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monthly newsletter
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Caroline
- CVO Regular
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2004 9:18 pm
- Location: Port Erin,Isle of Man and Carvoeiro
monthly newsletter
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading Nigel Hoares monthly letter.We use the website nearly every day as we have a house in MonteCarvoeiro but havent been able to visit since the summer as we are living in Rio for a while.Having great fun and its good for learning more Portuguese but it doesnt feel like home!Love to look at the picture of the square and see what the weather is doing.Hope to visit at Easter but think it will be the summer.
I too enjoy Nigels monthly diary.
The mention of Patrick Swift in the last two Carvoeiro newsletters prompted me to dig out my copy of “Algarve, a portrait and guide” written by David Wright and Patrick Swift and first published in 1965. My copy is a reprint updated and published in 1972. I’ve read this book several times since buying it in a library sale of old books in 1995.
I thought forum members might like to hear what Patrick had to say about Carvoeiro in the section General Notes to Tourists. (1972 updated publication)
Carvoeiro, a few miles from Lagoa, is now one of the most popular places with expatriate settlers. It has accreted what seems to be a vast suburb which appears to sprawl for miles around and the village is far from being the simple place it was when Wright and I described it. Where Manuel’s café stood in the dust square, there Senhor José Barrata operates a most elegant restaurant, O Patio, and the square itself is cobbled, calçada portuguesa style, very clean and neat…..
The village has the best discotheque on the coast, run by Tim Motion, called Sobe e Desce, the Up and Down….
In 1972 the great hotel of the area is due to open just beyond Carvoeiro on the seafront, at a once deserted and idyllic cove. The Hotel Almanzor will be joining the ranks of the great luxury hotels of the Algarve. It may well turn out to be the best attempt yet at a solution to the nightmare problem of how to site a two or three bedroom hotel without destroying the landscape. It is designed so that the major part of it is built into the cliffs right up to the water’s edge. It is said that the future will see at least two more big hotels in this district
There is a whole chapter in the book about Carvoeiro as it was in 1965 when Patrick Swift lived in the ‘big house’. Built about eighty years ago it had a square green-painted tower which commanded a view of the miniature beach shaped like a bite out of a piece of bread and butter. White cottages with filigreed chimneys climbed up the further cliffs to the chapel and coastguard station.
I’d better not quote anymore or I’ll be in trouble with the copyright holders.
The book evokes an era of change, when there was still plenty of local colour and customs but you could sense that things were about to change, as they did.
The mention of Patrick Swift in the last two Carvoeiro newsletters prompted me to dig out my copy of “Algarve, a portrait and guide” written by David Wright and Patrick Swift and first published in 1965. My copy is a reprint updated and published in 1972. I’ve read this book several times since buying it in a library sale of old books in 1995.
I thought forum members might like to hear what Patrick had to say about Carvoeiro in the section General Notes to Tourists. (1972 updated publication)
Carvoeiro, a few miles from Lagoa, is now one of the most popular places with expatriate settlers. It has accreted what seems to be a vast suburb which appears to sprawl for miles around and the village is far from being the simple place it was when Wright and I described it. Where Manuel’s café stood in the dust square, there Senhor José Barrata operates a most elegant restaurant, O Patio, and the square itself is cobbled, calçada portuguesa style, very clean and neat…..
The village has the best discotheque on the coast, run by Tim Motion, called Sobe e Desce, the Up and Down….
In 1972 the great hotel of the area is due to open just beyond Carvoeiro on the seafront, at a once deserted and idyllic cove. The Hotel Almanzor will be joining the ranks of the great luxury hotels of the Algarve. It may well turn out to be the best attempt yet at a solution to the nightmare problem of how to site a two or three bedroom hotel without destroying the landscape. It is designed so that the major part of it is built into the cliffs right up to the water’s edge. It is said that the future will see at least two more big hotels in this district
There is a whole chapter in the book about Carvoeiro as it was in 1965 when Patrick Swift lived in the ‘big house’. Built about eighty years ago it had a square green-painted tower which commanded a view of the miniature beach shaped like a bite out of a piece of bread and butter. White cottages with filigreed chimneys climbed up the further cliffs to the chapel and coastguard station.
I’d better not quote anymore or I’ll be in trouble with the copyright holders.
The book evokes an era of change, when there was still plenty of local colour and customs but you could sense that things were about to change, as they did.
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Guest
its much more fun reading the newsletters if you try and work out the following:
His alcoholic unit intake for the month
His calorific intake for the month.
Maybe we should all choose a month and we can play a Top Trumps type game. Other statistics could include
blood pressure
hangover rating
waist measurement
No of house guests
No of trips to Faro airport
No of mentions of dog walking (surely a euphemism for something??!)
tee hee hee
B2D
His alcoholic unit intake for the month
His calorific intake for the month.
Maybe we should all choose a month and we can play a Top Trumps type game. Other statistics could include
blood pressure
hangover rating
waist measurement
No of house guests
No of trips to Faro airport
No of mentions of dog walking (surely a euphemism for something??!)
tee hee hee
B2D
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elle
Ive got this book too Papajock but its the original pub.in '65.....
it was signed by Patrick in Jan.'78 at Porches..(so it doesnt have the 'portrait and guide'bit)..
