CAR HIRE ALGARVE

Car hire Portugal is the capital, car hire algarve, the Algarve, with a medieval wall and a large number, car hire algarve, monuments: Cathedral (Roman-Gothic origin), Nossa Senhora da Assuncão Convent (Renaissance), São Francisco Church (16-18th centuries). Museums to visit include: Infante Dom Henrique, Regional Ethnographic, Ramalho Ortigão and Antoniano (next to the Santo António do Alto Hermitage). Also worthwhile visiting are the beautiful churches, car hire algarve, São Pedro da Misericórdia and Nossa Senhora do Carmo. Roman ruins, car hire algarve, Milreu in the suburbs.Loule is a rural administrative and active market town with some remains, car hire algarve, a castle dating back to the 12th Century. The Arab castle has been virtually destroyed leaving some walls still standing that are now surrounded by modern buildings. Like most other towns in the Algarve, most, car hire algarve, the older, potentially interesting buildings were destroyed in the earthquake that occurred in 1755. Within the remaining walls is a museum with an explanation, car hire algarve, what was in the past the grandeur, car hire algarve, the castle. The various earthquakes that it has suffered through its history have damaged the 13th Century Church, car hire algarve, São Clemente. However, its Gothic arches and side chapels which remain from the 16th Century have survived.One, car hire algarve, the Algarve´s main fishing ports, Olhão (read as "olhaun") has square whitewashed houses with flat roof terraces and chimneys that are evocative, car hire algarve, Moorish architecture. Behind the parish church, car hire algarve, Nossa Senhora do Rosário, from the 17th century, the chapel, car hire algarve, Nossa Senhora dos Aflitos is where the wives, car hire algarve, fishermen gather to pray for their safety when the weather is stormy. But the town´s main attraction is its market, one, car hire algarve, the most animated and picturesque, car hire algarve, the Algarve, with an enormous variety, car hire algarve, seafood but also local farmers selling such products as fruit, honey and live chickens. Nearby, the village, car hire algarve, Fuzeta is like Olhão on a small scale.Silves retains much, car hire algarve, its former charm in the streets, car hire algarve, the old 'almedina', which are still laid out as they were in medieval times. The buildings that extend from the city walls to the river are, in many cases, fine examples of the bourgeois architecture of the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th. Testimony to the new prosperity brought by the cork business. Much of the city's past can be glimpsed to this day in the patterns of its streets and its architecture. The Jewish quarter was situated between R. das Portas de Loulé and what is nowadays the parish hall, while the synagogue was outside the city Walls.Tavira along with Lagos is one of the most architecturally attractive towns in the Algarve and dates back to around 2,000 BC. During the occupation of the Algarve by the Moors this town was considered of great importance due to its fishing industry. Tavira beaches are long, sandy and mostly empty and in the surrounding countryside you will find fields of orange trees and hills of figs and almonds.The town of Monchique is with a few exceptions happily untouched by the 20th Century invasion of tourism. It lies in the saddle created by the two high hills, Foia and Picota, the former reaching 902 metres above sea level. As with “mountain” people the world over the 10,000 inhabitants of this town have retained the rustic atmosphere with steep cobbled streets and small dark doorways housing various artisan trades. There is a very neglected 17th Century Franciscan monastery overlooking the town from which a visitor has a panoramic view over the beautiful countryside. The 16th Century Parish Church has excellent examples of Manueline craftsmanship around its doorway. The surrounding area flourishes on the production of cattle, pigs, cork and wood. Another important local product is the popular "medronho", the name of a strong schnapps type drink made from distilling the fruit from arbutus bushes. Foia and its sister mountain of Picota at 774 metres provide dramatic views of the coastal plain to the south and to the western Atlantic coast.Between Monchique and the town of Portimão is the village of Caldas de Monchique that was developed in Roman times as a Spa. Here a visitor can try the curing elements of the sulphur smelling hot spring water that emerges at a constant temperature of 32ºC. There are two further hot spring sites one of which is to the south of Picota hidden in a valley. Its name is Fonte Santa and it is rumoured to have special healing properties. Some people make annual visits and in its history some centuries ago it has been recorded as being visited by both the King of Portugal and the King of Italy. The two nearby villages of Alferce and Casais are both typical un-spoilt locations reflecting the spirit of rural mountain life. The village of Marmelete is to the west and located on the road that connects to the many sandy beaches on the western Atlantic coast. The small rural town of Aljezur with its hilltop 12th Century castle and its 14th Century parish church is further west on this same road.

