Portugal's Algarve - Our Final Chapter

Portugal’s Algarve – Our Final Chapter

Our month exploring Portugal’s Algarve is coming to an end. Our winter escape from Ontario’s cold gave us sunny coastal walks, memorable meals and the relaxed rhythm of life in southern Portugal.

For Europeans, the Algarve is much like Florida is for Canadians from Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Each winter thousands travel here to enjoy the region’s milder climate.

The weather can be quite variable. In the month before our arrival on February 15, Portugal experienced record rainfall. Fortunately, during our stay we enjoyed plenty of sunny, dry days. Many afternoons reached 18°C (65°F) or more, while cooler days hovered around 14°C (57°F).

The Algarve is also an incredibly popular destination for Canadians — we met many during our time here.

Food

As readers of our earlier posts know, food has been one of the highlights of this trip. Portugal’s cuisine is simple, fresh and deeply rooted in tradition — and we’ve enjoyed every bit of it.

Restaurants vs Cooking at “Home”

Our one-bedroom hotel had a modest kitchen and trying to be mindful of our waistlines, we ended up having all of our breakfasts and about two-thirds of our lunches and dinners at “home.”

Almost every day we walked to the very convenient Pingo Doce grocery store (Portugal’s second-largest grocery chain). The store has excellent seafood and meat counters, an in-house bakery, fresh produce and just about everything else you might need.

Cooking with local ingredients quickly became part of our daily routine.

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts

Pastéis de Nata from the bakery at our local grocery store

Everyone is familiar with Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese egg custard tarts) — and for good reason.

These pastries trace their origins to Pastéis de Belém, first created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at Lisbon’s Jerónimos Monastery.

In those days convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg whites for starching clothes and filtering wine. Rather than waste the leftover egg yolks, monks and nuns used them to create cakes and pastries — which is why Portugal developed such a rich tradition of egg-based sweets.

After the Liberal Revolution of 1820, religious orders lost funding and faced dissolution. To survive, the monks began selling their pastries at a nearby sugar refinery. When the monastery closed in 1834, the monks sold their secret recipe to the refinery owner, Domingos Rafael Alves.

In 1837 the refinery owners opened the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, where the original tarts are still made today. They sell over 20,000 tarts per day, seven days a week, from one location. Only pastries from that bakery can legally be called Pastéis de Belém.

All others — in Portugal and around the world — are known as Pastéis de Nata (“cream pastries”).

While we didn’t manage to try the original Belém version in Lisbon, we quickly developed a daily habit of picking up a couple of warm custard tarts from the in-house bakery at our local grocery store.

They have the thinnest, crispiest pastry shell and are filled with silky smooth custard.

Best eaten while still warm from the bakery…

Pics from Antiga Confeitaria de Belém bakery

Cataplana

We first experienced cataplana during a visit to Portugal 24 years ago and absolutely loved it, so we were determined to try it again.

The word cataplana refers to the clam-shaped cooking vessel used to prepare the dish. The hinged metal pot seals tightly, allowing ingredients to steam slowly and retain their rich flavours.

Most historians believe the cataplana was introduced by the Moors during their 500-year occupation of the Algarve. Its design resembles the Moroccan tagine, although the Portuguese version is typically made from metal rather than clay.

For centuries the Algarve was also known for its skilled coppersmiths, who crafted beautiful copper cataplanas prized for their excellent heat conductivity.

Cataplana cooker

What began as a practical cooking tool for fishermen and hunters — who would pack it with onions, garlic, olive oil and their fresh catch — eventually became one of the Algarve’s signature dishes.

Today cataplana is considered one of the region’s great seafood meals.

We found one of the Algarve’s best-rated places to try it in Lagos: Casinha do Petisco, a tiny family-run restaurant with only about 30 seats.

Restaurant: Casinha do Petisco

It opens for dinner six nights a week with just two seatings each evening and reservations are usually required days in advance. We were lucky enough to secure a reservation the day before — just two days before the family closed for a one-month holiday.

The cataplana itself is a very generous meal for two and we were barely able to finish it. Our server and his parents were wonderful hosts and the food was superb.

Mmmmmm

We’ll definitely need to find a way to enjoy cataplana again — hopefully in less than another 24 years.

Money

Portugal uses the Euro, and we found managing money here quite easy.

Before leaving Canada we set up a Wise account and funded it with Canadian dollars from our regular bank account. We also obtained a Wise debit card that allowed us to make purchases or withdraw Euros from local ATMs. Wise is known for extremely competitive exchange rates and low transaction fees.

We initially brought €2,000 in cash for meals and everyday purchases, and near the end of our stay we topped it up with a small ATM withdrawal.

Overall, the system worked extremely well.

Cell Phone

In December, friends referred us to a new cell phone plan offered by Freedom Mobile.

It provides unlimited calling and texting plus a large data plan in Canada, the United States and Mexico. It also includes a “Roam Beyond” feature covering 120 additional countries, including Portugal and Spain.

The plan allows unlimited local calling, calls to and from Canada, unlimited texting and a moderate data allowance.

It proved to be very convenient (no change in phone number; just use your contacts list to initiate calls) and it worked flawlessly for us — including FaceTime calls — all for about $40 per month.

For Canadians planning international travel, it’s definitely worth considering.

Heading Home

In a couple of days we’ll take the train back to Lisbon, stay overnight and then board a direct Air Canada flight home.

Escaping the Ontario winter for a seven weeks has been wonderful and Canary Islands and  Portugal have proven to be great destinations to do it. But now we are also looking forward to getting home and seeing family and friends.

But the memories — and perhaps a craving for the occasional Portuguese custard tart — will stay with us for a long time

Thanks for travelling with us

Stephen & Fran 

More Pics.... (mostly food 😆)

Pavlova from Quay Lagos Restaurant

Lunch at Quay Lagos Restaurant

Smash Burger from Juicy Burger

Happy hour at "home"

The Portuguese spoil their pets too...

Home made soup, salad and baguette at "home"

Homemade steak, prawns and veggies at "home"