The Algarve was the cradle of the 15th-century Age of Discoveries. It was here that Henry the Navigator planned and directed the epoch-making voyages that culminated in Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama discovering the sea route from Europe to the Far East, and Cabral crossing the South Atlantic to Brazil. The names of other great seafarers, from Columbus to Nelson, will forever haunt the craggy headlands of Sagres and Cape St. Vincent. One of the most appealing aspects of life in the Algarve is that it seems to be locked in a paradoxical time warp. As international airlines strain to shuttle visitors in and out of Faro airport according to strict schedules, Algarveans feel no compulsion to be punctual, no reason to rush.
Nothing is more important than conversation with friends over small cups of coffee.
Some of Europe's most sophisticated residential and holiday developments with their manicured golf courses and first-class restaurants are viewed without envy by ordinary folks who like to sit outside the front doors of their humble townhouses grilling sardines on mini makeshift barbecues. A motorway slices through countryside where farming methods have not fundamentally changed since medieval times. Tourism has made the Algarve remarkably cosmopolitan, yet traditional customs and ancestral ways of doing things prevail. In particular, there is a wonderfully wide range of seafood, including all sorts of clams, prawns and lobster, and delicious fresh fish such as swordfish, tuna, sea bass and sea bream. Eating out in restaurants is all the more delightful because Portuguese wines are so good and so reasonably priced.