The Joys of the Algarve in low season

Last March I went to Portugal for the second time. Apart from spending a few days in Lisbon, which is quickly becoming one of my favourite European cities, I finally went to the Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal, famous for its beaches and very popoular with British tourists. Even though I am not a beach or a party person, I fell in love with pictures of the cliffs in Algrave and with those bizarre rock formations jutting out of the sea. 

Portugal is a special country for me. I love the people, so eager to show their little corner of Europe to anybody who cares to listen. I crave its delicious food: the 101 bacalhau recipes, the vinho verde and the delicious pastéis de nata still warm from the bakery. And last but not least, I adore the rich history of Portugal, with its glorious and dark periods alike: the age of discoveries as a counterpart to the gloomy Salazar years. 

Lagos

Lagos is the place I enjoyed the most in the Algarve and where I spent most of my time. Not only is the town really charming, with whitewashed little houses and cobbled streets, but just a short walk away I had the pleasure to see with my own eyes these amazing cliffs that I had only seen in photos. If you want to fall in love with Portugal and with the Algarve, just go to Lagos.

The wild landscape around Lagos

The old town of Lagos is undoubtedly touristy, with plenty of bars catering for the British tourists that invade it in the summer. This means tapas and piri piri chicken in many places, even if they are not really Portuguese. However, if you look harder it's easy to find authentic local cuisine, for example cataplana de peixe (a delicious fish stew with tomatoes, potatoes and onions) or arroz de tamboril (rice with monkfish). Seen the reasonable prices of restaurants, even in such a touristic place, I made sure to try as many Portuguese food as I could. I was there at the end of March, which is still low season and I appreciated the lack of tourist crowds. However, if I had decided to go there to party I would have been mostly disappointed, as during low season the town is pretty much dead by nine in the evening.

A street in Lagos

The best thing I did in Lagos was spending a whole morning hiking along the gorgeous cliffs and secluded beaches of the area. I started in Praia da Batata, which is at a short walking distance from the town centre, and hiked all the way to Ponta da Piedade, where there is a lighthouse. There are trails that connect all the cliffs and the nature dominates this area: it's wild enough, yet the paths are well marked. 

In March the beaches were almost empty, with just a few people like me taking a simple stroll. The weather was good enough, with a gentle breeze, and it was neither too hot or too cold. I struggle to hike in hot weather, so going there in March was a good choice for me.

The incredible view around Ponta da Piedade

I absolutely loved this area and I had such a good time. I wish I could go to this place whenever I feel a bit stressed. I loved how the erosion formed stone arches on the beach and on the water. I wish I had the possibility to take a boat tour and perhaps explore some of the caves, too. Unofrtunately in low season there weren't many boats departing, especially after luch. 

The lighthouse at Ponta da Piedade

Back in town, I devoted some time for sightseeing. The main church in Lagos is called Igreja San Antonio. Unassuming from the outside, it is worth paying the small entry fee -  only 1,50€ - to see it inside. It is a baroque church, with lots of gold and some azulejo tiles - a distinct feature of Portuguese buildings that I really love. 

Another thing that is worth checking out  is Mercado dos Escravos, the old slaves' market (3€). It houses an exibition on the slave trade in Portugal, and more specifically in this area, which gave me an idea of how Portugal came to be. Another thing I really liked is the fortifications at Ponta da Bandeira, where there are beautiful views  but also a bewautiful little chapel dedicated to Santa Barbara. It is covered in azulejos on three sides: the walls and the roof. 

A chapel in Lagos

Portimão and Praia da Rocha

If Lagos has sold its soul to tourism, Portimão has stayed for the most part a regular Portuguese town, with a main square, a few churches and some inexpensive restaurants. It has that look Spain or Italy must have had 25 years ago, with family-owned shops and simple unpretentious bars. 

A café in Portimao

I noticed that Portugal is full of graffiti and old abandoned houses, not only in big cities like Lisbon or Porto, but also in smaller towns like Portimão. Portugal may not prosper economically, but the Portuguese have found ways to embellish abandoned houses with eye-catching graffiti. 

A grafiti about fado in Portimão

In these area all the tourists are in Praia da Rocha, around 20 minutes by bus from Portimão. It is a long stretch of sand with an a sea promenade full of restaurants, hotels and souvenirs shops. As in Lagos, you can walk along the cliffs and admire the landscape. I walked from Praia da Rocha until Praia do Vau: pretty much until I was tired of seeing cliffs and stone arches.  

Praia da Rocha is a nice place, but overall I preferred Lagos, with its wild nature and hikng possibilities. If you are looking for something autentically Portuguese, you should head elsewhere, to a small village as there are many nearby or even to Portimão itself.

Praia da Rocha

Faro

Faro is the main town of the Algarve and where the international airport is located. For this reason, for many people it is just a stop-over on the way to the beach. It was my last stop before catching the plane back to Barcelona and I didn't know what to expect. 

All in all it was a pleasant surprise: the historical centre is a jewel, especially the old cathedral. At the entrance of the cathedral there is a small bone chapel , but my favourite thing about it was the incredible view from the top of the bell tower. Faro is located just next to a lagoon and from the roof of the bell tower you can see all of the old town with its whitewashed houses and the orange roofs. This creates a contrast with the azure and green of  the lagoon just behind it.

The view from the top of the Sé bell tower 

The rest of old town is equally attractive, with the ubiquitous black and white mosaic in the pedestrian streets, of the same kind that you can find in Lisbon, and quiet streets with inviting cafés and restaurants to spend some time without any rush.

Faro town center

Silves

During my five days in the Algarve the weather was generally good, but there was one day when it wouldn't stop raining, and you do not really want to be hiking around cliffs on a rainy day. Moreover, I realized that you really need a car to reach some of the smallest villages, like Alvor or Benagil, as there are few buses that connect them to the bigger towns. 

That's why I decided to visit the small walled town of Silves, in the interior of the region. It's reasonably connected to other places like Portimão and it offered the possibility of a change of scenery, not to mention some authenticity. The castle to be honest was a bit disappointed: even though it is one of the most important Islamic fortifications in Portugal, there isn't much left to see apart from ruins and might walls.

The walls of the castle in Silves

Silves was in the past an important town occupied by the Moors. There is one square in particular in Silves that displays this link. It is called Praça Al Mouhatamid Ibn Abbad, and it is dedicated to an 11th century Islamic king and poet with strong connections to Silves. I liked how this little town recognizes and remembers its Islamic past. It's not something that you see everywhere.

The fountain in Praça Al Mouhatamid Ibn Abbad

As it kept raining, I had lunch at the lovely Café Inglês next to the cathedral. It is a cozy and colourful restaurant that also offers live music in the evenings. What a lovely ending of my time in the Algarve!

Detail of the main church in Silves