Old vines, new wines
Red, white, rosé… and yellow… a wine tour with a twist With the summer months a distant memory, Inside Magazine joined forces with Vasco Chaveca, jumped into his bright yellow, electric Tuk Tuk and headed off into the countryside between Lagoa and Silves on a leisurely wine tour, tailored-made for us. Vasco will often customise a tour, taking in to account time constraints or a interest in a par- ticular producer for...
Makeover for Tivoli Almansor Hotel
Makeover for Tivoli Almansor Hotel The Tivoli Almansor hotel is undergoing major refurbishment this winter and aims to be open at the beginning of April 2017. Having been open for 25 years, the four-star hotel was showing signs of aging when the new owners, Minor International, closed its doors in November 2016. The new and improved plans will no doubt boost the hotel’s status to five stars, which are certainly more fitting to its...
Connecting People
Connecting People This autumn we saw a welcome addition of a fleet of Mercedes Benz minibuses (20 seats) whizzing around with Rota das Falesias adorning the side. The buses are the first of their kind in the Carvoeiro area and offer a transportation link between Carvoeiro, Lagoa, and Ferragudo with convenient stops at points of interest in between. The “hop on-hop off ” service offers users the flexibility to, say, catch the morning...
A Portuguese Hideaway
River House meets river retreat, a holiday haven for foodies and nature lovers Heading inland from Silves, you might get the impression that you’re venturing into no man’s land but that is far from the case. There are many rural retreats hidden in wonderfully peaceful and stunningly beautiful locations dotted around the Algarve, so Inside Magazine took a drive out to meet Cheryl and Graham Smith and find out what makes their place...
Stand Up Portugal
Honuhele SUP boards, bringing manufacturing back to Portugal indsurfer Guilherme Martins welcomed Inside Magazine to his surf shop, overlooking the sprawling beach of Praia da Rocha, to find out more about his stand up paddle- boards business. Born in northern Portugal, Guilherme came back to his parents’ hometown, Portimão, and began to search for a beach concession where he could rent Stand Up Paddle- boards (SUP). In 2012 he found...
Unique felt pieces
Water, soap and the pressure of Maria Custódio’s hands compress the wool to felt. A simple, ancient technique that, coupled with Maria’s imagination, allows for an infinite number of design possibilities. Unlike in Germany or France, the art of felting is not well known in Portugal where only a handful of artisans practise the art of wet or dry felt. Maria Custódio is one of these artists. Although she lived for the first...
Lady in red – New and exciting beginnings for the art gallery in Lagoa
A new multi-functional events venue is rising from the shadows of the old Adega building in Lagoa. The massive venue, spanning about 3000sqm on top of the bottling and warehouse space of the wine cellar, and complemented by a huge parking area that’s ripe for development, has now been taken over by Liz and Peter Roberts who have injected a new lease of life into the previously underused space and also created some distinguished...
The life of the song thrush – A regular winter guest to the Algarve
A Regular winter guest to the Algarve The male, which apart from the singing, can hardly be distinguished from the female, helps with feeding the young with insects, worms, caterpillars and smashed snails. The song thrush (Turdus philomelos or Tordo pinto in Portuguese) is closely related to the common black- bird, but it is a bit smaller. With its striking and beautiful, flute-like song in the spring, the song thrush is familiar to...
Endangered Feline
ON THE TRAIL OF THE IBERIAN LYNX The national breeding station of the Iberian lynx at the Herdade das Santinhas, close to Vale Fuzeiros near Silves, was set up in May 2009, as a compen- satory measure for damages to the environment during the construction of the Odelouca dam. Eighty five lynxes have been born there since then; 62 have survived. 44 cats were successfully released into the wild, most of them in Spain, but also in the...
Facelift for Ferragudo
The picture postcard village of Ferragudo is becoming increasingly popular and their forward thinking local council have unveiled some very ambitious plans that will breathe a new lease of life into the traditional village. A multi-million euro plan includes the renovation of the main northern entrance to the village, as well as the construction of a three-storey car park (with a capacity for 120 vehicles) that will also boast a...
