Alporchinhos holiday apartment: Senhora da Rocha

Five centuries of Arab rule, from AD711, left a legacy that is still visible in the region’s architecture, lattic chimneys, azulejos, orange groves and almond trees. Place name beginning with Al are also of Morrish origin; Al-Gharb (“the West”) denotes the western edge of the Islamic empire. When the Algrve was reclaimed by the Christians in 1249, the Portuguese rulers designated themselves kings “of Portugal and of the Algarves”, emphasizing the region’s separateness from the rest of the country. It was the Algarve, however, that shot Portugal to prominence in the 15th century, when Henry the Navigator is said to have set up a school of navigation at Sagres, and launched the age of exploration from these southern shores. The earthquake of 1755 had its epicenter just south of Lagos, then the region’s capital. Virtually all towns and villages were destroyed, which explains why very few buildings in the region predate this period.

Since the 1960’s, when Faro airport was opened, international tourism has replaced agriculture and fishing as the region’s main industry. A few stretches of the south-western seashore are now cluttered with high-rise complexes catering for the yearly influx of tourists. However the whole western seaboard exposed to the Atlantic and the lagoons east of Faro have been barely touched the development. Trips inland, to the pretty whitewashed village of Alte or the boarder town of Alcoutim in the east provide a welcome reminder that, in places, the Algarve’s rural way of life continues virtually uninterrupted.

World class golf courses short drive away.

Other Activities: The famous zoo marine with its interactive dolphins has water slides & fairground rides. Two water parks “slide & splash” & “aqualand”.

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