as the song goes!
However, the friendlist people were the folks who owned and ran the Mar e Sol bar in Benigil, Natalia and Joachim da Silva.
Does anyone know if the Mar e Sol is still there and if either Joachim or Natalia are still living there?? I remember meeting their son who spoke English, but it would be really nice to hear if they are still around.
I might even pop in to see them one day... I could write a book full of the stories that occurred...
Thanks to any replies...
Bruno
Have just looked up your message board for the first time, found much interresting reading and many great photos.
I hitch-hicked the Algarve in 1981 and spent 3 months living off the Pria do Cavelho, near Benigil. Those were great days. The people were so friendly and even the local policeman - Georgio - gave me a lift in the police car when he was taking a prisoner to another region - Lisbon! He even came down to the pria one evening with a bottle of wine and a few other officers to check whether or not we were still there and hadn't been abducted by smugglers, who regularly used the hidden beach to bring in spirits and tobacco from Morrocco - we had a great fire on the beach and I and the other 14 travellers (from 5 different nations) sang with the policemen around the fire! We were later joined by the fishermen from Benigil, who pulled their boats up on the beach to find out wht all the noise was, they soon brought fresh fish and wine and we sang and drank into the twilight speaking pigeon Portuguese to each other - aah memories are made of this - as the song goes!
However, the friendlist people were the folks who owned and ran the Mar e Sol bar in Benigil, Natalia and Joachim da Silva.
Does anyone know if the Mar e Sol is still there and if either Joachim or Natalia are still living there?? I remember meeting their son who spoke English, but it would be really nice to hear if they are still around.
I might even pop in to see them one day... I could write a book full of the stories that occurred...
Thanks to any replies...
Bruno
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Ellie
- CVO Oracle
- Posts: 8886
- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:16 pm
- Location: Londoner in the Wolds,Lincs
- Contact:
Hiya Bruno.....must say I enjoyed reading of your adventurous time in Benagil '81.. and I bet you could tell a few tales 
Our time in Algarve was in early 90s..but even then the police thing was much lighter more fun than today. We too..got to know our local cops in Lagoa and they were always friendly.
Cant help you with folk youre looking for Mar e Sol..but expect others here may be able to.
Why dont you try writing some short stories of your months there?
Im sure there would be plenty of people interested!
Have you been there recently...Algarve I mean?
Our time in Algarve was in early 90s..but even then the police thing was much lighter more fun than today. We too..got to know our local cops in Lagoa and they were always friendly.
Cant help you with folk youre looking for Mar e Sol..but expect others here may be able to.
Why dont you try writing some short stories of your months there?
Im sure there would be plenty of people interested!
Have you been there recently...Algarve I mean?
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hop-a-long
Hi Bruno, I enjoyed you tale of Pria Do Cavelho and Benagil beach and like Ellie would like to hear more of yourtrip from the early 80's to the Algarve. Sorry that I cannot give you any information on the Da Silva family. A few years back I remember talking to a gentleman that ran the restaurant inside the hamlet of Benagil and we got to talking of the Pria Do Cavelho and he mentioned that his grandfather was the one who dug the tunnel to the beach in question. I stand to be corrected but I think the Mar e Sol is the restaurant on top of the cliff at Benagil Beach which is still there. Maybe there are some on this forum that might give you more factual information then I can, good luck.
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SHOWWWY
I guess we are talking here about what is listed on this site as Carvalho Beach, considering the reference to the tunnel.
I too am curious to hear more from Bruno. One would assume he must have been staying in one of the houses on the Benagil cliff. Or was he camping above the beach somehow? Surely, the tide would have made camping on the beach a challenge,
The only restaurants I remember are the Pescador (I think) half way up the hill, the one just above it, the name I don't recall (never ate there), and the one at the top of the hill, another most congenial place. The first and last offer great food I know.
When our daughter and some friends visited us last year, we all had a marvelous time at the Pescador, with their entertaining troubador helping us make merry memories!
Aah yes, memories of Benagil! Great stuff!
I too am curious to hear more from Bruno. One would assume he must have been staying in one of the houses on the Benagil cliff. Or was he camping above the beach somehow? Surely, the tide would have made camping on the beach a challenge,
The only restaurants I remember are the Pescador (I think) half way up the hill, the one just above it, the name I don't recall (never ate there), and the one at the top of the hill, another most congenial place. The first and last offer great food I know.
When our daughter and some friends visited us last year, we all had a marvelous time at the Pescador, with their entertaining troubador helping us make merry memories!
Aah yes, memories of Benagil! Great stuff!
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Guest
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djprescott
- CVO Master
- Posts: 637
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:53 am
- Location: Warwick UK & Sesmarias
- Contact:
Bruno, Mar e Sol restaurant closed down a couple of years ago and re-opened last year as Arribas d' Benagil. Not sure if it is still the same owners that you are referring to. We went there a few years ago and the people were very friendly.
I'll try to find out some more when I go over in June.
Dave
I'll try to find out some more when I go over in June.
Dave
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Bruno
Benigil
Hi All,
Thanks for the many replies regarding Benigil! Thanks to for the responses to hear a few more stories...
Well, I suppose to get to my travels in Portugal I must start at the beginning; my hitch-hiking days started when I decided that there was more to life than working at Fords in their Dunton Research Centre. So I bought a rucksack and set off, much to my parents displeasure.
No, really they begged me not to go as there had been a hitch-hiker reported killed in Spain the previous week on TV and they wanted to protect me - as I now would my children...
