Barranco do Velho
Local tips
If you are walking Sector 6 to Salir, stock up here: there is no water and there are no shops along the way. Try the medronho brandy at the village distillery. Cortelha, with its cork nativity scene at Christmas, is a few kilometres north on the EN2.
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Alte
Alte is a village in the interior of Loulé that many rank among the prettiest and most traditional in Portugal. What defines it is its stream, which runs through the village from Fonte Grande down to Queda do Vigário, where the water drops 24 metres. Along the banks are vegetable plots, irrigation channels, weirs and old watermills, reminders of the days when wheat was ground here and esparto grass left to soak. The springs were also where the village washerwomen met. In the village itself, look for the chimneys, the flowers, the engravings on the walls and the cobbled streets. The parish church and the Pólo Museológico Cândido Guerreiro e Condes de Alte are worth a visit. Cândido Guerreiro, a poet born in Alte, is commemorated at Fonte Pequena. At Fonte Grande there is a natural swimming pool, picnic space and an open-air amphitheatre used for shows.
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Ameixial
Ameixial is the northernmost village in Loulé municipality, up in the Serra do Caldeirão, with the EN2 road running through it. It is the seat of its parish and has the basics: a parish office, a cash machine, grocery shops and the church of Santo António. There is ancient heritage all around. The Pedra do Alagar dolmen is close to the village, and further on, by the Pé do Corso spring, stands the Beringel dolmen. The hamlet of Corte do Ouro still has round houses, and ruined windmills dot the hilltops. Walkers have three options. The PR1 is a very easy 4.6 km loop from the leisure park at the village entrance, dropping into the Vascãozinho valley and passing the motorhome park set up in a former cork factory. The PR2 heads for Corte de Ouro. And Link 6 of the Via Algarviana runs 21.9 km to near Barranco do Velho, through cork oak woods, rockrose scrub and strawberry trees. The village hosts the Walking Festival Ameixial.
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Cortelha
Cortelha is a village in the Serra do Caldeirão, in the parish of Salir, Loulé. It sits on the EN2 road a few kilometres north of Barranco do Velho. Cork is the main source of income for the people who live here and the emblem of these hills. Cork is also what makes the village known at Christmas. At Christmas the residents build a nativity scene of about 70 square metres in the Largo da Associação, using what the hills provide: cork, cane, moss, river stones, rockrose, lavender, strawberry tree and rye straw. It has a windmill and a watermill, and the offerings are local: honey, medronho brandy, almonds and carob. The tradition goes back to 2004, the year Cortelha won the competition for nativity scenes in Algarve villages. The nativity stays up until 6 January, and on the night of 24 December the village lights its Christmas bonfire, the Madeiro.
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Fonte Benémola
Fonte Benémola is a 390-hectare protected landscape between Querença and Tôr, in the limestone hills of Loulé. Its great asset is water: the Menalva stream, which further down becomes the Algibre, is fed by springs that keep it flowing along about 60% of its course even in summer. The main ones are 'O Olho' and Fonte Benémola itself. The stream is lined by a dense gallery of willow, ash, poplar and oleander, unusual for the Algarve. Old weirs have been rebuilt and hold back still pools, and you can still see irrigation channels, water wheels with their buckets, a watermill and ruined lime kilns. It is a good place for birds: grey heron, kingfisher, bee-eater, hoopoe and golden oriole among others. Terrapins live in the stretches that hold water all year, and signs of otter turn up from time to time, though the animal itself is rarely seen. The PR16 trail loops round the valley in 4.2 km and passes the spring, where there is a picnic area.
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