algarve Archives -

February 20, 2022February 21, 2022

An afternoon stroll around Vila Real de Santo António

We were undecided whether we should head over to Spain for the afternoon, or to the last Portuguese town before the border – Vila Real de Santo António. We were almost at the border when we realised that my passport wasn’t in the car, so decided it was probably safer to stay this side of the river and take a stroll around the town and check out the most easterly beach in Algarve.

Look up!

Shaun always sees things I don’t, or maybe he points things out to me and I don’t bother doing the same for him..? He noticed a beautiful mosaic above a shop which I would certainly have missed. Maybe it’s because I’m short, or maybe it’s because I’m so focused on keeping the dogs walking to heel that I don’t spot some of the more interesting stuff higher up.

I really enjoy turning my photos into digital art. I’ve sold some of my work to local restaurants and hotels, and now I’m working on a few commissions of private houses. If you would like me to create an original piece for your home – or of your home, drop me a line hello@fiftysister.com

Everyone in their Sunday best, or were they?

One of the first things we noticed was how well dressed everyone appeared in Vila Real de Santo António, maybe they had been to church? On hearing them chatting we realised that most of the visitors there were Spanish. I don’t want to be derogatory about Portuguese people, because they really are the most welcoming, friendly easy going people I’ve ever met, but their dress code is super casual. The Spanish on the other hand, are seen wearing designer sunglasses, expensive shoes, crisp white pressed shirts and all round less casual clothing. I’m not the first person to notice this, as a few of my friends have said exactly the same thing. On the streets of most Algarvian towns and villages, practical clothing is the number one choice, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

Take a stroll along the river on the Avenida da República

We started by taking a stroll along Avenida da República. The city front facing the Guadiana river. It’s a really beautiful part of Vila Real de Santo António (VRSA) and where some very fine architecture like the Grande Hotel Guadiana is located. Vila Real de Santo António’s harbour is along the riverside, where you can embark for river cruises, the short ferry ride to Spain and boat trips to the Atlantic beaches. Follow the calçada payment south to the mouth of the river and border with Spain. Shaun and I wondered how difficult it would be to swim the border as it’s not that far. Depending on the tide, we think it would be an easy 10 minute crossing.

There are lots of restaurants selling fresh fish stews, cafés with a huge selection of cakes and snacks and a good variety of shops. We strolled to the end of the walkway, where the surroundings became a bit questionable, with people living in shacks made from old boat parts and women selling very preloved clothing from an old well worn, weather beaten leather sofa. Now I am sure I’ve just put you off visiting this place, but it really was a small part of the town, filled with old boats and crumbling buildings.

Marquis of Pombal Square - Praça Marquês de Pombal

Opposite the harbour on Avenida da República is Praça do Marquês de Pombal. A beautiful perfect town square or praça which was designed to be the commercial and civic centre of the city. Lots of market stalls to choose from selling everything you can think of. Wander in every direction and you will find cafes, bars and small restaurants filled with locals and visitors.

Praia da Ponta da Areia

We headed to the last beach of eastern Algarve which is Praia da Ponta da Areia, where the Guadiana meets the Atlantic. Drive via Farolinho de Vila Real de Santo António. Take a right halfway down the road and follow the signs to Caramelo Beach Club. There’s plenty of parking spaces and boardwalks straight to the beach. You can also access the beach via Caminho dos Três Pauzinhos which is a 15-minute hike through a beautiful pine forest – Mata Nacional das Dunas de Vila Real de Santo António. Keep an eye out for chameleons, which come down from the trees to lay their eggs in the sandy soil. Everything is closed in the winter, so make sure you take a drink with you as it’s a reasonably long walk to the cafes in Monte Gordo further west on the beach.

We were having a super afternoon, relaxing whilst watching the huge swell hit the rocky breakwater when…… Bird ran off to take a poop on the beach. Shaun was doing his best to keep his eye on the prize, geomapping the poop’s location by scanning the beach for rocks and other memorable landmarks, when eek! He slipped between two boulders and ripped his big toe in half (maybe not quite that bad but he was stunned and a bit traumatised by all the blood) and scraped lots of skin off his shin. I made my way there as quickly and carefully as possible but he had lost the ability to speak. Realising conversation was the last thing on his mind, I made a dash to scoop the poop and wait it out on the beach until he had recovered from his tumble.