I travelled down to the South of France first and spend a couple of months travelling around following the sun and the lifts. Grenoble, Monte-Carlo, Cannes, Frejus, San Raphael, San Tropez, Toulon, Avignon, Nimes, Montpelier, Perpignan then right down through Spain spending about 3 months there. One of the turning points for me in my travels was Valencia, because it was here that I decided to buy a real Spanish guitar and start troubadoring - you know, singing in the bars and resturants.; although I must admit I didn't do very much of it, I liked to sing for fun and for the shear enjoyment that I saw it gave others. Of course, I welcomed the free drinks and food!
After a short jaunt over to Gibralter and North Africa, I returned to mainland Europe via ferry from Tangier into Cadiz and it was on this trip that I got talking to some other hitch-hikers about where I should go next.
On the ship, were a couple of that told me that there was this lovelly virtually untouched beach near Carvoeiro in Portugal,complete with a guardian rock in the mouth of the cove! "Just get to Albufeiro and follow the cliffs all the way towards Sagres and you will find it about midway" he said! Great directions!!
When we disembarked at Cadiz I travelled to the Sherry capital Jerez de la Frontera where I spent a few days exploring and during this time met two German girls and a young teenage couple from Paris, and a young guy from Austarlia, who was travelling throughout Europe to discover his roots. We all hit it of right away and decided that we would travel onto somewhere together; well, we all seemed to be moving in the same direction so why not.
At Villa Real de Santo Antonio as we waited in a prominade café for a ferry across the river into Portugal, we met two German guys who were on their return journey. It was they who again told of this wonderful hidden beach, which was off the beaten track and only accessable via a smugglers tunnel cut into the cliffs which was so narrow that you had to squeeze through it with a fully loaed rucksack on your back!!!
My goodness, it was really hard to resist the urge to shout "Wow! lets go!!" As we all talked about our different adventures on the road the Austrailian - Peter 'Pung' Harding, asked "well, how do you get to this beach?" The answer was - get to Albufeiro and follow the cliff tops towards Carvoeiro! It's called 'Pria do Carvalho'...
Bruno
ps: more to come...
Thanks for the many replies regarding Benigil! Thanks to for the responses to hear a few more stories...
Well, I suppose to get to my travels in Portugal I must start at the beginning; my hitch-hiking days started when I decided that there was more to life than working at Fords in their Dunton Research Centre. So I bought a rucksack and set off, much to my parents displeasure.
No, really they begged me not to go as there had been a hitch-hiker reported killed in Spain the previous week on TV and they wanted to protect me - as I now would my children...I travelled down to the South of France first and spend a couple of months travelling around following the sun and the lifts. Grenoble, Monte-Carlo, Cannes, Frejus, San Raphael, San Tropez,
Toulon, Avignon, Nimes, Montpelier, Perpignan then right down through Spain spending about 3 months there. One of the turning points for me in my travels was Valencia, because it was here that I decided to buy a real Spanish guitar and start troubadoring - you know, singing in the bars and resturants.; although I must admit I didn't do very much of it, I liked to sing for fun and for the shear enjoyment that I saw it gave others. Of course, I welcomed the free drinks and food!After a short jaunt over to Gibralter and North Africa, I returned to mainland Europe via ferry from Tangier into Cadiz and it was on this trip that I got talking to some other hitch-hikers about where I should go next.
On the ship, were a couple of that told me that there was this lovelly virtually untouched beach near Carvoeiro in Portugal,complete with a guardian rock in the mouth of the cove! "Just get to Albufeiro and follow the cliffs all the way towards Sagres and you will find it about midway" he said! Great directions!!
When we disembarked at Cadiz I travelled to the Sherry capital Jerez de la Frontera where I spent a few days exploring and during this time met two German girls and a young teenage couple from Paris, and a young guy from Austarlia, who was travelling throughout Europe to discover his roots. We all hit it of right away and decided that we would travel onto somewhere together; well, we all seemed to be moving in the same direction so why not.
At Villa Real de Santo Antonio as we waited in a prominade café for a ferry across the river into Portugal, we met two German guys who were on their return journey. It was they who again told of this wonderful hidden beach, which was off the beaten track and only accessable via a smugglers tunnel cut into the cliffs which was so narrow that you had to squeeze through it with a fully loaed rucksack on your back!!!
My goodness, it was really hard to resist the urge to shout "Wow! lets go!!" As we all talked about our different adventures on the road the Austrailian - Peter 'Pung' Harding, asked "well, how do you get to this beach?" The answer was - get to Albufeiro and follow the cliff tops towards Carvoeiro! It's called 'Pria do Carvalho'...
Bruno
ps: more to come...
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Ellie
- CVO Oracle
- Posts: 8886
- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:16 pm
- Location: Londoner in the Wolds,Lincs
- Contact:
Nice to see you back Bruno......and Im really enjoying these episodes of your adventures through Spain and into Portugal!
On reading about you buying Spanish guitar..and entertaining in return for food & drink..reminded me of Laurie Lees trek through Spain as young man of 19.....except he played violin!
When he landed at Vigo in Northern Spain..the only words of Spanish he knew were 'Can I have a glass of water please?"
Did you know any of the language?Did you manage to communicate ok? I found Portuguese so difficult..Id learnt a little in UK only to find when we moved there..that I was pronoucing it all wrong!!
Looking forward to next episode
On reading about you buying Spanish guitar..and entertaining in return for food & drink..reminded me of Laurie Lees trek through Spain as young man of 19.....except he played violin!
When he landed at Vigo in Northern Spain..the only words of Spanish he knew were 'Can I have a glass of water please?"
Did you know any of the language?Did you manage to communicate ok? I found Portuguese so difficult..Id learnt a little in UK only to find when we moved there..that I was pronoucing it all wrong!!
Looking forward to next episode
