IL Postcard

A Surfer's Studio on the Silver Coast for Less Than $100,000

Date: 12/11/2007

The European
Vol. 1. Issue no. 53
December 12, 2007
Paris, France

$100,000 Apartments in Portugal’s Surf Town

by Steenie Harvey

On a peninsula, Peniche is a genuine fishing town with lots going for it: wide sandy beaches and dunes, good fish restaurants beside the harbor, the cliffs and rock formations of Cabo Carvoeira, old-fashioned whitewashed windmills. For bird-watching enthusiasts, summer boat trips go out to the Berlenga islands, around an hour’s ride offshore. As for surfing, word is that conditions are always perfect somewhere on the Peniche peninsula at any time of year.

Much of the town is modern, but at its heart is a neat historic core. Rico Imobiliaria has some interesting buys. Modern studio apartments near the beach start at 65,000 euro (US$94,700). A three-bedroom apartment of 1,050 square feet with a view over the sea is 115,000 euro ($144,000).

In Ferrel village, a minute’s drive from the beach, a modern individual house of around 2,470 square feet is 160,000 euro ($233,000). And if you fancy restoring a windmill, one at Amoreira is 32,500 euro. Although the “English speaker” wasn’t in the office when I visited, they do have one.

It takes 25 minutes to walk from Peniche’s harbor to the nearest beach, Gamboa. Taking its name from the light playing on the ocean, the Costa de Prata (Silver Coast) has long been ignored by foreign buyers. Now, with European coastal bargains increasingly harder to find, it’s being promoted as a new hotspot. While there’s good value here, you’ll need to come and explore. Unless you search in Portuguese, surfing the Web won’t reveal the real on-the-ground opportunities. Mostly all you’ll find is hype from foreign agents aimed at their clueless compatriots.

For example, just up the coast from Peniche is Praia del Rey, a 600-acre golf and resort development. Be warned that prices here are already bloated beyond luxury level. Why some people are willing to pay a minimum of 346,000 euro ($503,300) for a 1,470-square-foot apartment in a fake Portuguese village baffles me. However, the development is tirelessly touted by every British property-related publication and TV program.

Being cynical, I’d guess that in return for glowing praises, U.K. reporters are flown in on all-expenses-paid inspection visits, and put up at the resort’s five-star Marriott (which charges seven-star prices). $363 for a night’s stay in March is ridiculous. Don’t expect cheap golf, either. From March to October, the public rate to play 18 holes is 90 euro ($131).

P.S. Cheaper accommodation can be found by renting apartments in Peniche. Try ownersdirect.co.uk or holidaylettings.co.uk.

SIDEBAR: Peniche Costs

In Os Mosqueteiros (Musketeers) supermarket, across the road from the beach, grocery prices are mostly inexpensive:

Apples and oranges......................$0.77/kg
Pork cutlets.................................$5.17/kg
A whole chicken...........................$3.76
One liter of bottled water...............$0.19
A bottle of red Douro wine.............$2.44
(1 kilogram is 2.2 pounds)

Crèches and Red Underwear

by Jeff Jenssen

If you find yourself in the department store El Corte Ingles in Malaga, Spain, on Dec. 23, you’d be forgiven for wondering where all the people are. There are no signs for Christmas sales or tinseled displays.

In Spain, Christmas day is spent with family and friends. Shopping doesn’t start until Dec. 26, and gifts are given on Jan. 6, or Dia de los Tres Magos. This is Three King’s Day, when the baby Jesus received frankincense, myrrh, and gold. Presents are generally bought only for children or close relatives—the Spanish are actually shocked and a little embarrassed when a friend gives them a Christmas gift.

The main shopping in Malaga is done at two outdoor Christmas markets. The larger of these is along the Alameda Principal, the wide poplar-tree-lined main street. In this market you’ll find mainly nativity sets, candy, books, red underwear, and gag gifts for The Day of the Innocents, officially celebrated on Dec. 28, but which drags on through New Year’s Eve.

Show Your Red Underwear

This holiday is similar to April Fools’ Day in the States, but with one big difference: If you do receive a gift from a friend, it’ll probably be a pair of red panties, from slinky thongs to homely knickers. Every pair you receive in the week after Christmas, regardless of the total number, must be worn on New Year’s Eve—and revealed on demand.

The supply of “add on” pieces for your crèche is never-ending. Although there is no biblical evidence that the chorizo and ham seller was at the original nativity, that probably won’t stop you from adding a model of one to your own display, alongside a miniature tapas bar complete with a pan of paella and sardines on the spit.

The market goes on for blocks—at least 50 stalls on each side of the avenue. There’s a carnival atmosphere, and entire families stroll through, the children snacking on cotton candy and candy apples.
Don’t worry if you don’t speak Spanish—many multilingual art books are on offer at the book sellers’ stalls. You’ll also find children’s picture books and coloring books, and leather-bound volumes of classics in Spanish, English, French, and German.

The way to the second market at the Plaza Merced is along the lit-up pedestrian street, Calle Marques de Larios. Roaming families of minstrels in traditional dress sing Spanish carols along the way, accompanied by guitar, drum, and a half-empty anisette liqueur bottle played with a wooden spoon. You’ll also see Christmas-tree-sized arrangements of live poinsettias, a larger-than-life Nativity scene made of flowers and tree bark with kings on camels, palm trees with trunks wrapped in white holiday lights, and even a seasonal outdoor ice rink.