He hobbled back to the car and we drove home in silence. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after being married for almost 35 years, it’s when to shut the hell up. After putting his chair in the late afternoon sun and applying a bottle of beer to his mouth, he slowly regained the ability to speak and asked what was for supper. He won’t be playing tennis for a week or so, but a bit of daily first aid should fix him up until his nail grows back and his skin heals.

It cut our afternoon short so we will be back again soon with more info on this area and no doubt some more photos. Check back soon for new posts or subscribe to my mailing list by clicking here. I will send out an email once a month to keep you up to date.

Have a beautiful week!

Gail x

February 19, 2022February 20, 2022

Winter in Algarve

Enjoying winter in Algarve with a stroll and dunk on Praia do Barril, Santa Luzia.

A warm up in the sunshine after my unexpected dunking.

It’s been a wonderful winter in Algarve. Very little rain or cloud to block the glorious winter sun. I watched a few videos of the storm in the UK yesterday and was reminded of the many wet and windy days in Devon last winter. It’s almost one year since we packed up the car and headed back to Algarve and I don’t think we’ve had more than 7 days of rain in that whole year. I know that there’s more to life than just the weather, but waking up to sunshine pouring through the bedroom window puts a smile on my face before I’ve even opened my eyes.

Today we had some lovely vegan pancakes for breakfast with maple syrup and cinnamon, a huge pot of Jasmin tea and a compulsory double espresso before we headed out to the beach. If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I posted a cheeky photo of me naked on the beach this week (scroll down to view). All rather unplanned, but I want to see more natural ageing bodies in my feed so I feel I need to contribute to the cause. I’d like to say that I always stroll along the beach completely naked (it is a designated naturist beach), but I simply don’t feel the need to cast away my clothes. Last year I was stung 6 times by wasps over the course of the summer, the thought of getting stung on any of my lady bits is enough to make my eyes water. Personally I think most people look better clothed. Having said that, I don’t have a problem with nudity, and the double standard of the male vs female nipple is beyond my comprehension. Free all the nipples!

Bird, a little puzzled and curious as to why I threw all my clothes on the beach before making a dash for the ocean.

Sparkles and a dunking.

I decided to take a dip today and was enjoying the view of the sun dancing on the ocean beyond my toes as I floated in the Atlantic, when I noticed a rather large wave heading my way. In those few seconds I was trying to calculate whether the wave would break before me, or if I had the option to simply ride over the wave and continue my wallowing. Mid calculation, I realised it was time to grab my sunglasses and jump as high as I could to avoid the wave that was about to break ON MY HEAD.

… I managed to hold onto my sunglasses but lost my cap as I tumbled in the wave. I popped up just in time to see the next one coming so made the decision to dive through it rather than try to avoid it. Shaun was on the beach approaching the shoreline, wondering whether I would appear laughing or gasping for air after my slamming from the wave. I gave him a thumbs up to indicate I didn’t need saving and scouted around for my hat, whilst making a swift exit from the sudden swell. There was a bit of a rip current, so I swam parallel to the beach until I was safely out of it, enabling me to easily return to shore. Bikini off, my lovely hooded towel poncho on, and it was time to soak up some sun in the dunes.

It’s a dog’s life.

Ginger and Bird love the beach. As soon as they see me packing my backpack with my swim stuff they run to the car to jump in. We have collapsible crates in the back of the car which they snuggle in to and get comfy for the 5 minute car ride to the boardwalk by the beach. We used these crates when we drove from the UK to Portugal and I can highly recommend them for anyone wanting comfort for their dogs, with the convenience of easy storage when not in use.

Beautiful Ginger, she loves the sun almost as much as rolling on dead fish.

Bird loves to swim in the shallows looking for fish, Ginger on the other hand, likes to run along the high tide line of flotsam and jetsam to find disgusting things to either eat or roll in. She almost died twice from eating washed up palm oil on the beach in Devon about 7 years ago. Now she prefers dead birds and rotting fish, the smellier the better. There’s a risk she could eat palm oil again, so I could put a muzzle on her, but that would prevent her from enjoying her game of chasing Bird with sticks and fetching the ball. I do worry so keep an eye on everything she munches on.

