Central square, Vila Real de Santo Antonio.

In earlier articles I've described the main tourist centres and best-known attractions, but the Algarve is more than just an affordable destination for sand and sun. Many places where ordinary people pursue everyday life are also interesting, relaxing and unspoiled. This article will look briefly at a few of them.

The world's first prefabricated town, Vila Real de Santo Antonio, was built in 1774 on the banks of the Guadiana River that separates Portugal from Spain. The King of Portugal was worried about Spanish settlements on the other side of the river, so told his Prime Minister, the Marques de Pombal, to create a buffer on the Portuguese side. Pombal planned a town on a rectangular grid similar to his earlier reconstruction of Lisbon after the great 1755 earthquake. Building materials were pre-cut and sections were prefabricated in Lisbon, then everything was shipped down by boat.

Tavira's Roman bridge.

Within just five months a neat little settlement had been erected around a large central square, with tasteful buildings that look to us more as if they belong in Northern Europe than at the south of Portugal. Fishermen soon arrived; housing, riverfront gardens and a promenade were gradually added, and the new buffer town became a success. When we first visited in 1986 ferries were scurrying to and from Ayamonte across the river, everything was priced in both Escudos and Pesetas, and there seemed to be as many Spaniards as Portuguese shopping downtown. Today most travellers use a beautiful new bridge a few miles to the north, tourists generally head for better known towns such as Albufeira and Praia da Rocha, but Vila Real still seems to be buzzing with activity.

Near to that new bridge is Castro Marim, with the remains of two competing castles, one partially restored, the other a forlorn ruin, on hills overlooking the town. To the west of Vila Real is Monte Gordo, with a long beach and a well-known casino, and popular with Portuguese vacationers. The next major town on the coast is Tavira (approx. pop. 20,000) on the Gilao River. Largely destroyed by the earthquake, it now features beautiful 18th-century houses along the river, nearly 30 churches, and a Roman bridge which is still used by pedestrians. It also has a large offshore beach, but fortunately this is one town that is still relatively "undiscovered". A little farther along the coast is Olhao, the centre of Portugal's tuna-fishing and canning industry. It is famous for its Moorish-style cubic buildings and the beautiful park benches, tastefully decorated with azulejo art, which line its waterfront park.

Almond orchards are everywhere.

About half-way between Faro and Albufeira is Vilamoura. Nearly 9 sq. mi. (2,000 hectares) in size, it is reportedly Europe's largest luxury tourist development, with a huge marina, three championship golf courses, elegant hotels and restaurants, a number of permanent villas, a casino, and even a private airstrip. It's no doubt a great playground for the very rich, but we found the architecture of the main buildings to be outlandish and completely out of character with the surrounding area. It's not the sort of place that we would choose for a holiday, but then we're not rich.

Past Albufeira there are small towns and villages all along the coast, some already heavily under development, such as Armacão de Pera, Senhora da Rocha and Carvoeiro; others relatively unspoiled, such as Burgau, Ferragudo and Salema. We mustn't forget the west coast of the Algarve either, where Atlantic rollers make for some of the best surfing in all of Europe.

"Undiscovered" unspoiled Burgau.

In and around the pretty and well-kept inland villages life goes on much as it has for centuries. Farmers continue to harvest their almonds, oranges, lemons, carob, olives and figs, and take them to the local markets or factories. We've often bought their juicy fresh-picked oranges at roadside stands for about $1.50 a dozen. Artisans still craft original works of wood, copper and leather; shepherds tend their flocks. In the Monchique hills a potent liqueur called medronho is distilled from the fruit of the arbutus tree, while the lowlands produce grapes that yield really inexpensive wines ideal for everyday imbibing. An idyllic lifestyle? Not quite, but neither is it the proud-but-desperately-poor existence that people had endured for centuries until Portugal joined the EEC and the modern world just a few short years ago.

In the next article we'll head north through the Alentejo province, heading via the "museum town" of Evora toward Lisbon.

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