The ceremony was official, but it soon became clear that pomp and solemnity were not called for there. Prime Minister António Costa was this Saturday in Quarteira to inaugurate the Passeio das Dunas, on an official mission, but he did not refuse to greet and give two fingers to many citizens who approached him and even took the opportunity to buy a local product, in visit to the Algarve Nature Week Nature Show that followed the official opening ceremony of the new public fruition space.
António Costa didn't bring a suit or tie, not least because the (finally) spring climate invited a more relaxed outfit. After all, Passeio das Dunas, where the Algarve Nature Week Nature Tourism Exhibition is still taking place this Sunday, is a large outdoor space, especially designed for those who want to walk or cycle from Quarteira to Vilamoura (or vice versa -versa, of course).
As the different participants in the official opening ceremony highlighted, more than a work of urban regeneration, this was an intervention with strong symbolism, at a social level. In the 17 hectares where the 1st phase of Passeio das Dunas was built, a project that cost around 4 million euros, there was a run-down neighborhood, despite being a strip of land in front of the Sea, in one of the most touristic places in the Algarve.
The mayor of Loulé Vítor Aleixo, who put the work on the ground, argued that it was, above all, a “project of social and territorial cohesion”. In other words, the tourist centers of Quarteira and Vilamoura no longer had this “wall”, which prevented a healthy relationship between them.
After the inauguration, the Prime Minister put on the skin of a tourist and went to see what the Algarve's nature has to offer, not only in terms of experiences, but also local products. And he ended up not resisting taking with him some flower of salt from Castro Marim, which he casually bought during the protocol tour by the exhibitors in the area dedicated to handicrafts and local products.
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