Stunning sunsets

This week we’ve had the most amazing sunsets, one of the best things about winter in Algarve. As my friend Sarah once said, you need clouds to make a good sunset. I guess the same can be said about a good life. We need a few dark days to appreciate the good ones.

I hope you like this new format. Drop me a line to hello@fiftysister.com with questions or topic suggestions. I hope you have a beautiful day.

Gail x

February 17, 2022February 21, 2022

Bring in the big cats

This week there was a major change to the landscaping behind the house, so we needed to bring in the big cats to make the earth move. The land, which is a mix of 50% limestone and 50% top soil will be excavated and moved to the front of the property.

Episode 4 – the big cats making the earth move for us

In my YouTuve video I give you a full 360 degree tour and also explain a couple of compromises I’ve had to deal with. Don’t forget to hit the like button on YouTube if you enjoyed the video, subscribe if you want to keep up to date with my build and hit the bell icon to be notified when I post more content on there.

The first time we’ve viewed the house from this angle.

We had a small digger onsite for a couple of days, but it wasn’t up to the job of moving so much earth once we decided that we could no longer afford the concrete wall we’d planned for the north of the property. In this episode I will give you this week’s update and show you the new landscape features. I am going to visit site again tomorrow to discuss the drop away of land in front of the infinity pool and take a look at what the big cat team have been up to.

Big cats bringing us some hammer time!

Building the road for the concrete trucks to access the east wing.

Most of the stone behind the house is limestone, but we hit a new patch of granite so we needed the huge mechanised hammer to break a new access to the higher land to the north. The hammer costs more money per day- wear and tear on the machinery plus the operator probably needs therapy after spending the day being on the end of the world’s largest and loudest hammer. I will take some video tomorrow if he’s still drilling away so you can see just how impressive this piece of kit is. You can check out my last blog post here and episode 3 on YouTube here

Totally wearing the wrong clothes for this very long unplanned visit!

We hadn’t intended to spend so much time onsite for this visit, it was supposed to be an office meeting plus a drive by of the site. Needless to say after a couple of hours onsite my hair was full of dust and my jeans looked like I’d been playing 5 a side football.

Check back next week for another update. You can send me message via the contact page by clicking here.

Have a beautiful day!

Gail x

February 13, 2022February 20, 2022

Episode 3 of building our new minimalist house build in Algarve

Welcome to episode 3 of building our new minimalist home in Algarve.

Our dream is to build a minimalist, industrial style, single story home, nestled in the mountains of Loulé, Algarve, facing the Atlantic coast. A low maintenance home and garden, with free power and water, needing no extra input from mains services once complete. Add to that a kitchen garden and edible plants in the landscaping and we can work towards self-sufficiency in the future. I’m loving every minute of the process and excited to see the build progress each week.

This week we have a bit of a lull in construction whilst we move earth and rock around site in preparation for the east wing which is the ruin we have incorporated into the design. The ruin was a smallholding with goats many years ago, and most recently (we can see it hasn’t been used for at least 20 years), it had been used as a hillside small laundry/washhouse. Today I share; some of the designs which inspired me, a stroll around the land from east to west, our design and the new minimalist lifestyle which we have embraced to let go, free ourselves of possessions and provide us with more freedom.

Subscribe on YouTube to be notified when I post new videos. The team are onsite 6 days per week, pushing to finish the concrete and steel for us as they have lots of other jobs waiting!

You will find my blog here: fiftysister.com/blog with my most recent post for the house build here: https://fiftysister.com/change-of-use/

Have a beautiful day.

Gail

#algarve #portugal #loulé #aplaceinthesun #dreamhome

Music: www.bensound.com

February 6, 2022February 20, 2022

Change of use

Change of use of the en-suite bedrooms.

Lots of time to think over the past week due to the slight delay with the ruin demolition, so I’ve come up with a change of use for 3 of the bedrooms. I shall explain…

Through the years

We started this build process 5 years ago after selling our large family home in the UK. We had hoped that the whole process would be complete within 2 years, even with delays (wishful thinking!). Well, we certainly didn’t factor in the painfully long length of time that Loulé planning would take to approve both our planning application and the construction licence, plus a pandemic stopped everything in it’s tracks, but here we are 5 years later with the concrete structure taking shape nicely.

Just the two of us.

