My, Haven't You Grown... ; John Carter Reflects On How 40 Years Have Transformed Portugal's Tourist Coast Beyond Recognition

Summary

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TRAVEL writer and broadcaster John Carter was a creator of the BBC's Holiday programme in the Sixties and later went on to present ITV's Wish You Were Here?

He has been visiting Portugal's Algarve since 1962, when the region's stunning beaches were used only by fishermen, and has witnessed its transformation into a major holiday destination.

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Extract

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My, Haven't You Grown... ; John Carter Reflects On How 40 Years Have Transformed Portugal's Tourist Coast Beyond Recognition

Here, he gives a personal chronicle of the remarkable changes the area has witnessed over the past four decades and shows readers a few of the hidden gems still waiting to be discovered . . .

1962: IT had taken most of a long October day to drive south from Lisbon and my companion a young man from the Ministry of Tourism was irritated and bored.

He saw no reason to head beyond the Monchique mountains for there was, in that Algarve region, nothing for me to write about.

Later, he grew even sulkier when I insisted on driving down rough cart tracks to the shore, across rock-strewn worthless ...

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