Trip to Granada and the Sierra Nevada (December 2017)

The Algarve, from Arabic الغرب‎‎ al-Gharb, "the West", that is, the west of Al-Andalus, is a mythical part of Europe, where the old continent turns into California, with flamboyant red coast crumbling under the weight of the Ocean to form a cathedral of sandy rocks, and where Portugal turns into water. It is a territory so remote from its land that Alfonso III called himself King of Portugal and the Algarve and that the Portuguese empire was called the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Even as of today, it is a place that looks out of its place and out of its time. </div>

The Algarve is to Portugal what Andalusia is to Spain. It kept for itself a taste of its previous rulers, that today manifests as a wilderness, and independence, a difference from the rest of the country, that makes it exotic and foreign, while at the same time familiar from its culture, gastronomy, language and everything that defines a country. It is like having Portugal in Africa, or Spain in the Maghreb. The main difference between the two is that the Algarve sits by the Ocean while Andalusia sits by the sea. This makes the former more savage, more tumultuous and more beautiful than its neighbour.