Our intention initially was to build a home for our family of three, me, my husband and our son, (who works in the maritime industry and – at the time- was spending long periods away at sea). However, after spending some time in Portugal, our son decided it wasn’t for him, even though he loves the weather, the people and life in general here. What’s missing for him is an abundance of young people… Where are they? Well, they have left to find better paid and more varied work than is available in the south of Portugal. Head north and you will see more young people out and about in the evening – which is surprisingly a rare sight in Algarve.

This is the original design submitted to planning with 5 en-suite bedrooms. Scroll down for the updated use of surplus bedrooms as scribbled/edited by me (very badly!).

Memories of muddy pups and soggy socks

So…. then there was just the two of us to live in the house with the prospect of regular visits from our son. I’m not going to bore you with all the toing and froing but we were selling the project, then we weren’t, then we were….well you get the idea. We moved back to the UK in November 2019 to renovate a small cottage we owned there, and spend some time figuring out what we wanted to do. Lots of rain and mud and more rain, soggy dogs and drenched clothing reminded us why we left in the first place. Then the pandemic hit, lockdowns, travel bans, you know how it was. We were stuck there for a while but decided to make the most of it and renovate our cottage. We finished the renovation and listed the house January 2020 which sold within a week or so. Fast forward a few weeks and we were on our way back to Portugal to finish this project once and for all.

All in my head

My husband sees this as an investment, he doesn’t have any emotional connection to it at all, he just sees profit. For me, I have invested a lot of time and effort designing the layout of the house and have considered every detail of the build and finished project over and over in my head. I’ve spent hours in my imagination, opening doors, looking at light switches, placing artwork and trying out different options for exterior flooring finishes. I can see it finished and enjoy spending time in this home in my head. I didn’t think this was unusual until I mentioned it to my husband, who informs me this is not normal to be able to walk around a virtual house in my head. Maybe it’s my magical power – does anyone else have this ability?

Investment vs dream

We designed the house with five en-suite bedrooms to maximise the profit. However, we are just two people, why would we need so many bedrooms? This past week it hit me that we could actually be living in this house by the end of this year. I guess I didn’t think too much about the reality of moving in, as lots of people including my architect and engineer told me it would be sold before we finish it. The reason being, there are lots of people with more money than me who will pay top dollar for a unique and NEW home. There are some people who only buy new. I have already declined a very nice offer, but what would I buy instead? Ultimately of course, everything has a price and I may not be able to decline crazy offers if they come my way, but for now, I am going ahead to finish it for us as our dream home rather than with only re-sale in mind.

All change!

This brings me to the changes I’ve made this week to the function of the rooms. Instead of 5 bedrooms, we will have 2 master bedrooms, an office, a chillout/music lounge and a spa room.

Very 'la-di-da' Spa

What do I mean by ‘a spa room’ I hear you ask? The family bathroom on the east side will be designed as home spa bathroom. I’m going to spend a lot of time designing this room which will have a circular tub, next to glass doors opening out onto a small terrace with an outdoor shower. The bedroom next to this will support the use of the pool. I shall explain…. The spa room (which can easily revert back to its original use as a bedroom) will have towels, bath robes, spare swimsuits, toiletries etc and act as a changing room for visitors using our pool. It will also be where I practice yoga and meditate. I will use it for home beauty treatments and my own personal salon – a sort of beauty room. So basically, I have claimed this room for myself, a quiet, tranquil space for me, but with the added use for visitors using the pool.

Chillout

At the other end of the house on the west side, we will have a music/chillout room. A place where we can go and lounge on a huge day-bed to escape the summer heat, without worrying about a damp swimsuit or wet hair. Somewhere to listen to music in comfort, surrounded by comfy cushions and throws. This could also double as a spare bed if a tipsy visitor decides to stay over. My husband wanted this as an office, but it’s a waste of a room with an amazing ocean view, just to have a desk and an office chair, so he’s been shuffled eastwards next to the spa room. I don’t need an office as I’m happy to work anywhere, however I’ve made a claim on the space in the basement/garage with panoramic views of the ocean, to use as a studio / workshop for all my art projects and silversmithing.

More big changes this week.

This week we have the transformation of the ruin going ahead, so I will be back with another video before the end of the week. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube (click here) and tap the little bell icon to be notified when I post something new. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a beautiful week.

Gail