The Algarve, Southern Portugal
For vacationing tourists from all over Western Europe, Southern Portugal has the interesting Algarve region complete with grand beaches and condominiums, health spas and shopping centers. We left all this as soon as we docked at Portimao, an important port of Portugal, and headed for the less congested, higher parts of the Algarve to the lovely little town of Alte. It is a typical Algarve town, perched on a hill, with great sweeping views of hills covered with orange tree groves as well as old olive groves, and the “almost wild” almond trees looking like dark skeletons, at the time of offering their delicious fruit to the farmer. Scattered among these important trees are fig trees loaded with fruit, as well as the ever-present carob tree, very probably brought into this part, as well as to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims hundreds of years ago.
After visiting the small church of the Assumption and its Manueline-style door, we boarded our buses and made the short trip to the principal city of the Algarve Silves. Called by the Moors Xelb, it had been founded hundreds of years earlier by many tribes back in time, including the most important group of warriors: the Romans. On the hill overlooking the town and the river valley, they built a fort that was improved upon by every one of the later-conquering peoples. Today this red-sandstone fort, or at least parts of it, are available for visiting. Here we had an incredible view of the town and its surrounding agriculture, but sadly another view of blackened hills, burned by terrible forest fires last August, was there to mar the verdor of the nearby area, spared by the conflagration.
As we returned to Portimao and our ship at midday, we had the opportunity of seeing some of the famous cork oak trees from which Portugal obtains one of its most profitable indigenous products. This country alone provides the local factories with about 170,000 tons a year of this valuable material. The corks produced here amount to 60% of the world's output (twice that of Spain). Cultivators must wait at least 20 years before they can cut the first bark (which isn't first quality), but then, 10 years later, start to obtain quality cork during at least 100 years. The world uses about 25 billion corks a year, of which Portugal comes up with 30 million corks a day, and 500 million a year just for champagne! In the photo we can see the raw bark as it is dried in the sun.
For vacationing tourists from all over Western Europe, Southern Portugal has the interesting Algarve region complete with grand beaches and condominiums, health spas and shopping centers. We left all this as soon as we docked at Portimao, an important port of Portugal, and headed for the less congested, higher parts of the Algarve to the lovely little town of Alte. It is a typical Algarve town, perched on a hill, with great sweeping views of hills covered with orange tree groves as well as old olive groves, and the “almost wild” almond trees looking like dark skeletons, at the time of offering their delicious fruit to the farmer. Scattered among these important trees are fig trees loaded with fruit, as well as the ever-present carob tree, very probably brought into this part, as well as to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims hundreds of years ago.
After visiting the small church of the Assumption and its Manueline-style door, we boarded our buses and made the short trip to the principal city of the Algarve Silves. Called by the Moors Xelb, it had been founded hundreds of years earlier by many tribes back in time, including the most important group of warriors: the Romans. On the hill overlooking the town and the river valley, they built a fort that was improved upon by every one of the later-conquering peoples. Today this red-sandstone fort, or at least parts of it, are available for visiting. Here we had an incredible view of the town and its surrounding agriculture, but sadly another view of blackened hills, burned by terrible forest fires last August, was there to mar the verdor of the nearby area, spared by the conflagration.
As we returned to Portimao and our ship at midday, we had the opportunity of seeing some of the famous cork oak trees from which Portugal obtains one of its most profitable indigenous products. This country alone provides the local factories with about 170,000 tons a year of this valuable material. The corks produced here amount to 60% of the world's output (twice that of Spain). Cultivators must wait at least 20 years before they can cut the first bark (which isn't first quality), but then, 10 years later, start to obtain quality cork during at least 100 years. The world uses about 25 billion corks a year, of which Portugal comes up with 30 million corks a day, and 500 million a year just for champagne! In the photo we can see the raw bark as it is dried in the sun.
