PORTIMAO – A MUSEUM ABOUT SARDINES?

25 Sep

Saturday and after waiting in vain for the number 13 bus – unluckily for us – no buses on Saturdays nor Sundays, we called a taxi and within three minutes we were on Portimao’s riverside.

This is a really attractive walkway,replacing much of the long gone sardine canning infrastructure.

Following the signs for the Turismo, housed in a renovated Moorish building,further frustration as it was closed, yes you guessed it,at weekends when you would think they would be the days most likely to be busy with visitors. No buses,no Turismo,and later to discover no shops open after 1pm – I need to get my head round this Algarvian logic.

At this point the decision was coffee time in the park with a refreshing view of the fountain.

A look at Google Maps showed that we were not faraway from the Portimao Museum – hopefully it would not be closed for the weekend.

Walking alongside the River Arrade .

We stopped to examine this conveyor belt,just outside the museum.

All was to be revealed once inside the Museum…which was open and for this weekend,free admission!

Notice the Storks’ nest on top of the chimney. https://museudeportimao.pt/museu/noticias

It is housed in a renovated canning factory the Portimão Museum, invites you to discover the origins and evolution of its community, territory and the most striking aspects of its industrial and maritime history. In addition to the permanent exhibition “Portimão, Territorio e Identidade”, the museum presents a diversified cultural program in the temporary exhibition rooms and auditorium. More of that later.

If someone told you that you would be both well informed and fascinated by the sardine canning process,you might have been forgiven for a scornful riposte – well it was as much about the working lives of the mainly women here as it was about tins. The first thing to strike you was the amazing layout of the exhibits.

There was also an old “ newsreel” type of video running with English subtitles in a small auditorium – fascinating pictures of the women in what at first appeared to be nun-like habits hard at work. Picutes of their infants in the newly created crèche (1951), and of separate canteens for men and women. The other surprising elements were the various machines and processes the humble sardine went through before it got into the can – the lithography and decoration of which was very impressive.

The actual workplace was well reproduced,too.

There was also a section devoted to the 19 th century King Carlos and his seagoing adventures.

More than a passing resemblance to Oliver Hardy.

The temporary exhibition was about the relationship between food and art – it certainly gave us an appetite for lunch! Below are some of the images.

The canning factories had been heavily subsidised during Salazar’s dictatorship. When he died the subsidies mostly dried up,this,plus dwindling supplies of fish and competition from North Africa saw the canning industry die for the most part.

There followed a walkabout around a largely deserted town. Portimao as you might have gathered is not a “ tourist” town and its beaches are 3 Km away,including the famous Praia de Rocha and opposite in Ferrugudo,where we once camped in the mid seventies. But worth a day for the feel of a working Portuguese town.