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| Portugal > Tourism > Algarve > São Brás de Alportel | |
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| History | Places of Interest | Lodging | Lodging Algarve | Handicrafts | Gastronomy | |
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The area that is now the municipality of São Brás de Alportel, in common with the Algarve as a whole, was inhabited in prehistoric times and in the days of the Romans. Birthplace of the Moorish poet Ibne Ammar in the 12th century, São Brás de Alportel was by the 16th century a small village with a Hermitage. From the 17th century onwards it was the summer residence of the bishops of the Algarve, who were drawn to it by its agreeable climate, and in the 19th century it became the crossroad of the routes linking Loulé to Tavira and Faro to Almodôver. The area's extensive plantations of cork oak provided a spring board for commercial and industrial development and for years São Brás de Alportel was the biggest cork producing centre in Portugal and the world. Its increasing population and economic importance led to the creation of the municipality in 1914. The gradual transfer of the cork manufacturing industry to the centre and north of Portugal has prompted the municipality in recent decades to diversify its sources of economic prosperity.
| A walk in the Barrocal Up into the hills |
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These are among the attractions of an itinerary that takes in Cova da Muda, Javali, Cabeca do Velho and its windmill and, on the way back down, Corches. Pero de Amigos and Ribeira de Alportel.
São Brás de Alportel The tranquil, unhurried lifestyle of the friendly local population. Streets of white houses whose ranks are broken only by the lofty outline of the church and its bell tower. The ring of hills around, the town that look out on the sea and the mountains. Such are the simple charms of São Brás de Alportel, a typical Algarve town.
Historical Centre
Low, white houses typical of popular architecture stand alongside more substantial buildings, their facades decorated with tiles, ornate stonework and cast iron verandas, whose opulence harks back to São Brás de Alportel's prosperity, in the years when the cork industry was booming. The high and low points of the towns changing fortunes are thus written in the stones of its streets and squares; while such details as the baroque mortar decoration of the Passo da Paixão (Stations of the Cross) near the Episcopal Palace and the pretty flower pots in the windows add colour and interest to their story.
| Main Church |
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António Bentes Cultural Centre (Algarvean Costume Ethnographic Museum)
Located in what was once the home of a wealthy muleteer who grew rich in the cork trade, this building is a good example of bourgeois architecture at the end of the 19th century. In addition to an exhibition of the typical Algarvean costume worn in the 19th/20th centuries, there is also a collection of popular religious sculpture. The old farm buildings contain about twenty old vehicles once used in the Algarve, ranging from carriages and buggies that were the favoured mode of transport of the rich to mule carts and ox drawn wagons used by farmers and farm labourers. The museum also includes an exhibition of agricultural implements and tack and an area dedicated to cork and the cork industry.
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| Many of the region's traditional crafts still thrive in São Brás de Alportel, as can be seen from the brooms and brushes made with palm leaves in Soalheira, the objects woven from coarse esparto grass in Peral, Alfarrobeira da Tumba, the stonemasonry of Corotelo and the panniers and baskets of Desbarato. Tiles and bricks are still produced by hand in Vale de Mealhas, wrought iron work in Vilarinhos and Gralheira. Craftsmen in Vilarinhos also make wooden spoons, miniature copies of typical local carts and children's toys, while Camping is known for its chairs, and Gralheira for its brasses are. The mill in Cabeca do Velho still use; nothing but the Rind and millstone, to grind corn and wheat into flour that tastes as it aid centuries ago. |
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In São Brás de Alportel the local cooking is marked by the perfume of fresh herbs picked in the hills, whether it be the oregano used in Gazpacho or the pennyroyal in the thick bread soup known as açorda. In the hunting season the rich, gamey flavours of wild rabbit in wine are not to be missed. Kid with peas, chicken, fried with garlic, eggs with tomato and chickpeas with eggs are all a familiar sight on dinner tables in country kitchens.
São Brás de Alportel is known for its almond confectionery which is especially popular at Easter time. Also much appreciated is the spirit slowly distilled from the fruit of the arbutus berry trees that grow in the hills, which is also used to make excellent herbal liqueurs.
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| History | Places of Interest | Lodging | Lodging Algarve | Handicrafts | Gastronomy | |
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| Portugal > Tourism > Algarve > São Brás de Alportel | |
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| São Brás de Alportel | |
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