OLHÃO

Olhão - History
The town of Olhão is essentially and historically linked to the local fishing industry and only grew into existence in the 17th Century. It has about 30,000 inhabitants and was raised to the status of a town after 17 local fishermen successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1808 in the fishing boat “Bom Sucesso” without charts. Their purpose was to announce to the exiled King of Portugal, Dom João IV, that the French invading armies had been defeated and had returned to France leaving Portugal free for the King to return. It was in this town in 1882 that the first canning factory for tuna and sardines was established. Very soon canning factories spread along the coast and it became the leading industry of the Algarve.

Olhão - Description
Architecturally the town is well known for an older quarter where the flat terraced roofs and straight box-shaped chimneys show a definite Moorish flavour. The fish market in a long building on the waterfront is a "must" to visitors. Every morning there is a lively noisy atmosphere and the impressively large variety of fish offered by the local catch is displayed to tempt the housewife.

Olhão - Nearby Locations
Travelling east from Olhão is the small sea village of Fuseta with the ruins of a castle and the older similar architectural style houses. To the north is the village of Moncarapacho with a 16th Century Church and a small local museum next door. On the nearby hill named Cerro da Cabeça there is a popular Grotto named after the village. From the town of Olhão there is a ferry service that takes visitors to the nearby small islands of Ilha da Culatra and Ilha da Armona. With their unspoilt sandy beaches and the pleasant lack of construction these islands act as an agreeable contrast to the noise and bustle of the neighbouring town.

TAVIRA

Tavira - History
Tavira along with the town of Lagos is one of the most architecturally attractive towns in the Algarve and its origin dates back to around 2.000 BC. During the occupation of the Algarve by the Moors this town was considered of great importance due to its fishing industry. Dom Paio Peres Correia took it from the Moors in anger in 1242 after seven of his principal Knights were killed during a period of truce. In the 17th Century the port in its river was of considerable importance, shipping produce such as salt, dried fish and wine. Like most of the Algarve its buildings were all virtually destroyed by the earthquake of 1755.

Tavira - Description
The town has since been rebuilt with many fine 18th Century fine buildings along with its 37 churches. A Roman bridge links the two parts of the town across the River Gilão. The church of Santa Maria do Castelo is built on the site of a Moorish Mosque and in it are the tombs of Dom Paio Peres Correia and his seven Knights. Its original economic reliance on the fishing industry has now been surpassed due to the change in the migration patterns of the tuna fish. The population is in the region of 20,000 inhabitants supporting a military base whilst the surrounding area is still very rural and undeveloped. This is now changing due to the demands of the tourist industry and opening of golf courses in the near vicinity. The beach for this town lies past the salt pans and is reached by a ferryboat that takes the visitor to the sandy-bar island known as Ilha de Tavira.

Tavira - Nearby Locations
Near to Tavira is Cabanas and Pedras del Rey, both small beachfront villages catering specifically for the tourist. It is in the latter that there exists an olive tree that is said to date from the 17th Century and probably the oldest one of its type in Portugal. It stands 7.70 metres high and its girth is 11.80 metres. In the small village of Luz de Tavira there is one of the finest examples of Manueline craftsmanship around the southern door of the Parish Church. Santa Luzia gets its name from a shipwrecked Italian effigy of the Virgin Mary and is a very small unspoilt village with a fort. Near to the Torre de Aves there is the remains of a Roman villa. To the east of Tavira and overlooking the sea is the still original traditional village of Cacela-a-Velha used by the Phoenicians and later becoming the possession of the Knights of Santiago in 1240.