Although Friday started out as a very bright sunny day, by the afternoon we had cloudy skies and a definite cooling of temperature. The forecast is cloudy and dull for the weekend which is a shame as this is the first fiesta weekend of the year, with carnival parades in most towns for the next 4 or 5 days. Hopefully, we won’t get a return of the rain, and not spoil the whole event.
For us, it was the day of another excursion. This time we have a half day trip planned to Alte in the mountains. We are touring the mountain villages in the range that separates Algarve from the rest of Portugal, so travelling only 12-15 miles away from Albufeira.
When we caught the coach it was warm and sunny, and our first stop was Almancil. Here we visited the Church of St. Lourenço, (St. Lawrence in English). He was a martyr of the 3rd century, and it is a very sad story, which is worthwhile telling. He was with the Pope when Caesar sent guards to arrest the Pope. As he was being taken away the Pope told St. Lawrence to take care of the richness of the church. One of the guards heard this and told the Caesar. So the Caesar sent for St. Lawrence and questioned him about the “richness of the church”, to which St. Lawrence responded that the church is poor and there are no valuables. Caesar didn’t believe him and sent him away for 3 days to reconsider his response. When he returned St. Lawrence took with him the devout followers of the church, men, women and children, explaining that the richness of the church was in it’s followers. This angered Caesar, and he sent the people away, and ordered that St. Lawrence should be detained and forced to reveal the truth about the “richness of the church”. He was stripped and prodded with large forks and laid on a grill over a fire. After a while the guard came and demanded the information to which St. Lawrence replied “please turn me over I am already done on one side”. He died at the hands of his tormentors on August 10th 259 AD, and was eventually martyred. The church was built in the village of Almancil but by the early 18th century it was too small for the growing congregation, and was rebuilt away from the town. The wealthy inhabitants donated gold to cover the carved altar screen , which is very beautiful, and one very wealthy man donated the money for the entire inside of the church to be tiled. The blue and white tiles had to be hand made and cover the walls and domed ceiling of the interior of the church. They fit so perfectly, and they depict the story of St. Laurenço, in panels fitted into the arches of the walls of the church. Soon after the tiling was completed, in 1755, there was an earthquake which flattened most of the Algarve, but only 5 tiles fell from the walls and were damaged. They were replaced, and are visible as the colour could not be matched exactly. Set into the altar screen is a statue of John the Baptist, because the original Almancil church was dedicated to him, and was changed to St. Laurenço when it was rebuilt, however, in front of the altar there is also a statue of St. Laurenço and in his hand he holds a grill!
We then continued our tour and visited a typical mountain village from the past. We should have gone to Barranco do Velho, but this is not now possible. apparently, about 18 months ago the authorities decided to modernise the village and install water and electricity, and rebuild the roads, a job forecast to take 6 months to complete. However, it is still not finished and the roads are now impassable by large vehicles and the houses are still awaiting modern facilities. So the village we visited includes a small distillery of Firewater. This is very strong brandy, and we saw how it was made, and had a tasting afterwards. Firewater is so strong that the first distillation of any batch is 98º proof, and has to be destroyed. It is also so strong, that they give honey to eat with it, to calm the throat.
Our next stop was Salir, which is a charming village, and is the site of an ancient Moorish fort. Only a small part of the walls remain, but the foundations of some of the houses within it have been preserved in the museum built over them. We walked over glass floors, to look down into the original foundations, and they have some relics of pottery there. It was a very pleasant walk around the village, and the scenery was lovely across the mountains and valleys. Our final destination was the town of Alte, which is the largest town in the mountains, with a number of shops and cafes, and the river running through. By this time the weather had deteriorated a bit, and I was regretting my decision to wear shorts and sun top, with just a cardigan for any warmth. It didn’t take a lot of encouragement to return to the warmth of the coach after a coffee and cake in one of the cafes.
We arrived back at the hotel shortly before 8, and had enjoyed a very pleasant tour. We had missed the parade of the children this afternoon in Albufeira, but there appears to be a parade of some sort every day, and we are planning to go to Loule carnival on Monday with some friends.
It looks as though we may be hauled in to watch the Rugby this afternoon with our Welsh friends – England vs Wales! I am not sure what we have let ourselves in for!
