The “Saramago Literary Route in the Algarve” will be launched this Saturday, November 26, at 16 pm, at the Vicente Campinas Municipal Library, in Vila Real de Santo António.
This route was conceived by Diego Mesa based on his book “Viagem ao Algarve”, inspired by “Viagem a Portugal” by José Saramago and developed in collaboration with the association 1/4 Escuro – Associação de Fotógrafos Amateurs de Vila Real de Santo António , with the aim of creating a set of literary itineraries complementary to those existing in the Algarve.
The motto for the creation of the “Saramago Literary Route in the Algarve” was the desire to reflect on the territory based on the following premise: if that was the Algarve seen, in 1980, by José Saramago, how will the Algarve of 2022 be seen by those who visit you now?
These are some of the questions raised by the writer Diego Mesa, taking as his starting point the last chapter, “Of the Algarve and the sun, dry bread and soft bread”, which occupies 18 pages in the edition of Viagem a Portugal, by Círculo de Leitores. Making Saramago his travel guide, with a new look he travels through the mentioned places and, after about 40 years since the 1st edition of that work, he presents us with an Algarve to visit or to revisit, which sensorially fills us with landscapes rich in light and color, architecture, smells, gastronomy and traditions. Saramago reminds us: “We have to start the journey all over again. Ever".
Associação 1/4 Escuro carried out a photographic collection of the places visited by Saramago, during his visit to the Algarve, as a result of his work Viagem a Portugal.
The exhibition “Photographic Journey to the Algarve” will then be shown in the other 12 municipalities in the Algarve covered by Saramago’s journey (Alcoutim, Aljezur, Castro Marim, Faro, Lagoa, Lagos, Loulé, Olhão and Portimão, Silves, Tavira and Vila do Bispo), and also by the Municipalities of Lepe and Ayamonte, in Spain.
«These projects are an opportunity to make known a territory that has inspired several writers, namely the places, monuments, landscapes, flavors and people, but also to promote the Algarve as a destination for literary tourism», says the Regional Directorate for Algarve culture.
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