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Eating out in Western Algarve: five special places

Algarve dining

As the Western Algarve evolves into a premier tourism destination, so the local restaurant scene broadens in its scope and variety. Here are five very different selections, each with something special to offer, and at prices that won’t blow a hole in your budget.


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Agenda for promoting sustainable building in Portugal

The following is a condensed version of comments made by John Tranmer, Managing Director of AlmaVerde Village & Spa at the SB10 regional conference on Sustainable Building held at the Hilton, Vilamoura on 17 – 19 March, during the Plenary Session VII Financing and procurement.

john_tranmer

John Tranmer


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Kasia Wrona Exhibition opens at CENTRO CULTURAL DE LAGOS on 27th March

An exhibition by Polish artist Kasia Wrona entitled “Flames of Inspiration” opens at the Lagos Cultural Centre on 27th March and will run until 22nd May.

“Flames of Inspiration” is an exhibition of works primarily inspired by the intense and disturbing experience felt by the artist during and following the forest fires that devastated Serra de Monchique in 2003

Kasia Wrona

Kasia Wrona


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The challenges and rewards of sustainable development

The following notes were originally prepared for a panel entitled “The Challenges and Rewards of Sustainable Development” at the OPPLive! Property Show at London’s ExCeL on 23rd October, 2009, chaired by Gordon Miller of www.whatgreenhome.com.

What is sustainability?

Here are some commonly used definitions:

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.


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AlmaVerde at the Buying Homes Abroad Show in Stockholm

Event date: 19 -20 September

In past years, the market for Algarve leisure real estate has been propelled by the British and Irish, but the recent demise of sterling and the plight of the Irish economy have prompted developers to start looking in other directions.

Scandinavians have not been buying Algarve property in numbers, but there is anecdotal evidence that they are now becoming more active. There are now flights to Faro on Norwegian Air Shuttle from the capital cities of Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and Scandinavian currencies have remained relatively firm against the euro.


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Art Exhibition in Silves

Silves Art Exhibition

Silves Art Exhibition

Running from 21 June to 27 September, one of the events in this summer’s Allgarve cultural program is the Exhibition: “Blink – print works from the CAM collection”* taking place in Silves at the House of Islamic and Mediterranean Culture.

The sub-title of this exhibition of engravings: “Deciding in the blink of an eye”, originates from a story about the authenticity of a Greek statue Kouros*, acquired in 1985 by the J. Paul Getty Museum**. The last decade has seen a maturing of photographic and digital image manipulation, but from its inception engraving broadened the sphere of artistic creation, by enabling works to be repeated through stamping so that they could be accessed and owned by a larger audience.


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New Banco de Portugal rules concerning some offshore companies

With effect from 17th September, 2009, Portuguese financial institutions and branches in Portugal have been prohibited by the Bank of Portugal from extending credit to entities in so-called tax havens considered un-cooperative or whose ultimate beneficiary is unknown.

The Bank of Portugal considers a tax haven as a jurisdiction that “aims to attract a significant volume of business with non-residents, particularly due to the existence of less stringent procedures for obtaining authorization under the banking and supervisory regime in respect of banking secrecy, tax advantages, differentiating in the law between residents and non-residents or enabling the setting up of special purpose vehicles.”


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