DESTINATIONS ALGARVE | EUROPE
Rockstars
As Portugal opens up to Brits, Laura French hops over to the Algarve to see an alternative side to this postcard-pretty region
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travelweekly.co.uk
’m having a staring contest with a fish – a huge, black, demonic thing curled up like a snake with an eyeball the size of my thumb and a mouth
that looks like it’s about to snap shut and eat me. Next to it lie a pile of slimy lobsters, a mound
of silvery sardines and a trio of shiny, beady-eyed rays.
I’m at the local market in the Algarve fishing village of Olhao, basking in the novelty of seeing something other than my local Tesco, because – yes – travel is back on. Around me, locals call out to each other in Portuguese, vendors pound fish with huge knives and overpowering smells waft around in a way you just don’t get in good old Blighty – and it’s invigorating.
OLHAO
I’m on a trip to see what travel to Portugal is like in the green list era, while exploring another side to one of the country’s most-visited regions – and Olhao is exactly that. This sleepy coastal town rose to
prominence as a fishing hub in the 17th century and remains one of the Algarve’s main ports. Today, locals come from far and wide to check out its lively market, where pungent fish and Portuguese delicacies are housed in burgundy-painted pavilions lining the sparkling harbour.
I browse rows of honey and sweets, dried fruit and olives, then wander Olhao’s cobbled old quarter, where half-dilapidated buildings in white, blue, ²
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ALGARVE
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