PEOPLE Hank & Carina 40PEOPLE Mosaics of Olhão.

THEN OLHÃO FOUND US...

... and we weren't even looking! Hank and Carina's story of how they came to live in and love Olhão

Welcome to our monthly column celebrating Olhão. After exploring Portugal top to bottom from Braga to Tavira, enjoying so many coastal and inland locations in our RV, we decided Olhão was the place to buy our home to celebrate our “golden years”. Olhão was not on our radar at first. In fact, the discovery of Eastern Algarve was a pleasant surprise with the scale of development so much less than areas to the west. A chance winter rental introduced us to Olhão, a place we quickly found attractive for many reasons. “Walkability” is, above all, a main highlight and each month I will introduce you to places only steps away from our front door. We hope you will enjoy our column!

Follow THAT Flounder!

We just did that. At least we think we did. Here’s how this all started. One recent sunny day, as we enjoyed riding to Culatra, Carina snapped this image of a fishing vessel alongside our ferry. We wondered…. could we somehow follow the fish from the water to our plate in Olhão? So, the next day I started to ask around at the harbour located on the eastern side of Olhão, armed only with the name of the boat, “Vila do Mar”. Some friendly guys working on nets dockside declared Culatra as the home port for the vessel! That led to another sunny Sunday ferry ride (1.90 Euros each way...a bargain), back to that offshore Ria Formosa island where I hoped I could locate both the boat and it’s owner. Sure enough, there it was, just a minute walk from the ferry landing. Lucky for me, a gentleman named Marc was fixing something on the boat AND he spoke enough English for us to communicate. Marc suggested I walk across the island to find Jorge, the owner of the boat, who on his one day off, was at home fixing his nets. Culatra is an island where most people know each other. A local woman responded to my request to find Jorge by leading me pretty much all the way there. Obrigado! Angelique, the owner’s teenage son, offered his experience learning English in school to help me communicate with his dad. More good luck.

It turned out Jorge Manuel Carvalho Lopes, 58, has been working these waters for 47 years. The Vila do Mar has been his floating workplace for 35 of those years. He suggested I could meet them the next day as they returned back to Olhão to deliver their catch to the auction house where the day’s bounty from all the local fishing boats eventually finds its way to plates all over Olhão. Sure enough, at 2:30 that next afternoon, I watched the Vila do Mar motor into the harbour and pull up to the loading dock. The trays loaded with a variety of creatures were lifted out and flounder (the translation from English is Linguado), was part of that assortment as you can see in the lower right tray. (I didn’t know what a flounder actually looked like until now either.) After the catch was brought into the large auction house, I watched the electronic bidding take place with each kind of fish being displayed as the loaded trays rolled along the conveyor. Next stop, an Olhão restaurant menu! Here now (below) is the evidence of our happy gastronomic finale to this adventure.

Sabores da Ria

Sabores da Ria is located in the square just across the street from the twin Mercado buildings. Alexandre Jose Monteiro de Sousa has been operating at this location since 2007. This Olhão restaurant is where we enjoyed both fried and grilled flounder among a busy lunch crowd. Okay, full disclosure, we cannot 100% claim the actual flounder we enjoyed during our meal there was pictured anywhere in the story above. However, we do hope you now know a bit more about how the seafood our town is famous for arrives onto your local Olhão restaurant dinner (or lunch) plate! Enjoy

In previous editions we have written about our experiences with the following companies and establishments: Esquina da Baixa & Carfree Weekends 01-22, El Torito & VIP Real Estate 1221 (back editions can be found online https://www.eastalgarvemag.com/). For our full introduction, see our first column online in the December 2021 issue. Fine Print – Questions or Comments? Write to us at hankryan2003@yahoo.com We choose to focus on businesses here in Olhão where we have actually been customers first. Any future advertising from these businesses that supports Eastern Algarve Magazine is purely coincidental :-)

Mosaics of Olh Ao

Piecing together a new life in the East Algarve, here is the story of how this amazing mosaic shop in Olhão came to be

lhão is rich in lore and art, it has a charm to it that

Ocaptivates and draws you in and compels you to stay, this is what the owners of Lavandas e Maravilhas tell us. Daria chose Olhão as a holiday destination when Anael was highly pregnant, and specifically for its mild, out of season climate and because everything needed was within 'waddling' distance. Before the holiday was over, they felt and knew it was to be their new home. Back in France, Daria, a Parisian, worked for the Comédie-Française theatre as an administrator. Anael, originally from the Ukraine also held an administrative role. The need to self express was always present and for many years the couple had a shared love for Mosaic making. Dario was taught the ins and outs by his mother at an early age and until their visit to Olhão it had been perfect as merely a hobby, satisfying the need to create with the hands. Little did they know all of this would change after their visit to Olhão. A fire was lit, the secure desk jobs were no longer enough, France no longer suited them and what was always a hobby would become their livelihood. Within two months, Dario went back to Olhão to buy an apartment. Soon after, and with a newborn baby, they would quit their jobs, sell their belongings and set up a Mosaic shop in the centre of Olhão. Plans to open in March 2020 were delayed until 04 May, as Covid struck. The new entrepreneurs were working so hard to open, they didn’t know

The cast of ‘The Great Pretenders’

about the pandemic until the shop keeper opposite told them of the restrictions and lockdown. When you enter their shop, it is clear the pieces have been made with passion, not only for Mosaic, but also for Olhão, the Algarve and Portugal. Many of the pieces contain tiles from the old houses, salvaged from skips, refashioned into art and in this way continue to decorate the houses of the Algarve and Portugal. Each Mosaic has a personal touch, so personal sometimes that they are hidden and deliberately put out of direct sight, waiting to be bought by a special 'deserving' person. A year into their venture, requests for customised work is increasing and the drive to do and be more increases too. Board and games parties are organised once a month, together with salsa, belly dancing, pilates, yoga classes making this atelier a fun social space.

Contacts:

Email: dariamartin2016@gmail.com Address: 43 Rua de Comércio 8700-427 Olhão, Portugal Tel: 00351 920 289 918 Facebook: Loja Lavandas e Maravilhas