Billie Besos

Updates as Portugal lifts its quarantine, why the Algarve may be the safest holiday destination for Summer 2020, some of my favourite spots…

The breathtaking views over Praia da Cordoama on the western coast of the Algarve, a great spot for surfing

Views from above… this is what you see down below when you walk along the cliffs near Armaçao de Pera

Olá!

05/06/2020

I’m back…and I haven’t written a blog post since late March, when ‘quarantine’ was in its early stages here in Portugal. In all honesty, I haven’t felt particularly inspired to write about travelling with everything that’s been going on. This has been a challenging time for us all and I know that it is not yet over. I have also been taking some time to reflect on the current state of the world and just generally educate myself.

First of all, I hope everyone is OK and feeling a bit more optimistic about things. I know that everyone has dealt with this time differently, and I understand if you are not interested in reading on. However, after a couple of months of being ‘quiet’ with the blog posts, I wanted to come back to this platform to write something useful that might lift spirits and inspire people to look to the future.

A beautiful little spot hidden away in the hills near Loulé, somewhere we like to take our dog to cool off

While I haven’t got any solid travel plans for the rest of the year, I thought why not get to know the country I live in better. I have been fortunate to be able to explore some of the beautiful spots the Algarve has to offer (some pre- and others during lockdown) and figured why not share some of my favourite spots, plus the reasons why you might want to visit the Algarve on your next holiday.

The popular travel website ‘Clickstay.com’ has voted the Algarve the ‘best holiday destination this summer’ and here are a few reasons why:

• The Algarve reacted very quickly to the COVID-19 outbreak, and locked down on Friday 13th March, with many children not going to school before this date

• The people of the Algarve abided by the strict rules laid out by the government from the get go, masks have been obligatory in public spaces such as supermarkets for a while now, and you cannot enter various spaces like this without one
• Due to all of the above, the Algarve has been able to open bars and restaurants, taking all necessary precautions, beaches are now open for bathing season with ‘guides’ to maintain social distancing, and a new app called ‘Info Praia’ (which is available on Google Play or App Store) allows you to see when beaches are at full capacity, and plan your beach days around this
  
• Strict measures are in place to ensure that hotels are safe and hygienic for receiving visitors; there are a number of apartments, villas and Airbnbs available to rent (with gaps between visitors to ensure proper cleaning)
  
• The Algarve is the perfect outdoor travel destination offering countless activities

You can enjoy sunsets like this while you have a drink on the Vilamoura Marina (click the image to read more about TimelessMoments)

25/06/2020

Continued…

Ok, so I wrote the first part of this post back at the start of June and things have changed slightly. Yes, the Algarve is still preparing to welcome tourists, with airlines opening up mainly from 1st July, but there are now doubts about whether an ‘air corridor’ is still going to be put in place between Portugal and some other European countries. I was certain this was going to happen because of the success of Portugal throughout the pandemic… but unfortunately as lockdown has eased, the cases of COVID-19 here in Portugal have risen. There have been a few illegal parties hosted in and around Lisbon, and one in Lagos in the western Algarve. This has caused Portugal’s cases to increase slightly.

That being said, everyone is now being extremely careful and this shouldn’t stop tourists from visiting the Algarve. The increase in the number of cases is in part due to the ramping up of testing which I think is a good thing. And I think it’s crazy that the UK may still impose a quarantine on anyone returning from a holiday in Portugal… there have been around 1500 deaths IN TOTAL in Portugal compared to roughly 43,000 in the UK… I don’t understand governments sometimes…

Who would want to miss out on this?

Or this… This photo was taken from a friend’s paddle board

Here’s one more picture for good measure, looking over Falesia Beach

Everyone should come to Portugal because it’s beautiful, it has safety measures in place and its tourist industry NEEDS YOU.

Just look at all these beautiful places I have managed to visit over the past few months… there is so much open space to be explored, and you don’t have to worry about the density of people because we have room for everyone!

Portugal needs you, so let’s hope this ‘air corridor’ can be agreed upon and that you can all come and explore the beautiful country that I live in.

Lots of love,

Billie x