If everything goes according to plan, the agreement with the company that transformed the eastern zone of Lisbon in the 1990s should be approved next week in a Council meeting, after the debate was postponed for a week at the request of the PSD. But the project will cover Faro's whole waterfront area from Bom João to Patacão.

Before the end of this month, it should be known who has won the tender for building the benches, i.e. the units for furnishing the facility, the first to be built in the Parque das Cidades for four years during which the area has had only a little used stadium and two or three leisure facilities mainly for children and young people.

The Algarve is already a regular host to European Tour events and has been a selected venue for The World Golf Championships-World Cup. By any standard, The Algarve has been on a rocket ride to golf stardom and 40 years later, there is still no sign of the ride slowing down. As with most success stories, this has not come about by accident, but is the result of a lot of hard work, discipline and meticulous planning, every step of the way.

The project will cost an estimated two million euros from funding that was secured from the European Union by a regional partnership led by Almargem, the environmental organisation, and including Junta Metropolitana do Algarve (AMAL), the Câmaras regional board, Águas do Algarve, the region’s water supply agency, Algar, the region’s rubbish collection agency, AREAL, the regional energy and environment agency, and the University of Algarve.

Having once faced certain death, many of these trees are worth their weight in gold and are exported to Dubai, China, Australia, Germany, Spain and Morocco. Luís Piedade, managing partner of the Ecossistemas garden centre, told the Lusa agency that people buy olive trees by the truckload which go all over Spain, mainly to Alicante and Murcia; he added that 70% of this business goes to the Spanish market.

There isn't a country in Europe that doesn't compete aggressively for American vacationers, many pouring millions of dollars into advertising themselves and the attractions each believes their country holds. Take a look at the Travel Section of your Sunday newspaper, the glossy travel magazines - even radio and television, it can be a confusing muddle of often contradictory advertising claims, as they all chase after your vacation dollars.