by Matt D’Arcy

SO, even Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron has stumbled upon one of the Algarve’s best-kept secrets—the attractions of Aljezur.

This could be the end of life as we know it!

Suddenly the spotlight of the British media—closely followed by much of the world’s media with his visit even appearing in Chinese newspapers!—has focussed on our little town isolated out here on the gorgeous West Coast of the Algarve.

This morning the name “Aljezur” was on the lips of the presenters of morning TV programmes on the BBC, ITV, Sky et al.

They’ve found us—we are no longer beneath the radar!

We did fear the worst, as newspaper Travel Sections in the UK and various North European countries began to extol the virtues of the Rota Vicentina. We even spotted gushing reviews of this fantastic coastal walk in a South African newspaper.

We began to wonder if our idyllic paradise up here on what some call ‘The Plateau of Perfect Peace’ was going to be disturbed forever by a huge influx of people curious to know more about our well-kept secret, where detached villas with pools can be bought for half the price of similar properties in Lagos, just a half-hour drive away.

But now the cat really is out of the bag, thanks to that dratted David Cameron!

Google, Yahoo and other search engines are creaking under the weight of curious hordes Googling the name “Aljezur” to see what brought the Camerons to our doorstep.

Apparently the Cameron family is staying in a rural tourism unit in the Monchique area after arriving on Thursday for a 12-day break. On Friday morning they decided they would like to have some fresh seafood, and were advised to visit the fish market in Aljezur where it doesn’t get much fresher!

(So that explains why they finally got round to repairing the road between Monchique and Aljezur earlier this year! They obviously knew something we didn.t…).

And apparently on Saturday, according to Bergy on his website valedatelha.eu they lunched at Gabriel’s cliff top restaurant on that wonderful vantage point over looking Amoreira beach straight ahead, the Atlantic to the left and down the river valley to the right.
What next? I suppose they’ll be turning up at O Paulo’s in Arrifana, now one of the finest restaurants along the west coast.

Mind, it’s a pity WE didn’t have advance warning—we could have lobbied the Prime Minister about keeping the Winter Fuel Allowance!

Suddenly we’re on the map, with the Prime Minister’s visit coming after all the great publicity in the British press for the Rota Vicentina.

The Press Association—one of the leading global wire services–quickly sent the story to every news outlet around the world, as did Reuters, making sure that billions of people in all corners of the planet became acquainted with the name Aljezur.

Needless to say the PM’s visit triggered the pun sensors in the brains of Fleet Street’s finest headline writers.

The Daily Mail boomed: Cameron’s squids in! Chillax Dave and SamCam head to the Aljezur fish market on first day of their EasyJet holiday in Portugal

• David and Samantha Cameron are on holiday in the Algarve region
• Couple were pictured picking up some squid for dinner in town of Aljezur
• Mr Cameron sported a pair of brown loafers (without any socks)

David Cameron may have used EasyJet to fly off on his summer holiday, but now he is in Portugal he seems to be having a rather more exotic time.

The Prime Minister was pictured today picking up local delicacies in an Algarve market with his wife Samantha.

The couple bought some fresh squid from a fishmonger’s stall in the coastal resort of Aljezur.

The Times declared:  Camerons go fishing in Portugal for a quiet holiday haven

The Independent wrote:

David Cameron and his wife Samantha have begun their summer holiday with a visit to a Portuguese fish market.

The couple strolled around the stalls at the market at Aljezur on the Algarve before settling on some squid for their supper.

According to the Daily Express: David Cameron nets a fish supper…

David Cameron is squids in after browsing the slabs of a fish market during his summer holiday.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by his wife Samantha, settled on the delicacy after a good look round the market in Aljezur.

The Mirror reported: David Cameron gets fishy on holiday in Portugal with wife Samantha. David Cameron is used to dealing with slippery issues as Prime Minister – but he lets a market trader get to grips with his supper on holiday in Portugal.

The Prime Minister and his wife bought some squid for supper from the market at Aljezur on the Algarve.

The Sun, surprisingly, resisted the temptation for fishy puns and simply reprimanded Cameron for his fashion sense and for the fact that his cheap £9 shirt needed ironing!

According to The Telegraph: “The couple arrived with their three children in Portugal on Thursday and are expected to spend two weeks relaxing in the sun before flying back to England.

“They were photographed strolling around a fish market in Aljezur on the Algarve shopping for some squid for their supper.

“The fish merchants of Aljezur can only have admired his chambray-effect short sleeved shirt and olive green shorts (blessedly all-cotton and free of combat pockets).”

The globally-read blog the Huffington Post, which has hundreds of millions of readers might have been a little huffy about our hitherto-unknown little town, reporting:

Can You Lend Me A Squid? Holidaying Camerons Visit Fish Market

“During the trip, the couple strolled through a fish market in Aljezur, browsing the selection before leaving with a bag of squid.

“More used to dealing with slippery issues around Westminster, the couple looked relaxed as they entered the fish market and got on with the business of sorting out the night’s dinner.

“Hey, kudos to the Camerons for turning it out in one of the least glamorous places we can think of.”

(Sorry, Huff old boy, if we’re not St Tropez or Portofino. But then St Tropez and Portofino certainly lack the natural charms of our neck of the woods!)

The Portuguese paper DB Pessoas reported (English web translation): David Cameron live your week of summer vacation with ease, despite the heavy security surrounding it in the Algarve. Today the British prime minister insisted on going with his wife to buy fresh fish at the market in Aljezur.

According to sources, the family of the British prime minister settled into a rural tourism unit in Monchique, away from the most famous luxury resorts of the Algarve, such as Quinta do Lago. The family travelled from England to Portugal yesterday on a flight of low cost airline EasyJet.

America’s NBC News covered the visit as did the home pages of MSN, Yahoo, Google, and the Portuguese website Algarlife wrote:

David Cameron was photographed in Aljezur market with his wife, where they bought fresh squid and various other local delicacies in the stalls.

So, our cover is blown!

Brace yourselves for a mass invasion of tourists, developers, and home buyers…

On the other hand, maybe it’s just a one-day wonder and we can all go back to slumbering in the sun in our quiet outpost on the bottom left hand corner of Europe where the quiet beaches are beautiful and the surf is sensational.

Yeah, that’ll do…