Columbia Hillen

Every tile tells a story.

Or at least that’s the situation at the 5-star Bela Vista Hotel & Spa in Portimão on Portugal’s Algarve coast.

Century-old hand-painted tiles adorn the walls of this 38-room hotel, none more so than on the ornate wooden staircase leading up to the bedrooms. Here, a series of intricately designed tiles illustrate one of Portugal’s most respected books, The Lusiads, an epic poem written by Luis Vaz de Camoes about Portugal’s ‘golden age’ of discovery.

Columbia Hillen

Elsewhere, an aptly-named ‘tile room’ depicts the arrival in Brazil by 16th century explorer, Vasco da Gama, while religious scenes such as the Last Supper are illustrated in other rooms.

The intricate tile work throughout the hotel is the legacy of the original owners of this 1908 building, once a stately family home. Only in 1934 was it transformed into a hotel, now expanded to 38 rooms, 10 in the main building, 21 in what are termed  ‘garden rooms’ and seven in the ‘blue house,’ both on the same grounds. 

Columbia Hillen

Beautiful tile work is not the only impressive artistic feature of Bela Vista. Ceilings are carved from Brazilwood, a rare variety now protected. There is also a vintage piano in the main lobby dating from 1855.

Columbia Hillen

Bela Vista, as the name suggests, occupies an envious position overlooking the ocean and Praia da Rocha (Beach of the Rocks). In many ways, the hotel is reminiscent of the 1950s Amalfi coast, a white ‘ivory tower’ like structure insulated from the busy hubbub of the streets just beyond its sturdy iron-wrought gates and with an interior design bright with colors, a vivid blue and white on chairs and cupboards and sunny yellow bedspreads.

Columbia Hillen

Our room, 102, was refreshingly decorated in hues of blue, yellow and white with tiles featuring a floral motif covering part of the walls. It also featured a wood-floored balcony with whicker armchairs overlooking the long stretch of beach. 

Columbia Hillen

Even the bathroom, with tub and shower and l’Occitane and Guerlain toiletries, granted clear views over the beach and ocean. A floor-to ceiling linen curtain kept the room dark at night. Two armchairs and a coffee table, a bench and chair and a wall TV were among room furnishings.

Chef Joao Oliveira. Photo by Columbia Hillen

Dining highlight of a stay at this hotel is its Michelin star restaurant, Vista.

Guests are granted a short pre-dinner tour of the basement kitchen where they meet executive chef Joao Oliveira from Porto and his team of seven chefs, as well as a visit to the wine cellar. 

Columbia Hillen

The kitchen renovated five years ago has a special chef’s table for two for unique dining experiences.

Beside the kitchen is a wine cellar with, according to sommelier, Tiago Samarro, 800 different vintages, most from Portugal but also from countries such as Spain, New Zealand and Italy, all kept under constant room temperature. The oldest wine is a mid-1960s vintage.

Columbia Hillen

A ‘tactile’ menu, including grains of sand affixed to it, is provided to guests, created by local artist, Inês Barracha, followed by a jigsaw-like miniature map of three Algarvian regions indicating from which products for the restaurant’s 11-course pescatarian tasting menu are sourced.

Our dinner began with a veritable explosion of taste, a marble-size, lime-green ball filled with a liquid blend of horseradish, ginger and apple that simply blasted flavour throughout my mouth.

Columbia Hillen

Innovative dishes that followed included violet shrimp (camarao listado), a thin sheet of rice flour with the shell of a shrimp imprinted on it.

Another was a tomato dish comprising marinated cherry tomatoes from Quinta Das Castelhanas, a local farm, three tomato gels flavored with yuzu, camomile and Moroccan lemon combined with garlic flowers and capuchinha (aquatic leaves) and a sprinkling of ‘tomato water,’ all sprayed with camomile-infused vinegar.

A langoustine from Sagres slightly roasted and decorated with flowers of pickled cauliflower and an emulsion of white grape was also among the culinary offerings.

Columbia Hillen

Our dinner also included turbot and anchovies and delicious sourdough bread with olive oil from the hotel owners’ grove, Daniel Proença de Carvalho (DPC).

Even the butter on the menu is far from standard fare – being a blend of goat, cow and sheep milk, according to Neuza, our gastronomic guide for the evening.

Columbia Hillen

A second restaurant is the Bistro. In season, it is outside on a poolside patio facing the beach and sea; offseason, in the elegant ambience of the bar area with a mosaic floor and what can best be described as three-dimensional wall paintings – some featuring parakeets perched on keys in a cage; others, a system of mirrors that seemed quite nautical on a background of broken coconut shells. 

