The silent East Algarve — A road trip in pic­tures

The Algarve, the sou­thernmost strip of Por­tugal, has estab­lished itself as a popular year-round desti­nation thanks to its spec­ta­cular coastline with an intri­guing interplay of rugged cliffs and fine white, almost endless sandy beaches, as well as the cer­tainty of most sunny days in all regions of Europe. Alt­hough the tem­pe­ra­tures of the Atlantic Ocean only invite you to swim from May to October, the many hours of sunshine ensure a won­derfully mild climate even in winter. While the western Algarve is strongly deve­loped for tourism (and the building boom has unfort­u­nately caused quite some atro­cities here), the eastern part has pre­served its unspoilt cha­racter.

From the Spanish border to Faro, the capital of the Algarve, stretches the quiet, untouched San­dal­garve. Here countless little pearls and great tre­asures are hidden: slum­bering vil­lages and small islands, warm-hearted people, an enchanting cuisine, noble cul­tural cities and a coastal stretch whose beauty takes your breath away. The­r­efore, this road trip can never satisfy the claim of docu­menting all the places worth seeing in the eastern Algarve, but it can allow — very per­sonal — glimpses into this won­derfully quiet corner of Por­tugal. Seja inspirado!

“Dentro de nós há uma coisa que não tem nome, essa coisa é o que somos.”

“Inside us there is some­thing that has no name, that some­thing is what we are.”

José Saramago

Ria Formosa

Por­tugal — according to the coun­try’s Ministry of Culture — has seven wonders: As Sete Mara­vilhas de Por­tugal. The Ria Formosa Nature Park in the Eastern Algarve is one of them and makes this name a credit. An impressive archaic land­scape cha­rac­te­rised by mud flats, salt flats, mussel fields and a great variety of flora and fauna. A chain of islands and pen­in­sulas shields the lagoons from the open Atlantic. Crayfish crawl through the sand in their thou­sands and the song of the water birds in the morning and at sunset is a sym­phony. Wind, currents and tides con­stantly change the face of this lagoon land­scape and those who take the time to observe quietly witness an incom­pa­rable natural spec­tacle.

Fuseta

The fishing village Fuseta is situated directly on the scenic lagoon Ria Formosa. The village was created from a few huts where the fishermen stored their equipment in former times. The narrow streets of the old town are lined with low, white washed or tiled little houses that provide shade to each other. The influence of Moorish archi­tecture is still visible ever­y­where: Cubic forms, flat, acces­sible roofs, each acces­sible via two stair­cases (one staircase per family). On the roof ter­races hang fish, tomatoes and laundry to dry in the sun.

Home away from home

In the heart of the natural wonder of Rio Formosa stands a simple, white house. Peacefully and atten­tively, it gazes out at mud­flats, sand­banks, salt works and at the past of a family whose history and life­style is embedded in this very place, a family that is remem­bered here and whose story con­tinues to be spun with care.

The fri­endly hosts Fer­nando and Nuno seem to be equipped with small, invi­sible antennas: You never have to express your wishes and needs here, the two always anti­cipate you in the most sui­table way: guest empathy at its best!

The Casa Modesta — my blissful homebase during my stay in Por­tugal — is a country house hotel with nine guest rooms, private patios with ham­mocks, rooftop ter­races with broad horizons, fig and almond trees, an organic vege­table garden and a pool with a sun deck. Grand­mother Car­minda and Nuno conjure up the magic in the kitchen, and meals are enjoyed tog­ether at the long table in the dining room. The plain interior of the rooms steers your attention towards the few carefully placed items of tra­di­tional local crafts, as well as to the interplay between light and shade, between inside and outside. This leaves suf­fi­cient space for the thing that the Casa Modesta does in such a unique way; the atmo­sphere it creates is a har­mo­nious syn­thesis of puristic archi­tecture and a warm family envi­ronment. The breakfast is a poem.

Cacela Velha

On a hill with breath­taking views over the shallow waters of the Ria Formosa and sheer endless, bright sandy beaches lies the fortress-like village of 40 inha­bi­tants. In the Middle Ages noto­rious pirate nest, today a few white­washed houses with idyllic gardens nestle around the pic­turesque village square. From the benches right next to the church you can only do one thing: enjoy the view in awe and wonder.

Olhão

This lively coastal town, located in the heart of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, is only a 15 minute drive from Faro and has the largest fishing port in the Algarve. The winding old town has the flair of a medina and is cha­rac­te­rised by its very own style, inspired by the Arabic archi­tecture of North Africa: cube-shaped buil­dings with a flat roof, on which a smaller cube was placed in case of larger space requi­re­ments.
The market halls of Olhão offer a great sel­ection of freshly caught fish and seafood, while the far­mer’s market with local pro­ducts along the pro­menade lets visitors immerse them­selves in the Por­tu­guese way of life every Saturday.
Today, fishing is still the first source of income for many inha­bi­tants, but the beauty of the coastal town has spread and the desire for a bright white holiday home with a cubic roof terrace and a wide view over the lagoon has become reality for many alemães or inglês. Nevert­heless, Olhao has kept its quiet charm and is guarded like a rare pearl by its inha­bi­tants — the local ones as well as those who have settled in.

A little further west: Capela do Monte

The Por­tu­guese architect and Pritzker prize winner Álvaro Siza Viera has placed a modest cube in the untouched hin­terland of the Algarve, not far from the charming town of Barão de São João: La Capela do Monte (“Hillside Chapel”). The con­tem­plative aura of the chapel imme­diately tran­s­cends to the visitor, its silent yet powerful pre­sence is breath­taking.
The building was designed in order to function without elec­tricity, heating or running water. The only access — the ves­tibule, open at the top, with tiles painted by Siza with biblical scenes, becomes a pro­jection surface during the day for sug­gestive plays of light and shadow, accen­tuating the straight edges of the archi­tecture. The entirely white interior of the chapel is strictly mini­malist and reduced to the essential ele­ments, all made of bright wood: a bench, a few chairs, the altar and a sty­lized cross — all designed by the architect.