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How far do you go in search of Portuguese folk music ?

The guide books describe the "Fado" as "traditional Portuguese songs of sadness." In my confused Anglo Saxon head all this congealed into the idea that the Fado was a sort of white mans blues meets Samba only without the rhythm. On occasions it appears that almost every restaurant in Portugal is advertising it's "Fado evenings" for reasons I never understood many of these Fado performances simply never happened or if they did the music on offer could hardly be described as "songs of sadness", even when sung in Portuguese there is no mistaking the anemically jaunty beats of another Euro holiday anthem. A hundred little ditty's that usually include words like "viva.. sun.. love.. and baby" in no particular order. Usually at least one of these anthems bursts into the UK charts after the purchasers have spent summer in the disco's of the Spanish Costa's. Why the locals believe this regurgitated Euro pap is more entertaining than their own traditional music is beyond me ? But apparently they feel we will prefer to hear this rather than their own music.

Tourist eateries in many countries are becoming depressingly similar. Fifteen years ago the vast majority of restaurants in France were French, now a trip round any French town is becoming depressingly similar. Pizza's, Pasta, Chinese, Thai abound and you will often struggle to find a decent French restaurant in a tourist centre, its all getting very dull. Unfortunately Portugal is going down the same road ! Which is a shame, the Portuguese are obviously not food snobs but they do have their own very distinctive cuisine.

OK I admit, sometimes we have succumbed to the tourist Pizzeria but we see it as part of our holiday to try as many local dishes as possible. Our regular eatery for the first couple of weeks was a small cafe called Cinderella's just off the main shopping precinct in Faro. We have developed this habit on our travels of looking beyond the high street restaurants, and on our first evening we spotted a number of people seated outside an eatery in a small Beca (or alley) which was past a much larger restaurant with largely empty seats. This is generally a good sign.. why walk round a lot of empty tables if the food is no better. We sauntered past a couple of times earwigging and heard a variety of languages being spoken.. another good sign. If after looking to see if the food is being consumed with gusto.. and families seem equally at home as couples

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