Bar Joan

It is not true, if it were I am sure I would know something about it!

People 2 - Alvaro, bar Meia Pipa.

Alvaro.

No matter how casual he dresses Alvaro is one of those men who always looks smart and well groomed. Rarely to be seen without a broad smile on his face Alvaro is the archetypal pub landlord. Having lived and worked in France for a number of years Alvaro speaks fluent French as well as English and of course his native Portuguese.

Whenever I recieve official mail such as tax demands etc. my first port of call is Meia Pipa where Alvaro cheerfully interprets the document for me and usually gives me instructions and directions on how to deal with it.

During quieter periods at Meia Pipa you are guaranteed Alvaro's personal attention as there is nothing he enjoys more than to socialise with his customers. Alvaro is a mine of information and delights in sharing his local knowledge.

Serving draught Guinness and Sagres lager plus a wide range of bottled beers Meia Pipa is the nearest thing in Santa Luzia to an english pub. With live music three times a week and open until the wee hours it is also the nearest thing to a night club.

A wide range of soft drinks, coffee and bar snacks are also always available and the bar is always busy during important football games which are shown here on a giant screen. The bar is also very popular with the local youth on music nights but don't let that put you off, Portuguese youths are generally well behaved, polite, well mannered and respectful of their elders and I have never yet seen one of them drunk.

Having full air conditioning Meia Pipa is also the only establishment in Santa Luzia where you can enjoy a cigarette along with your beer without the need to step outside.

Try cerveja preta (Portuguese stout).

Open daily from 7-00p.m. Closed Sunday

Movers & Shakers

In my last blog "A tale of two pontoons" I touched on some of the changes in business ownership in Santa Luzia. In the years that we have been visiting the local economy has undergone something of a transformation with the old industries of fishing and agriculture slowly shrinking and the new tourism and commerce sectors advancing.

A number of new businesses have been launched and some existing ones have undergone or are undergoing refurbishment and transformation.

I wrote in a previous blog,"Developments" about the little Cafe Santa Luzia on Av. Enginero Duarte Pacheco (The Promenade), which under new ownership has been transformed into a vibrant inviting bar compared to it's previously dark foreboding and frankly quite shabby persona.

Customers take the cool evening air outside the transformed Cafe Santa Luzia

Next door to Cafe Santa Luzia a similar transformation has occurred at Snack Bar Anna-Raquel under the stewardship of Feliz Berto (Happy Bert). Berto has done a sterling job on the formerly vastly under trading bar by introducing reasonably priced snacks, including soups which the Portuguese adore, an Internet terminal , large screen TV and brighter lighting.

Berto himself is a very accommodating, warm and friendly man but always seems to have a slightly worried look on his face which is why he presumably earned the nickname happy Bert.

Further down the promenade stands Casa Do Polvo, opened in late 2006 it was an immediate success, unlike the next door O Marinarho which opened in 2007 and traded for barely one season, the premises then being acquired by Casa Do Polvo who trade there under the logo Casa O Lado (literally meaning The House Next Door).

A semi derelict property on Largo Da Igreja, The Church Square, was completely refurbished by local builder Manuel in 2006 and opened as Cafe Da Villa selling freshly baked bread, snacks, coffees and drinks and quickly established itself as a favourite haunt of Local Portuguese, tourists and ex-pats alike. Feliz Berto acquired the lease on this business in 2007 adding it as the second string to his Santa Luzian business empire.


Cafe Da Villa where locals tourists and ex pats alike spend the hours sipping coffee and watching the world go by.

Freshly baked bread can be obtained here every morning and Berto has also installed the villages second internet terminal.

Just around the corner on Rua Marchal Gomes Da Coasta stands Arco Iris (Rainbow) a small coffee and snack bar opened in 2007 by the former owners of Cafe Kate Kero the popular bar on the social housing complex to the rear of the village. Joan and I were among if not the first customers and call in every time we are back in Santa Luzia. The owners are very accommodating and also very tolerant of my non too perfect attempts at conversation in Portuguese.

Back on the promenade meanwhile both Snack Bar Stop and Cafe Infante Henrique are undergoing refurbishment and Capelo the largest and busiest restaurant in the village has had a complete re-fit and seems certain to maintain it's position as the No.1 eatery in town.

A newly refurbished Capelo awaits the summer crowds who will patiently queue to dine here.

The new apartment developments at the western end of the village, which appeared to have all but stalled a couple of years ago, are all back on course with many of them complete or very near completion.

The former owner of Casa Da Ria, the villages only bed and breakfast accommodation, (Now trading under the name of Casa Oriente), Jorge Herrman, has, along with English partners established an apartment management company to promote and let the new buildings.

The occupation of these units along with the removal of the old sewage treatment plant and its associated stench from the western end of the village and the redevelopment of the western end of the promenade last year should give this part of the village a new lease of life.

The sign outside Jorge Herrman's Ria Beach office.

As reported in my last blog "A tale of two pontoons" the ferry and water taxi landing point has also been moved up to the western end of the village to facilitate the installation of a new harbour in the east and the re-construction of the eastern end of the promenade.

This will create opportunities for bars, cafes, shops and restaurants which due to the previously mentioned sewage stench are sadly lacking at this end of the village.

All told things are moving apace in santa Luzia which looks set to become a real tourist magnet though hopefully the lessons learned during the development of Cabanas to the east of Tavira will be applied to prevent the village loosing it's essential charm and character.

A tale of two pontoons

We have very recently returned from a quick visit. We arrived early June just as the region came to the end of a sustained bout of dreadful weather. Everyone we spoke to in the village declared they could barely recall a May of such extremes with the weather lurching between pleasant and downright horrible but mainly downright horrible.

The one bit of consolation I can take from the descriptions of the driving rain and howling winds is that my replacement roof has now had a thorough testing and has come through with flying colours.
On the upside the Portuguese weather office are saying that according to the model they use for long range forecasting they expect the months of June, July and August to be the hottest and driest on record.
We were anxious to see if a start had been made on dredging for the new harbour and were disappointed but not altogether surprised to find that most of the boats that had been removed from the area concerned were back there bobbing on the tide and in typical Portuguese fashion no work had commenced.
However a number of portable cabins have been erected near the boat yard and a new pontoon has been installed further up the promenade to replace the existing ferry and water taxi landing which is situated bang in the middle of the proposed new development so things are starting to happen.

A view onto the new pontoon which has been installed up on the new end of the promenade.

All that's needed now is an inspection by the Ferguesia and resolution of the dispute about who is to operate the ferry franchise and we are up and running.

Here we see the ramshackle old ferry landing which is to be removed to make way for the new harbour.

Moored either side with ropes and otherwise free floating you certainly needed sea legs to use it when the heavy tidal currents were running up and down the Ria Formosa.




Once the new landing point is operative the owner of the Little "Cafe Alentejo" will find himself the first port of call for ferry and water taxi users, a privilege previously enjoyed by "Casa da Polvo".
If her gears up for it he will be minted.

Talking of minted, a few changes have occurred in business ownership in the village, more of that later.
Meanwhile I am seriously considering complaining to the manufacturers of my fridge freezer.
According to the ratings on the door a fish should last 3 months in the freezer.
I put Brian in there in mid April and on my return in early June (less than 2 months by my reckoning) the poor creature was stone cold dead.