Cacela Velha

Cacela Velha is not really a village any more - a church, a fort, a handful of white houses with blue trim, one or two restaurants, and a low cliff looking straight out over the eastern end of the Ria Formosa. Below it the lagoon opens into a system of channels and a long sandbar, the Praia da Fábrica, which is reached by a short boat crossing from the shore and which is one of the emptier beaches in the Algarve because of that small obstacle. The fort was built in the eighteenth century after the earthquake on an older Moorish and medieval site, and it is used by the border service rather than open to visitors. The church has a Manueline doorway. What people come for is the view of the sandbars and channels from the cliff edge, which is the best there is of the eastern Ria Formosa.

History

Greek and Phoenician navigators stopped here, and some authors place nearby Conistorgis, the lost capital of the Conii. Excavations from 7 May to 4 July 2007 identified the village as the Islamic town of Qast'alla Daraj, dating back to the 10th century, an agricultural centre whose finds include pits for storing grain (Wikipedia, Cacela Velha).

Highlights

• The cliff view - the eastern Ria Formosa channels and sandbars laid out below.
• The hamlet - a church, a fort and a few dozen houses, and no more.
• Praia da Fábrica - the sandbar beach reached by a short boat crossing.
• The fort - eighteenth-century, on an older site, and not open to the public.

When to go

April to October; the boat to the sandbar runs seasonally and depends on tide. Two to three hours. Sunset is the popular time on the cliff.

Things to know

The fort cannot be entered. Parking is a small area outside and it fills. Restaurants are few and busy. The sandbar boat depends on tides and weather; the beach has no facilities at all.

Nearby

Tavira is west; Monte Gordo and the Guadiana are east.

Key facts