Ive just opened it( like you..Ive read it a few times) and read the piece you quoted on CVO..
was his 'big house' on the road up to church d'you know?
BD2..what a charming daughter!
......Id just love to have my sprog stalking me on here(I dont think!! 
)..
spect he loves you to bits tho eh..daddy B?
ellie
p.s.But Im off to read newsletter now...and make notes...............
it was signed by Patrick in Jan.'78 at Porches..(so it doesnt have the 'portrait and guide'bit)..
Ive just opened it( like you..Ive read it a few times) and read the piece you quoted on CVO..
was his 'big house' on the road up to church d'you know?
BD2..what a charming daughter!
......Id just love to have my sprog stalking me on here(I dont think!! )..spect he loves you to bits tho eh..daddy B?
ellie
p.s.But Im off to read newsletter now...and make notes...............
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B2D
- CVO Senior
- Posts: 475
- Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:14 am
- Location: Join the Pato fan club TODAY!!!
this is quote of the month from the january newsletter
The block of stone alone had cost over 5,000 Euros and Whether you like it or not it is truly amazing. He told me that the local Council had offered him 50,0000 Euros for it but as he values it at 500,000 Euros it seems that it may take while to find a buyer.
can you spot it???
I think Biffa is trying to mess with our minds!!!
The block of stone alone had cost over 5,000 Euros and Whether you like it or not it is truly amazing. He told me that the local Council had offered him 50,0000 Euros for it but as he values it at 500,000 Euros it seems that it may take while to find a buyer.
can you spot it???
I think Biffa is trying to mess with our minds!!!
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Ellie
- CVO Oracle
- Posts: 8886
- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:16 pm
- Location: Londoner in the Wolds,Lincs
- Contact:
Another interesting read Biffa thank-you 
After reading your little darling's post(
)..I did become quite fascinated by your 'pub/bar crawl' at New Year..but didnt bother to count alcohol intake.after all it WAS new year after all!!
Very intrigued by the statue being carved at Alcantariha(spl
)...think it could make big impression set up in CVO square..maybe in the middle of the new central seat ( very nice..but found those bricks it bit hard on backs of legs..and my feet don't touch the floor!)
What/who is it? Whats it represent? How big is it?
Looks marvellous piece of sculpturing
agree with Digger...Im a bit 'fogged' by all those euros tho
After reading your little darling's post(
)..I did become quite fascinated by your 'pub/bar crawl' at New Year..but didnt bother to count alcohol intake.after all it WAS new year after all!!Very intrigued by the statue being carved at Alcantariha(spl
)...think it could make big impression set up in CVO square..maybe in the middle of the new central seat ( very nice..but found those bricks it bit hard on backs of legs..and my feet don't touch the floor!)What/who is it? Whats it represent? How big is it?
Looks marvellous piece of sculpturing
agree with Digger...Im a bit 'fogged' by all those euros tho
Statue etc
I did learn to count but it is the zeroes that always let me down! Also my faithful proofreader was unavailable for last months letter!
The statue is a representation of a sun God it seems. The basic marble block cost sculptor Hercules (so called he tells me 'cos he weighed 6 kilos at birth?!) 5,000 and was sold to him at cost by the marble works that then allowed him to carve it on their premises. The Camara offered 50,000 and he wants 500,000!
It is BIG - including the plinth it must be 4 metres tall I guess. It is very good if you like that sort of thing - and have half a million euros!
In reply to R2D2, blood pressure (systolic?) and waist measurement more or less match and number of house guests is in direct proportion to trips to the airport x 2!!
Its a tuff life you know!!
The statue is a representation of a sun God it seems. The basic marble block cost sculptor Hercules (so called he tells me 'cos he weighed 6 kilos at birth?!) 5,000 and was sold to him at cost by the marble works that then allowed him to carve it on their premises. The Camara offered 50,000 and he wants 500,000!
It is BIG - including the plinth it must be 4 metres tall I guess. It is very good if you like that sort of thing - and have half a million euros!
In reply to R2D2, blood pressure (systolic?) and waist measurement more or less match and number of house guests is in direct proportion to trips to the airport x 2!!
Its a tuff life you know!!
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Guest
Sun God eh? Very appropriate....and very big you say....does it require a fig leaf?
Can you put in a request for me Biffa please? some nice soft cushions for that new (Brick!) central seat in square.. for those of us with rather sensitive skin?
Does B2D think youre made of money??
500,000 euros ...blimey...whats that in pounds..you could always ask Sir Cliff for a loan tho..............................ellie
Can you put in a request for me Biffa please? some nice soft cushions for that new (Brick!) central seat in square.. for those of us with rather sensitive skin?
Does B2D think youre made of money??
500,000 euros ...blimey...whats that in pounds..you could always ask Sir Cliff for a loan tho..............................ellie
Sun God
Actually you have hit the nail on the head Guest. A fig leaf wouldn't do the job at all. I don't know how Hercules is blessed in that department but he sure has left a large carving down below!
That was me Biffa!