Drugs in Paradise

The Trip to Portugal was good ..... weather hot, accommodation really excellent, but man is it expensive for UK tourists in Europe now. The collapse of the pound (goddamn you Gordon Brown!!), means that beer and food costs are on a par with, or even more expensive than at home.

I suspect that my European Odyssey's are largely over, and I will be looking outside the Euro Zone for value in the future, but that's not why I am writing, no its another matter that prompted this blog.

In Albufeira on the Algarve, the Beaches and Restaurants, were the haunts of "African Migrants" (aka illegal 'asylum seekers') who try to sell you "Rolex's" or "RayBan's". To be honest it was a bit of a pain, but apart from the fact that it was Africans, and not the Albanians who operate in the Eastern Mediterranean, it wasn't anything new.

No, the one remarkable feature of this holiday, was the open sale in the streets of drugs ..... you could hardly walk around, without being asked if you wanted "Smack, Charlie, Smokes?" .... this 'offer' was usually made by Portuguese (or dark skinned men) in front of children and families, with little or no police interference.

Most of this drug dealing was centred on "The Strip" and how the Portuguese police can't clean it up is beyond me.

'The Strip' is, as you can see, is a mile long strip of bars, interspersed with Restaurants. Hardly un-policable, so you have to ask why the Portuguese police do nothing?