\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"Alberto](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC09003-300x300.jpg\")
Alberto: I knew about it, it\u2019s new here in Portugal but abroad it\u2019s something there\u2019s been for some time. We combined my experience with bicycles with Susana\u2019s experience in the hotel business, and suddenly we thought, let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n
Susana:<\/strong> People come in and leave their bikes here and stay to have lunch; normally they come to see Alberto and take the opportunity to have lunch or tea. Finding the location took time as well. But in my opinion we still haven\u2019t got the ideal site, but when we find it we\u2019ll move straight away. For the moment it\u2019s fine and it\u2019s good for getting going.<\/p>\n Is there a new mentality about the role of the bicycle in our cities? How is this reflected in the type of clients who come to your business? Susana:<\/strong> We have a wide range of clients, the ones that Alberto described but also people with no connection to bicycles. Like students who come for the internet, women who come at tea time and I have others who come often because of the type of meals and teas that we serve. Which are completely different from the things served in other establishments.<\/p>\n Do you concentrate on local produce and what is organic?<\/strong> How did this concept of caf\u00e9\/workshop go down with people?<\/strong> To keep costs down and increase their physical and mental well-being, people are using bicycles more and more. Can we speak of a new paradigm of people who are \u201ccycle-civilised\u201d or \u201cbike-informed\u201d?
\nWas it difficult to turn the dream into reality?<\/strong>
\nIt took more than double the amount of time that I thought would be necessary for implementation. What with the council and official papers, it is always complicated to manage everything. There\u2019s always something at the end. What\u2019s funny is that after being so demanding the law changed and the procedure was unblocked by \u201czero licensing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Alberto:<\/strong> We get all types, from normal cyclists who ride a bit to the ones with shaved legs. But this is more to do with my area of specialisation, which is suspension systems and shock absorbers, which is something more technical and there are few people who do it in Portugal.<\/p>\n
\n![\"DSC08994\"](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC08994-300x300.jpg\")
We try to concentrate on the things that are as natural as possible. We have an organic supplier\/producer who has a plot and brings us fresh produce every day. And everything organic is best, despite being \u201cugly\u201d. Sometimes at lunchtime we run out of some products because I always order small quantities each day so that it is always fresh. We think it\u2019s better like that.<\/p>\n
\nAlberto:<\/strong> I think that in general people are enjoying it, from the oldest to the youngest. We have everyone including the old lady who comes to drink tea and thinks it\u2019s funny that people come in by bike.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>hey\u2019re good words, but I can say that there are not more people using bicycles because it is dangerous to ride in our city. Faro is the capital of the Algarve and it doesn\u2019t have the right conditions for cyclists, we go to Vilamoura and it is fantastic cycling there. Here people would like the conditions to be better, and if they were, the number of people cycling would double from one day to the next.<\/p>\n![\"DSC09007\"](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC09007-300x300.jpg\")
The \u201ccycle route\u201d in Faro is ridiculous, a blue line painted on the road. Anyone can do that. And we\u2019re just losing out like that because the tourists who come here are tourists from Europe who normally ride bicycles, and they are not very impressed with the conditions that they find here. I am the first one to tell people that, to get out of Faro, it\u2019s safer to catch the train to Fuzeta and get on the Eco-Via cycle route there.
\nHow would you like your project to be in the future?
\n<\/strong>If it continues the way it is, it is not bad, with the conditions the city provides us with we can\u2019t expect much more. Of course I have a number of ideas for a bigger place but I can\u2019t reveal them now. It\u2019s a matter of waiting and seeing.<\/p>\n
\nRua Dr.Jo\u00e3o L\u00facio, 5 – Faro
\nTel.: (+351) 962 649 761
\nFacebook: www.facebook.com\/bikeloungecafe<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/joao.png\")