Monchique Algarve Mountain

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lisbon

   Lisbon is built on hills, as the old joke goes, to give the trams something to do. The city rises from the north bank of the Tagus river on seven hills, a tumble of tiled houses, church domes and steep cobbled lanes, with yellow trams creaking up the slopes, and the great red suspension bridge, the 25 de Abril, spanning the estuary. In 1755 a huge earthquake, followed by a tsunami and fires, destroyed much of the centre and killed tens of thousands, and the flat grid of the Baixa district was rebuilt afterwards under the Marquis of Pombal. The hill quarters of Alfama and Mouraria, which came through, still have their medieval twists and turns.

   Read the complete Lisbon write-up.

2. 2. Sines

   First impressions of Sines are industrial, and it is best to admit that at once. There is a big deep-water port and a petrochemical complex on the coast, and the flare stacks and tanks are visible from some distance. Yet the old town beyond the plant, set on a low headland over a bay, is a pleasant, quiet place of white houses and a castle, and it has a great claim to fame: Vasco da Gama, the first European to sail to India by sea, was born here in the fifteenth century.

   Read the complete Sines write-up.

3. 3. Monchique

   Monchique is the Algarve with the beach taken away. The town sits on the slope of the Serra de Monchique, a range of old volcanic rock that rises behind the coast and catches the rain and mist that the shore misses. The air is cooler, the slopes are thick with cork oak, chestnut and eucalyptus, and the whole mood is rural and quiet. The highest point, Fóia, reaches around nine hundred metres, the highest in the Algarve, and a road runs to the top for a wide view over the coast.

   Read the complete Monchique write-up.

4. 4. Lisbon

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Lisbon write-up.