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The Algarve back then...
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nosey_parker
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The Algarve back then...
Today I began to read Jenny Grainer's book "Portugal and the Algarve now and then" and I was fascinated from the first page!
Sure, I had heard stories from my parents of how things used to be, how small this or that village was, how precarious houses were, but it's totally different to read it in the words of an author that expresses herself so well to the point of making you feel that you've been there!
I felt great sadness to realise how unspoilt the Algarve was...but also how poor it was! This book took me back in time and now I feel as if I've been there and this makes me understand why progress was so desperatly needed. Yet, I cannot help wishing that there was less concrete, more fishermen and more small grocery shops....like in the old days!
Has anyone read this book yet?
Sure, I had heard stories from my parents of how things used to be, how small this or that village was, how precarious houses were, but it's totally different to read it in the words of an author that expresses herself so well to the point of making you feel that you've been there!
I felt great sadness to realise how unspoilt the Algarve was...but also how poor it was! This book took me back in time and now I feel as if I've been there and this makes me understand why progress was so desperatly needed. Yet, I cannot help wishing that there was less concrete, more fishermen and more small grocery shops....like in the old days!
Has anyone read this book yet?
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nosey_parker
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Steen Jakobsen
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Guest
Its same book Steen....Jenny did mention to me last year that she was giving it new title as some nationalities may not 'get the gist' of original title......
Good read......and I can understand N.Ps feelings about her homeland...
progress brings many advantages...but theres a sadness at the loss of the fishing industry and maybe culture as well?......elle
Good read......and I can understand N.Ps feelings about her homeland...
progress brings many advantages...but theres a sadness at the loss of the fishing industry and maybe culture as well?......elle
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nosey_parker
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- Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:55 pm
Thanks for that link.
It was great to read people's reactions to the book. I have them at my bookshop and hopefully I'll sell them all. This book is great, it deserves to be read!
It would be nice if this book was ever translated into Portuguese. I think it's precious that people from my generation appreciate what our parents went through. And we don't!
I remember rolling my eyes when my parents talked about the old days and thinking how boring it was all that "story telling" and how boring their life was...and it's so ironic how this book made me look into the past in a different way.
Today I recalled the stories my mother told me about her bedroom not having a floor, her bedroom door being made of boxes, how they struggled to make ends meet...my grandad was a shoemaker and people more often than not failed to pay him...my dad was working with his dad in the country from the age of 10...
And going back to my first memories I recall my great aunties living in very dark small homes with no cookers. They would cook their food by the fire, warm water by the fire...and oh gosh, even I did not have a proper shower until I was 9 and we moved to a big house. My friend did not have a bathroom until she was probably in her teens. (Yep, it was all done in a bucket...)
So, I did experience some of this "backwardness". But what seemed like a faded photograph at the back of my mind is more vivid now.
It's a great feeling...yet it's weird how it's making me feel.
It was great to read people's reactions to the book. I have them at my bookshop and hopefully I'll sell them all. This book is great, it deserves to be read!
It would be nice if this book was ever translated into Portuguese. I think it's precious that people from my generation appreciate what our parents went through. And we don't!
I remember rolling my eyes when my parents talked about the old days and thinking how boring it was all that "story telling" and how boring their life was...and it's so ironic how this book made me look into the past in a different way.
Today I recalled the stories my mother told me about her bedroom not having a floor, her bedroom door being made of boxes, how they struggled to make ends meet...my grandad was a shoemaker and people more often than not failed to pay him...my dad was working with his dad in the country from the age of 10...
And going back to my first memories I recall my great aunties living in very dark small homes with no cookers. They would cook their food by the fire, warm water by the fire...and oh gosh, even I did not have a proper shower until I was 9 and we moved to a big house. My friend did not have a bathroom until she was probably in her teens. (Yep, it was all done in a bucket...)
So, I did experience some of this "backwardness". But what seemed like a faded photograph at the back of my mind is more vivid now.
It's a great feeling...yet it's weird how it's making me feel.
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Steen Jakobsen
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I took these pictures only a few years ago in the Algarve
http://www.gallery.carvoeiro.com/spgm/i ... l=The_farm
http://www.gallery.carvoeiro.com/spgm/i ... l=The_farm
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nosey_parker
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This is getting more and more interesting. In my village this way of living is virtually non-existant but the past is still alive (and well?) in the Algarve. -
Steen Jakobsen
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It was in the year 2000 not far from Alvor..
Up in the mountains of Monchique we went to visit a farm. Our hosts, a couple in the late sixties, had kindly offered to show us the process of distilling the Medronho spirit.
Time vanished with the tarmac several kilometres before our arrival, twice we had to cross a river, a four wheel drive vehicle no luxury.
For the remaining romantics, dreaming of a life of independence, being self sufficient and living of the earth, here is the recipe!
Chickens, a couple of pigs, dogs and a donkey for company, visits are appreciated. The sparse supplies happily shared.
Life could be called basic at these parts, electricity is supplied by a generator but just a few hours in the evening, for the light and a little television. The running costs prohibitive. A cellular telephone driven of a solar panel ensures contact in case of illness or emergency.
Cooking takes place over a wood fire on the ground in a dedicated room, not quite what Miele might call a kitchen. In the absence of a refrigerator, sausages are hanging under the chimney, smoked indeed.
Each sentence accompanied by a "Se deus quizer" or "God willing"
"He who understands nature walks close with God." - Edgar Cayce
Steen Jakobsen
Algarve 2000
Up in the mountains of Monchique we went to visit a farm. Our hosts, a couple in the late sixties, had kindly offered to show us the process of distilling the Medronho spirit.
Time vanished with the tarmac several kilometres before our arrival, twice we had to cross a river, a four wheel drive vehicle no luxury.
For the remaining romantics, dreaming of a life of independence, being self sufficient and living of the earth, here is the recipe!
Chickens, a couple of pigs, dogs and a donkey for company, visits are appreciated. The sparse supplies happily shared.
Life could be called basic at these parts, electricity is supplied by a generator but just a few hours in the evening, for the light and a little television. The running costs prohibitive. A cellular telephone driven of a solar panel ensures contact in case of illness or emergency.
Cooking takes place over a wood fire on the ground in a dedicated room, not quite what Miele might call a kitchen. In the absence of a refrigerator, sausages are hanging under the chimney, smoked indeed.
Each sentence accompanied by a "Se deus quizer" or "God willing"
"He who understands nature walks close with God." - Edgar Cayce
Steen Jakobsen
Algarve 2000