Chimney appreciation

I have learned to look at the chimneys of the houses. After the Western crusades all muslims were supposed to leave the country or convert to Christianity. But some who stayed only pretended to convert to Christianity and as a sign to others in a similar situation they put little minarets over their chimneys. However the idea of decorating your chimney caught on and houseowners started trying to outdo each other in having ever more elaborate designs.

Here are the photos from my free half day before flying home

Sunshine at last...

On the third day...



The sun shone, the sea calmed down and the beaches looked like the Algarve in the holiday brochures.

The Englishman's factory

On the bus ride to Silves we had a running commentary. From this I learned that "Algarve" means "The West". But it forms the southern part of Portugal I hear you say. Yes, correct, but it formed the Western extreme of the Moorish empire.

A couple of Englishmen founded a cork factory in Silves but the Portuguese could not pronounce their names so the factory has always been called the Englishman's factory. It is a museum now where you see some old black and white film of the cork gathering, processing and manufacturing into bottle stoppers. Apparently the cork is stripped from the trunks of the cork oaks every nine years and this extends the life of the tree rather than harms it.

The conference meal was a bit of a let down. Lots of pasta in the soup. The main course was a ladle of something looking like scrambled egg with a fishy taste, served with lettuce.

However the folk dancing that followed was very entertaining. The music was lively and happy. The traditional dancing was often very fast and very complicated.

You can see some more pictures.

Carvoeiro

This is the nearest village to the hotel. The streets are steep and the beach is small. These boats are presumably the remains of what was once a fishing fleet. Now they stand ready to take tourists to see the caves in the cliffs. But not with waves like I have seen all the time I have been here.

You can see some more photos

Somewhere in the Algarve...?

I landed at Faro around 11pm, waited for another plane to arrive, then the conference minibus drove for about an hour so I checked in about 01:30am. I had no idea where I was although I thought I could hear the sea.

Since then I have enjoyed the hotel breakfast, been walkabout, taken a few pictures, delivered my paper and generally got a bit more oriented.

The weather here was beautiful until the conference started apparently. According to the conference organiser the Brits brought the bad weather with them. It is due to get nice again after the conference ends (much good that will do me!). Meanwhile it is windy and wet, but not cold.

I have a session to chair in the morning, but in the afternoon we have the conference 'outing' and the conference dinner.

You can see some more photos

Easter snow

Two weeks after Easter and we wake up to this. So much for Global warming.

Still it is beautiful.

Chaffinch attack

This chaffinch is now in its second week of attack on our utility room window. It mounts attacks from a waist-high blackthorn hedge which is about three feet from the house at this point. The bird flies into the window repeatly. We hear it (and wince) at every mealtime. Whether it keeps this up all day we are not sure as we are out during the day and all last weekend. We have tried pulling down the roller blind but this does not seem to make any difference. Any suggestions?