The historic Plaza Merced is lit by lanterns strung between trees, and the merchants wear shepherds’ robes. Goods are arranged on wooden tables inside canvas tents. This market features Andalucian handicrafts, artisanal cheeses, handmade candies like pine nut brittle, and locally made small leather goods. A fine leather wallet can be had for around 10 euro, and a half-pound piece of sheep’s milk cheese is about 2 euro. Decorative metal and glass lanterns from Granada cost between 15 and 40 euro. Because no one buys enormous gifts, you’ll also be able to buy single sheets of high-quality wrapping paper.

Walking around the plaza, it’s not hard to imagine yourself here 500 years ago, but you’ll be quickly nudged back to the present by the arrival of the open-sided San Miguel Beer truck featuring six rock n’ roll Santas playing American Christmas songs at full blast.

SIDEBAR: Crèche Costs

Prices for crèche pieces depend on the crèche size and the amount of detail and decoration: Small simple stables start at around 9 euro, and more elaborate versions can cost up to 75 euro. Individual figures such as shepherds or angels cost from 0.90 to 3 euro. Small motorized fountains and light-up bread ovens cost about 15 euro, and windmills and castles cost anywhere from 10 to 50 euro.

Where to Find Fragile Masterpieces for Your Christmas Tree

by Neil P. Harkins

Old-world Germans supposedly hid a pickle deep in the boughs of their Christmas tree on Dec. 24. Traditionally, the person who found it on Christmas Day was supposed to have good fortune. Today, modern Germans hang blown glass ornaments shaped like pickles on the tree, along with a variety of glass fruit and vegetables, Santas, angels, bells, stars, and pine cones—a custom that started in the village of Lauscha, Germany, in the mid-19th century.

Lauscha, a small medieval town in the hills of Thuringian forest, is about 18 miles northeast of Coburg. Lauscha has been a center of glass manufacturing since the 15th century, and continues to supply quality raw glass materials and intricately crafted finished items. The glass marble was invented here around 1850, and Lauscha glass is used to create some of the finest camera lenses and filters, decorative beads, and designer art.

Precision Craftsmanship

The region supports a cottage industry of artistic glass blowers that creates a stunning selection of fragile masterpieces in home studios and small workshops. Many of these glass blowers continue a family trade begun generations ago.

My wife and I were privileged to rent a bungalow behind an artist’s house for several days, and marveled as we watched our husband-and-wife hosts create Christmas decorations using colored glass rods, flame, human breath, imagination, and skill. It was amazing to see how ancient techniques practiced by leathery, heat-cracked fingers could result in precision craftsmanship better than anything made by modern machinery.
The Museum für Glaskunst (Museum for Glass Art) displays items from the 17th century as well as modern pieces. The Farbglashütte factory conducts tours and glass-blowing demonstrations, and has a store selling everything from vases to stemware to, of course, marbles. The town is full of glass article shops: butterflies cost from $40, vases from $15, bracelets $60, earrings $35, and necklaces $30. Every December, the Lauschaer Kugelmarkt offers one of the finest Christmas ornament and decoration markets to be found.

SIDEBAR: The Lowdown on Lauscha

The Tourist Information office, Kulturhaus, Hüttenplatz 6; e-mail: TouristInfo@Lauscha.de, is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The staff will help you find accommodation, acquire maps and other literature, and you can buy souvenirs and visitor discount cards here. Through this office we rented the bungalow for about $50 a day.

Museum for Glass Art, Oberlandstrasse 10, is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry: Adults: $3.70, children/students/Lauscha Guest Card holders: $2.20, Family: $10.30, Thüringen-Card holders: Free.

The Farbglashütte factory, Strasse des Friedens 46.

See examples of glass articles made and sold in Lauscha: www.Glas-Kluge.de and www.Glaszentrum-Lauscha.com.

Sea Views and Golfing Near Varna

by Maria Savage

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast has been hitting the headlines with stories of ultra-cheap apartments in former Soviet resorts and the opportunity to make fast returns on your money. I recently went to see for myself.

It’s true, there’s still an abundance of very cheap housing on this coast—a glut, even. Studios for less than $48,000 at the Sunny Beach resort are advertised everywhere, but I found them unattractive, cookie-cutter options. Many of the resorts aren’t even near a town, and I’m not sure I’d enjoy being surrounded by lobster-red vacationers from Russia.

The resorts near Varna are the exception, however. Some of these are worth a look, as they are planned around a private golf course and include shopping centers, a hotel, and modern amenities such as a swimming pool and recreational center.

One of the developments that I liked was the Lighthouse Golf Resort. This is unique in that it’s the only development on the coast offering villas with outdoor space—not just apartments—and it’s low density, with sea views. You can buy a fully furnished 900-square-foot villa priced from 139,000 euro ($204,000) here. Full access to the private golf course—designed by an American PGA player—as well as to all of the other amenities, is included in the price. The development runs right down to the sea, and as the terrain does not allow for construction along the coast, your sea view is guaranteed to never be blocked by other buildings. Varna International Airport is less than 20 miles away.

This resort is not far from the coastal city of Varna, a city 56 miles from the Romanian border, with an attractive historical center, plenty of old-world charm, and a good selection of shopping and dining options. The airport has direct flights to and from Sofia, the U.K., Russia, and many other European destinations.