[ 06.2012 | Faro ]

when I was in Portu­gal in 2012 I was amazed by the small off­shore islands that form Faro’s coast­line. we got on a ferry some­where near Olhão to explore the the idyl­lic ‘Ilhas’ and went island-­hop­ping for a day to dis­cover the wild side of the Algarve, enjoy­ing uncrowded beaches, calm waters with fish swim­ming around our feet, mud­flats teem­ing with bird­life, lost dunes & forgot­ten lagoons and the very best sea­food restau­rants.

the picture shows a land­ing post and – believe me – I did a lot of abnormal bend­ings to set this hori­zontal line as it is. the photo shows one island that is part of the Ria Formosa National Park, the Ilha da Culatra with its vil­lage Farol – the latter is Portu­guese for ‘light­house’ – in the very back­ground. here, peace and har­mony are real and may be also due to the fact that the island has hap­pily been left in its quite original state, having under­gone little develop­ment only. this place is a proper escape. you just have to shut down. there’s no computer needed, no wifi, nor any reception. you don’t like the idea of not being in control of your life? – well, then don’t escape the matrix.

today’s International Literacy Day aims to high­light the impor­tance of liter­acy to indi­viduals, commu­nities and soci­eties. since 1965, UNESCO reminds every September 8th that there are around 781million people world­wide who cannot read or write – which means that roughly 12 percent of the world’s popu­lation is consid­ered func­tion­ally illit­erate. a fact we should – not escape from but – get control of.

sources: algarve-tourist.com | moviequotesonline.blogspot.de | literacyworldwide.org | unesco.org