Columbia Hillen

A furnishing highlight is the ceiling of Brazilwood beams, deftly painted in a leaf and grape filigree.

Here we enjoyed Portuguese cod fish cakes, fresh cheese, mushrooms and thyme ravioli with celery broth and extra virgin olive oil; langoustine and scallops carpaccio with champagne and Ossetra caviar designed as a rosette reminiscent of a cactus flower like the ones on the hills nearby, formed by thin petals of langoustine and scallops, layered, with a pistil of caviar and surrounded by a smooth, champaign and butter sauce. 

Columbia Hillen

A gym, and outdoor swimming pool surrounded by tall swaying palm trees and a spa offer leisure opportunities.

Wes Streeting has joked that Sir Keir Starmer’s top adviser Sue Gray had “shot JFK” and “no one should earn more than the Prime Minister” amid a row over her salary.

The Health Secretary made light of suggestions of mounting acrimony at the heart of Government as he spoke at an event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

At a gathering hosted by think tank Labour Together, Mr Streeting told the crowd: “I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the Prime Minister, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions.

“Be careful what we wish for, comrades.”

He added: “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Sue Gray is hiding Lord Lucan and shot JFK, and I can’t even tell you what she did to Shergar.

“I don’t know how we’re going to recover from this, frankly.”

Ms Gray has been the subject of a series of anonymous briefings signalling discontent within Downing Street just weeks into the new administration.

Leaks about Gray’s £170,000 salary while other special advisers have seen their pay held down have contributed to reports of a fractious atmosphere within Downing Street less than three months after coming to power.

Her wage is slightly higher than the Prime Minister’s salary of £167,000.

According to the BBC, insiders claimed Ms Gray herself had named the salary after the election, and declined to cut it to earn less than the PM.

Sources close to Ms Gray denied the claims and told i that she did not request her salary and insisting that pay decisions are made by civil servants.

The row, alongside a lingering backlash over the acceptance of luxury gifts from wealthy donors by senior MPs, has threatened to overshadow Labour’s annual conference.

Sir Keir has insisted he is “completely in control” despite the briefings, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner earlier on Sunday said she was angered by attempts “to demonise workers in their workplace through the press and the media”.

John Plender is right to draw attention to the growing preference of defined benefit scheme trustees and the schemes’ employer sponsors to insure their pension obligations (“The lucrative pension fund transfer trend needs urgent scrutiny”, Opinion, September 17). However, the primary reason for this trend has, perhaps, been overlooked.

Beneficiaries of a defined benefit pension rely on the strength of their former employer’s corporate covenant being sufficient to meet, in all circumstances, the “promise to pay” implicit in a DB pension.

Conversely, following a transfer to an insurer, this promise is underpinned by the solvency capital requirement and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In other words, a “promise” becomes a closely-regulated commitment. Hence the market’s rapid growth now that this protection is evidently affordable.

Mark Wood
Chairman, PensionBee, London SE1, UK

Reading your editorial on the situation in the Middle East is rather depressing, for two reasons (“Israel’s reckless pager attack on Hizbollah”, FT View, September 19).

First, it is absolutely accurate to describe the seriousness of the situation and how it could further degenerate into an all-out war, taking an appalling toll in terms of casualties, displaced peoples and destruction.

Second, the editorial seems to follow an inescapable logic, although it ends with a prudent hint of hope in the US plan. Unfortunately, this applies to other conflicts around the world too.

The sense of ineluctability and resignation appears widespread among governments, at the UN — whose main objective is averting the scourge of war — and at the EU, which was established to promote peace and stability through economic integration and prosperity.

Diplomacy and the peaceful settlement of disputes seem to have been dismissed in favour of a race towards armament and militarisation. This is not to say that governments and relevant international organisations should not upgrade, test and strengthen their military defensive capacities. Obviously, they have to take such steps, and we are grateful they do so. But they cannot afford to neglect any suitable peaceful means to prevent and defuse international conflicts, however difficult and complex the task may be.

Needless to say, a diplomatic solution to the crises in the Middle East — or in Ukraine or elsewhere — unavoidably requires, from the parties involved, a willingness to make mutual concessions and sacrifices, and from any mediator or broker both vision and perseverance. Territorial disputes, individual criminal responsibilities, liability for the damages caused throughout the crisis, reconciliation and reconstruction are all formidable challenges but not inexorably insurmountable obstacles.

Diplomacy cannot surrender and must claim and honour its role.

