Disabled Blue Badge parking in Lagos and Faro

EDITOR, We are regular visitors to Faro and Lagos at least three times every year.

As a disabled driver, we always rent a car from the airport, and when in and around Lagos where we stay, we need to be able to park our car in a disabled space. Previously so far never a problem.

However I now read in UK press that along with other countries like France, Spain, Italy, Portugal could introduce parking fines, that UK issued Blue Badge will not be recognised and could be a risk of cars being towed away if parked in allocated disabled car parking spaces.

Blue Badges are issued because of specific health reasons, clarity of parking in designated spaces is urgently required.

Can you please help with this urgent request as we will once again as loyal Algarve tourists arrive on 6th September for four weeks and need the reassurance and peace of mind that we can justifiably park our car in a disabled space.

Brian & Marilyn Dudley (ages 77 & 76), UK

Re: Origin of Chicken Piri Piri

EDITOR, I beg to disagree with the article as to where Chicken Piri Piri originated.

We are talking about a dish, what are the ingredients, what it is spiced with, how it’s cooked and served so where the original red peppers came from is of little interest, ie: if we talk about that then we have to talk about where chickens originated from.

Living in the Algarve now for practically 50 years, and having visited previously, it’s always been well known (to me and most more local people) that the dish Chicken Piri Piri may well have originated in Africa, but the mentor of the dish in Portugal, was Senhor Ramires of Guia, in 1966, and his restaurant by the same name is still run today by his direct family.

Guia is the mecca of the dish but it is indeed served all over Portugal and worldwide by Nando’s that originated in South Africa in 1987 (long after Ramirez opened his door) by a Portuguese called Fernando Duarte and his partner Robert Brozin. It’s logo symbolises Portugal through the use of the colourful cock of Barcelos! However you’ll be hard pushed to find a chicken Piri Piri as delicious as we know it in the Algarve, in a Nando’s outlet!

Sr. Ramires did not actually do his military service in Africa, but many of his colleagues would have and it’s likely he could’ve picked it up from someone who had experienced it there, or indeed from another source.

It’s real name is Franguinho da Guia, and can be served with or without the spicy home-made pp sauce that is brushed on after the chicken is barbecued, with nothing more than chunky sea salt, or preferably from the local salt pans of the Ria Formosa. The chicken is barbecued butterflied whole and when served is cut up into smaller pieces that are best enjoyed if you eat with your fingers.

Fred Phillips, By email

Re: Bottled Water

EDITOR, Congratulations to Paul Luckman for his enlightened views (Opinion, 30.7.22) on bottled water. Apart from the huge waste of money involved, he was right to note the industry’s significant environmental costs. While PET plastic bottles can be turned into bottles again as PET, only some companies do so and on a modest scale.

Moreover, as a quick look at how many plastic bottles litter rubbish bins mere metres from Brussels’-required yellow ecopontos, just some of us in Portugal even bother to recycle. Within the EU only Greece and Malta recycle less; and recycling is the least important of the three Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We have a long way to go.

Antonio Lambe, Silves

Trash

EDITOR, I am an American. I bought an apartment in Faro about two years ago. I am not here all the time but plan to spend more time here in the future.

I have been here since the end of June and will fly back to NY this week. I love the city. Have enjoyed my time exploring the different areas and eating at some wonderful restaurants.

I have one huge complaint. Trash. I understand the large bins where I throw my trash. There is one up the street. The problem is they are not maintained. The trash is everywhere and it is always full. I live in an area that is very populated. Many apartments, stores, restaurants. The one bin in this area is not enough. I live in New York City. We also have a trash problem Too much trash. The difference is it gets picked up everyday.

I am not sure if this problem can be resolved.

Paula Krulak, By email

Save water

EDITOR, There has been a lot of coverage in the press all through the summer about the drastic shortage of water in the Algarve. The worst situation for 150 years they say, but so far, there appears to be no real publicity of any kind about the shortage of water.

Everywhere we go we see water being used needlessly. The Câmara in Lagos is watering grass that has only this season been laid - using copious amounts of water every single day. We can understand the need to make Lagos look welcoming for the tourists, but why wasn’t artificial grass or some other medium used in the first place? No watering needed.

Lagos Câmara have done a wonderful job making Lagos look attractive and clean for visitors, but the plants they have used everywhere are in the main those which need watering frequently. What about some drought loving plants instead? This would save on water – and also on maintenance.

The tourists in the main do not read the newspapers, and whilst we were on a campsite in June we watched motorhomers washing almost clean motorhomes, canoes, cycles and boats before leaving for home. On the many water points throughout the site, and also in the toilets, there was no mention of trying to save water. Most people would have responded to this, so how much water was needlessly wasted – just for the sake of a few notices? When we mentioned the water shortage to other campers they had absolutely no idea about it.

We have not used Faro airport this year, and neither have our family, but are there any notices there about the severe water shortage? Why are there no notices in prominent public places?

* COME ON - WE DESPERATELY NEED TO SAVE WATER *

Anne Hodges, By email