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Memories of Clube Oceano below

Since my first visit to Portugal in 2008 we stayed at the same relatively small 3 star apartment hotel, Clube Oceano. As the 3 star designation suggests it is not a fancy place but provides a comfortable, friendly and welcoming environment, which suited us well. There is no dining room and no "entertainment"  so it was quiet and relaxing, also a plus for us. And the location, about 3 minutes walk to the beach was ideal. 
But the most important attraction of the Clube Oceano was the friendliness of the staff.

Out of focus Clube Oceano lobby

They quickly knew us by name and there was a welcoming homey feeling especially from the day staff and particularly the woman we concluded was "in charge". She was affectionately referred to by all as "Maria", though we learned later that is not actually her name. How she came to be called Maria I never learned but it didn't matter, she was Maria and she seemed fine with that. Though obviously busy, she always seemed able to make time to provide help or just for friendly conversation. 

Early years - Ruth settled in.

At one point I had the impression that I was receiving special attention from her as she spent time helping me learn a bit of Portuguese. But I soon realized that this sort of "special" attention, while it was special, it was not unique as it seemed to be her general approach to everyone. And even when she went home in the evening she must have at times been thinking about the apartment guests - one morning she came in from her car carrying two large bags, one full of oranges and one full of lemons from a lemon tree in her yard, all of which she proceeded to distribute to us and others! And, when we returned each year we received a warm personal welcome from Maria and the staff including the wonderful women who spruced up our apartment every day.

Ready for six weeks!

Clube Oceana has been around a while so definitely has its "warts", but the congeniality of the staff and the prompt response to deal with the "warts" when they surfaced,  prevented them from becoming troublesomely troublesome.

Balcony sunrise - my first year

This place was our home in Portugal and the people who made it so were essentially our friends. Hence, our extreme distress in 2012 to learn that the Clube Oceano would no longer be open in February and March, the time of year we have been coming here. In fact, it is not open from November to April! This, the loss of our home in Portugal, was the "unkindest cut of all"!

We were reassured by Maria that she and most of her colleagues would continue to have employment at other Luna Hotels, but sadly, this was the end of our time at Clube Oceano. 

Before leaving to go back to Canada we looked at several possible alternatives, without finding anything that was close to the ocean and provided facilities similar to Clube Oceano. 

Looming storm - 2010

Laundry assistant.

The only one as close to the ocean was the larger Monica Isabel, perhaps a couple of hundred feet from the Clube Oceano, but, as we have learned in our stay at Monica Isabel, it is light years away in terms of the quality of personal service. For example, when problems surface the response, or lack thereof, has tended to aggravate rather than minimize the problem, at least during the first two weeks. A couple of days ago, however, after several failed attempts to get their attention concerning our extremely uncomfortable couch Ruth went once again to the desk to ask if our couch might be replaced and, to her surprise, the desk clerk said, "Of course! You need to have a new couch"! 

Sunset from our balcony - early years

And the fellows who came to check out the couch and replace it were equally helpful and pleasant. So, things are looking up. Now with our expectations cautiously altered, we wait to see if any of the other unsmiling desk clerks will make us feel welcome, maybe even get to know our names and we theirs. And perhaps there will even, once again, be oranges and lemons and a personal welcome if we were to return next year, which seems unlikely.

As we are not on an "all inclusive" plan, we make our own meals and eat in our apartment. Occasionally, however, we treat ourselves to a dinner out, often at A Concha, a small family restaurant just few hundred feet from the Clube Oceano. It is informal, close by and the meals are both delicious and relatively inexpensive, accompanied by a generous glass of wine if wine is requested, and served by an attentive staff under the watchful eye of an efficient and demonstrably friendly young proprietor, Lilliana. Kindly instructions from the staff or Lilliana about how to deal with the unfamiliar, like a Cataplana or a serving of larger than expected sardines, are immediately at hand. And, often, a free glass of port wine is offered at the end of a meal. As in Clube Oceano,  familiarity developed fairly quickly and one began to feel not only welcome but, in a way, at home.

And when it became evident that Lilliana was expecting her first child, there was a good deal of genuine anticipation of the coming event and interest in seeing the child the next year. And, the next year, though we saw a bit less of Lilliana, when she was in the restaurant, so, to most everyone's delight, was her son.

A year when our friends, Jean and John, were not with us, we began visiting A Concha once or twice a week around 4 pm to sit in the sun and savour Sangria and a couvert of bread, butter, sardine paste and black olives, often served by the young woman in the photo.

Usually A Concha would open around March 1st so we were a bit surprised last year, 2013, when there was no sign of activity. It had been a bit cooler than usual in February so we thought that they may have decided to open a bit later, but by the time we left for Canada in early April they were still not open and noone was about. A worrying sign. When we arrived this year, sadly, our fears were confirmed - all signs and evidence of A Concha were gone. The restaurant had always seemed busy during our time here so we assumed it to be financially sound, but possibly either the closure of the Clube Oceano for 5 months of the year (many Clube Oceano guests were regular patrons) or the general austerity in Portugal, or both contributed to the demise of A Concha. Or, possibly Lilliana and her partner decided to expand their family and the work involved in the restaurant was too much. We are sorry A Concha is no longer but whatever the reason, we wish Lilliana and her family well.

I regret that I can find no other photos of A Concha, the restaurant. I believe "concha" means "scallop" and I think this is a scallop shell - it's as close as I can get.

But all is not lost. We have become reacquainted with the Panacee, where we have enjoyed an occasional English breakfast, and find that they serve an excellent dinner in a casual comfortable environment at a very reasonable price. And it is conveniently close to the Monica Isabel. In fact, today at the Panacee we were able to resume our occasional 4 pm sangria, bread, butter and olives - and a very good sangria it was. So, we will miss Lilliana and friends we knew at A Concha but, who knows?  possibly new ones at Panacee?