For months I’ve been thinking of writing a nice post sometime in August about my normal vacation in this time of the year: beach, sun and sea in a place relatively unknown in the South of Portugal.
I was planning on giving some info but wasn’t ready to reveal the exact location to the world. Why? Because most people who, like me, are regular visitors there try to keep quiet about it – we don’t want the place to become another spot like so many on the South coast of the country. We like the peace, the quiet and the familiar faces.
I, personally, like the fact that I can go around for 2 weeks wearing flip flops to the beach, the supermarket, the shops, the restaurants and nobody (*nobody*) says anything or looks funny at me. Here you don’t see people showing off their gold watches, flashy cars or designer clothes. People here are relaxing, enjoying Nature and having a good time.
Horror. Panic. A voice screaming “Nooooooo” inside my head. This is what happened when I heard that David Cameron (who happens to be Britain’s Prime Minister, if you don’t know) was spending some time with his family in Portugal and had been spotted in the Aljezur market buying squid for dinner.
Apparently the British press was only worried about David Cameron’s choice of wardrobe while on holiday (which, it seems, has improved). Daily Mail expressed some concern over the PM’s choices of shoes and socks, while The Independent also mentioned the Missus’ green dress (a tad too formal when visiting a market, I’d say). The Telegraph actually went to the point of digging up some previous fashion faux pas by the British PM.
And yet, nobody seemed to understand my agony. Nobody except for one brave soul who was strong enough to write what probably a lot of people are thinking.
While I know that David Cameron was not the first “famous” person to find out about Aljezur (Kirk Hammett from the band Metallica and Eddie Vedder from the band Pearl Jam apparently like Aljezur for surfing) I can’t help but worry about the effects this will have on the region.
While reading several articles about this I couldn’t help but ask myself some questions:
1 – who took the photos? In at least one of them you can see the happy couple *entering* the market, which means the photo was taken from inside, which means… somebody knew he was coming on that day and hour! They’re not the kind of pictures you take with your phone. Hmmm…
2 – how did he find out about Aljezur? I wonder if he was there before he became Prime Minister and stayed at the local camping park. Would he choose a tent, an apartment facing the pool or a caravan?
3 – will all the British tourists now visiting the market give the fish selling ladies extra work by copying their PM and asking all of them for advice, thereby causing enormous queues to the annoyance of everyone else?
4 – will this make people less squirmy at the thought of eating squid?
So, over to you dear readers: Can you help me with some answers?
Beyond Lisbon 
This is one of the wittiest posts that you’ve written so far… keep it up!
But don’t worry too much about British PM David Cameron visiting Aljezur. Your real concern should b ways to keep New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner from visiting with his infamous smartphone. Now that he is slipping so badly in the pre-election polls, rumor has it that he’s looking for new places to visit. 🙄
Oh my! There’s a real element of danger in there… you see, this area does have a few tiny secluded beaches 😉
I know exactly how you feel – I feel the same about ………. Oh – better not tell everyone!
I agree with jargontalk – take his advice. I really enjoyed your light -hearted witticisms about someone we make fun of on a daily basis!
He has a gang of press photographers that go around with him, so that they can catch when he’s got his mouth closed!
Maybe with all these Bifish(?) that are planning to visit I should open a Fish & Chip shop to feed them all ‘proper’ food – what d’ya fink Darlin? 😉
Ah, that last bit sounds a lot like Lagos or Portimão! 😀 I hope Aljezur will never be like that!
Well considering the fame Cameron enjoy in the UK, I’d say it may have the reverse effect actually… people saying “I’ll never step where that w***** has gone! And what did he ate?! Fish bait?!”
Now that I come to think about it… a camero”o”n eating squid… fascinating.
Ah! Well spotted! 😀
don’t think you need to panic just yet – he was actually staying in the hills above Monchique – so Aljezur was just a day trip out!
PS – I know which beach that is ……. hee hee – now you can start to panic …. shall I name it .>>!?!?! (winks!!)
Sshhh… Keep quiet! Don’t screw up!
😉
[…] just sun, sea and sand. The photo above was taken at a small peninsula called Ponta da Atalaia, in Aljezur. On this same spot there used to be a ribat, built by the sufi master Ibn Qasî around 1130 and […]
While I personally love eating squid, octopus, cuttlefish and any other sea creatures, I don’t think that the prospect of the slimiest of the slimey, Dave, eating it, will do its reputation any favours.
I hope he goes away soon.
Don’t we all?! 😀
At least he’s lying on a beach- instead of in parliament!
He’s polluting the beach!