An American In Algarve
My daughter and I recently visited Algarve, Portugal, for a week of vacation. We stayed at the highly recommended Jupiter Algarve Hotel. It was a wonderful adventure, filled with blanket white beaches, delectable seafood, and some of the nicest people you could ever meet. Of course, everyone of them needed to get over the fact that we were from the United States, first, before they new what to do with us.
You see, It seems that Algarve rarely sees creatures of our kind on their shores. It was a reality and reaction that I had not expected. To think that vacationers from my nation had overlooked such a jewel barely seems possible and yet, the stumped faces that greeted my daughter and I everywhere we went spoke for themselves.
So aware had we become of our own uniqueness, that I began to feel rather self-conscious of the manner in which I was representing the United States on this particular foreign soil. Rather accidently, my daughter and I had become ambassadors of our nation and its citizens out of our thirst for “something new and different”, not realizing how different finding Connecticut inhabitants in Algarve actually was. Don’t worry. We did the rest of you proud, leaving the door wide-open and welcoming for English-speaking folk from our side of the pond.
Needless-to-say - now that we broke ground - I recommend more Americans make their way to Algarve to enjoy the wonderful sights, sounds, and tastes Algarve, Portugal, has to offer. And let’s not even begin to discuss the wine. The red is appropriately warm, like the graciousness of the Portuguese people, themselves, and the white is fashionably cool, like everything else about this one-of-a-kind vacation spot and country.
It’s been a known summer destination among Europeans for ages. So it’s high time the word got out beyond Europe, don’t you think? And, certainly, I don’t mind being the one to share it so long as you do me proud and keep in mind another word when you go - R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
It’s a word you need to keep handy at all times when traveling, but especially when in Algarve. It is an important part of their culture -- basically their middle name. Showing some will do wonders and make your time there even more pleasing. Enjoy your stay.
--Laura Wellington, Editor