Tarcisio Gazzini
Professor of International Law, University of Padua, Veneto, Italy

While it’s true that as we age, we lose bone mass and density, becoming weak or frail certainly isn’t inevitable. In fact, it’s possible to become even stronger as you get older—if you just make a conscious effort to get there.

We start to lose bone density as early as age 30, which means if you aren’t already taking steps to prevent osteoporosis, now is the time to start. But what actually makes a difference? Here, endocrinologists share the number one way to keep your bones strong, especially as you age.

Related: This Is the #1 Thing People Over 50 Should Consume Every Day for Strong Bones, According to Geriatricians

What Causes Osteoporosis and Who Is Most at Risk?

“Osteoporosis is defined as a silent bone disorder that leads to compromised bone strength leading to a high risk of fractures. It is also termed as low bone density,” says Dr. Chhaya Makhija, MD, DipABLM, an endocrinologist and the CEO of Unified Endocrine and Diabetes Care. She adds that osteoporosis can also be a clinical diagnosis where a bone density scan reveals normal numbers (T scores) or slightly low scores, but the individual has sustained fragility or low trauma fractures, like falling from a standing height. “This is severe osteoporosis and raises the risk of subsequent fractures,” she says.

Dr. Makhija explains that the risk for osteoporosis increases as we age, particularly for women because a decrease in estrogen (which happens during menopause) is associated with lower bone density. Dr. Libu Varughese, MD, an endocrinologist and Medical Advisor at Aeroflow Diabetes, adds to this, saying that it’s important for everyone to actively take steps to prevent osteoporosis after the age of 50, especially for women, since menopause is the most common cause of developing osteoporosis.

Related: The #1 Best Strength Training Exercise for Bone Health, According to Personal Trainers for Seniors

Post-menopausal women are not the only ones at increased risk for osteoporosis. Dr. Varughese says that people with diabetes, chronic smokers or drinkers and those with a family history of hip fractures or osteoporosis are also at a higher risk.

Both doctors explain that what causes osteoporosis is when bone loss happens at a faster rate than bone formation. “Lack of adequate nutrients, excessive weight loss, eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and malabsorption of calcium and vitamin D can worsen bone loss. Steroids are notorious for causing a rapid decline in bone density and patients in the long term are at higher risk for vertebral fractures, and fragility risk factors,” Dr. Makhija says.

Related: This Is the #1 Sign of Healthy Bones, According to Endocrinologists

The Best Way To Prevent Osteoporosis, According to Endocrinologists

Dr. Makhija emphasizes that when it comes to osteoporosis, prevention is key. Both doctors say that the very best way to prevent osteoporosis is regular strength training. “Stay active and focus on weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises to improve your muscle mass, bone mass and balance,” Dr. Makhija says. Scientific research backs this up, showing that strength training is an effective way to prevent both bone and muscle loss.

“Physical activity is one of the best prescriptions that can help us even if we have risk factors for low bone density. It is well known in science that humans lose muscle as we age and loss of muscle leads to a higher risk of falls,” Dr. Makhija says.

Dr. Varughese says that core strength training in particular is a good way to prevent falling, which is more likely to occur when bones and muscles are weak. “If you have core strength, you’re less likely to lose your balance and have a devastating fall,” he says. Dr. Makhija agrees, saying, “Good muscle strength and mobility help in the reduction of fragility fractures. Muscles are attached to the bones, so muscle contraction helps to also stimulate bone cells [and help with] bone formation.”

As Dr. Varughese mentioned, having diabetes ups the risk for osteoporosis. This is because chronically high blood sugar can impact bone metabolism, causing lipid accumulation in the marrow of long bones, which reduces the number of osteoblasts (cells required for bone synthesis) available for bone formation. Because of this, he says that diet and exercise habits that can help with maintaining a healthy weight and protecting against diabetes is another way to prevent osteoporosis.

In terms of nutrients that can be especially important to be mindful of when it comes to osteoporosis prevention, Dr. Varughese says that vitamin D and calcium are the two big ones to focus on because they play an important role in keeping bones strong. Dr. Makhija says it’s also important to get enough protein, a nutrient that makes up 50% of bone volume and one-third of its mass.

As you can see, diet and exercise are both important factors when it comes to keeping bones strong. If you don’t do any form of strength training now, consider this your sign to start. Keep it up and you’ll become stronger as you age, not weaker.

Up Next: 

Related: ‘I’m an Osteoporosis Specialist, and This Is the Type of Cheese I Swear By for Bone Health’

Sources