The View, Salema

01/01/2022

Happy New Year from Salema!!

27/12/2021

Gorgeous afternoon walk on Salema beach. T-shirts and sandals in late December! Happy days!

29/08/2021

Gorgeous night on Salema beach

17/08/2021

Salema looking fine last night!

06/06/2021

Rua dos Pescadores - One of our favourite views!

03/06/2021

Considering all the confusion around Covid testing for travel, I thought it might be useful to give you some info on how we've done it.

For the pre-departure PCR test we used Zava/Synlab. They delivered the tests the next day (after ordering) and pro-actively called me to check I was comfortable with the process. We completed the test on a Wednesday morning, dropped it into a local Superdrug store at lunchtime - and received our fit-to-fly certificates by 09:30 the next morning. Really impressive service and you can get a discount code from the Bristol Airport site.

For our LFT to be done within 72hrs of leaving Portugal, we booked with Qured. Again, the tests arrived very quickly, we've brought them with us and have booked a video call with one of their team to do the test 'in person'. All good so far.
We're hearing there's a delay in getting a LFT in the Algarve, so this is a fail-safe option.

For our Day 2 test once we've landed back in the UK we went with AlphaBiolabs. On booking with them, they immediately sent the codes we'll need for our UK passenger locator form (to prove we have tests booked). The actual tests will be waiting for us when we get back.

You'll also need to complete passenger locator forms to travel to Portugal (https://portugalcleanandsafe.pt/en/passenger-locator-card) and then back to the UK (https://www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk).

It all sounds a faff and potentially too expensive for some, but I hope this helps.

Salema is very quiet at the moment, so no problem with social distancing!!

You're safe with us. Take a deep breath and enjoy.

07/05/2021

On your marks.... announcement coming at 5pm!

27/04/2021

This feels like deja vu all over again, but is in a good place to be placed in the green category for international travel from 17th May. Some news outlets (Mail and Telegraph notably) are reporting amber, but they’ve been the least reliable sources over the past year
That’s as long as PCR tests are available at a fair price…

20/02/2021

On a cold, wet lockdown day, some “travel dreaming” from self-confessed Salema fan Rick Steves, is a nice place to take our minds too!

We’ll be back....sometime!

https://www.timescolonist.com/travel/rick-steves-salema-offers-a-taste-of-village-life-on-the-algarve-1.24283986

As we’ve had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. Here’s a reminder of the fun that awaits us in Europe at the other end . . .