Algarve West Tourism Guide - Portuguese Explorers Algarve

Silves Castle & Cork Museum & Lagoa Algarve Wines West Algarve

Historic Silves slightly inland from Portimao was once on a par with Lisbon as a strategic Portuguese location. Silves Castle reveals some of the details around its history as an important Moorish capital, particularly from the 11th the 13th Century. A huge red sandstone castle, a choice of historic museums including the renowned Museum of Cork, a mix of chic cafes, restaurants and bars and local golf and horse riding are a few things you can expect in beautiful Silves.

Popular with the day trips, Silves bustles in peak season and should be on everyone's Algarve itinerary - a whole day at least is recommended here!

Lagoa, just inland up from pretty Carvoeiro its coastal neighbour, is renowned as the Algarve's hub for wine production. The Adega Co-operativa still operates and can be found on the Portimao road. Visit for tours in the summer only.

Portimao Art Nouveau & Caldas de Monchique Spa Algarve West

Portimao's town centre is pleasant indeed as many buildings were decorated with stunning tilework during the 1920s - the style is distinctly art nouveau. Historic sights of interest in Portimao include the Igreja Matriz church to the north on a high hill. Note its 14th century Gothic portal - this survived the earthquake. Portimao has an old town area around Largo da Barca.

Just 24km north and inland from Portimao sits the rural natural spa retreat of Caldas de Monchique and the village of Monchique high in the Serra De Monchique mountains. The landscape is simply stunning up here, and around the spa village of Caldas de Monchique there are numerous walking trails. Caldas de Monchique has a history as a spa retreat - natural spa waters bubble up here. They bottle it now as well. The sublime woodlands of the Serra De Monchique are a mix of sweet chestnut, cork oak and arbutus as well as mimosa, pine and eucalyptus. The air is crystal clear up here and it smells beautiful!

Lagos Portugal History & the History of Slavery Algarve

The Romans favoured the port area of Lagos (Roman Lacobriga), although their base is thought to have been neighbouring Monte Moliao. Lagos was in Moorish hands up until 1241, after which in the Discovery Age boom century (early 15th to early 16th century) Henry the Navigator, one of Portugal's most renowned explorers and related to royalty used Lagos as headquarters for his jaunts. Henry's ships were built here in Lagos. His seated statue dominates Praca do Infante square. Lagos was also the main port of assembly from which Dom Sebastiao departed for his doomed Morocco campaigns. Lagos then became the capital of the Algarve, but dipped after almost total destruction by the earthquake.

Gold, ivory and slaves arrived here in Lagos from Africa. Indeed in Lagos just below the Customs House on the main square of Praca da Republica, the first European slave market was held in 1444. There's no plaque in the square, just a statue of Henry the Navigator. If there was a plaque denoting this, it might also read that Portugal was the first European nation to abolish slavery in the 1750s. This, together with other reforms like state funded free education for all came largely from a list of reforms instigated by the Marques de Pombal. Visit the Fortaleza Da Ponta Da Bandeira at Lagos' southern edge - inside here is a museum all about the Portuguese discoveries and explorers.

Along with Lagos' 17th century Fort, other historic buildings and museums include the Igreja De Santo Antonio and Municipal Museum. The church is baroque and its glitzy insides are well worth a look. The Municipal museum on Rua General Alberto da Silveira is a mix of Roman and more contemporary artefacts, as well as baroque paintings and a collection of Portuguese chimney pots!

Portuguese Explorers, Henry the Navigator & the Age of Discovery - Sagres Algarve West

Remote and quiet Sagres Fortress, quiet that is apart from the constant stream of tourist visitors who come here, was once of huge importance within Portugal. Here sailors were trained and made ready for dangerous expeditions at the School set up here by Henry the Navigator. Henry had a house nearby too, thought to have been more towards Cape St Vincent further west - not there now though as it was sacked by Sir Francis Drake. As well as the navigation school, Henry set up an observatory, and he died down here in 1460. His death signalled the move of this onetime maritime centre upto Lisbon.

Sagres Fortress was completely destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, but rebuilt afterwards. The flat fort complex is almost a blank canvass now, apart from the rosa dos venos stone thought to date from Henry's time and the little 16th century Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graca. The views up here though along the rocky wild Algarve coast stretching to Cabo De Sao Vicente and the remote monastery and lighthouse there are not to be missed.

The fort at Sagres and the navigation school set up by Dom Henrique - the Navigator sit within the context of Portuguese maritime expansion. A century of discoveries from the early fifteenth century saw Portuguese explorers land in India, East Africa, China, Japan and South America. Many of these expeditions left from this far west stretch of the Algarve coast or from the east and Tavira.

The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake - Damage to the Algarve Coast & Far Reaching Effects

The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake is a natural disaster that had far reaching effects, not just in its enormous destruction which devastated the city of Lisbon but key centres to the south and west including Faro, Tavira and Lagos. The Lisbon earthquake also sparked off philosophical arguments across Europe and religious leaders used it to full effect, striking fear into people by suggesting that if they carried on sinning they'd end up like the people of Lisbon. The Lisbon earthquake wasn't the most destructive earthquake of all time, but it is a natural disaster which focused the world's attention on Portugal.

The Lisbon quake struck around 9.30am on Saturday 1st November 1755 on All Saints Day. There were 3 major quakes close together, the first shook the city and created alarm, but the second quake after a minutes pause was the one that caused most of the devastation. This quake lasted for around 2 minutes. A number of aftershocks were felt later in the morning, particularly one at 11am just before seismic waves crashed onto Lisbon quays as the Tagus rose up. This 11am quake levelled many buildings to the west of the city.

The effects of the Lisbon earthquake were far reaching indeed, and this fact is often forgotten today. Pretty much the whole of the south west corner of Portugal shook and considerable damage and more deaths were experienced in Setubal, Sacavem and across the south coast of the Algarve at Lagos, Faro and Tavira. That's not all, as a terrible earthquake was also felt in North Afica and huge destruction occurred in towns such as Fez and Mequinez with very high death tolls. Details from the time reveal that the quake was felt as far as Algiers, across south west Spain, in the north of Portugal at Coimbra and at Seville and Cadiz in Spain. Apparently shocks were also experienced in northern Spain, in France as far as Bordeaux and resports of shakes even came in from North Italy, Brittany and the Scilly Islands off the Far West Cornwall Coast.

In a world where natural disasters were still closely linked to the hand of God, it's difficult to imagine today this far reaching effect on the Western World's pschye particularly. Evidence suggests that there were at least 30 aftershocks recorded in the week after the 1st November 1755 which kept general fear and hysteria alive. Damage on the Algarve and fear of vulnerability of invasion by opportunist African pirates was strong, hence Pombal swiftly sent down 5 companies of horse which were based at Loule and Faro to keep an eye on potential danger points - a wise move which did much to reduce residents' fear down here.