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Hair Extensions in the sun

 

Bag Snatch

 

Gipsy Salesman

 

market shoot

 

accordian beggars

 

communista

 

Beach

 

End of the Day

 

road that winds along the bank of the Guadiana from Alcoutim as far Alamo.

There is a road that winds along the bank of the Guadiana from Alcoutim as far Alamo. Its route leads it through a landscape of harsh beauty softened by water, foliage and flowers. But the best way to discover the river's many delights is by boat. In Alcoutim Guerreiros do Rio it is possible to hire boats that can be taken either up or down Guadiana. Upstream from Alcoutim, watch out for the curious Rocha dos Livros (Rock of Books), a rock that looks like a shelf carved from stone, and the llha d'El Rei island. Downstream, the river follows an enchanting course around long, gentle curves dotted with the white houses of riverside villages.
Guerreiros do Rio
A former schoolhouse in the village of Guerreiros do Rio is now home to the River Museum. The museum offers a fascinating insight into the Guadiana river and its history, the ancient techniques used to catch fish on the river, the life of the fishermen and of the inhabitants of the surrounding hills.


Montinho das Laranjeiras
Archaeological excavations have uncovered a series of buildings that once formed a roman "villa" and an interesting Christian church built on a cruciform plan that scholars ascribe to the period of Byzantine rule over the south of Iberian Peninsula (6th/7th centuries). The site was occupied continuously, most probably as a "monasterium", until after the Christian reconquest in 13th century.
Álamo
The Roman presence in Álamo is evident from a roman "villa", investigated in the 19th century, and from the thick walls of the dam that used to block the progress of the Fornalha creek (a stretch approximately 40 meters (130 feet) long and six buttresses). This site also saw Visigothic and Moorish settlement, vestiges of which have survived to present day.

History

Menhirs and dolmens testify to a human presence at the end of the Neolithic and beginning of the Chalcolithic (approximately 4000 BC), in the context of the megalithic culture that covered the whole of what is now Portugal. It was the deposits of copper, iron and manganese however that attracted men from about 2500 BC until the time of the Roman occupation and a number of mines were established. The ores dug from them were smelted locally, then shipped down the Guadiana river to the Mediterranean and from there to the four corners of the Empire. Human occupation continued under the rule first of the Visigoths and then the Moors (5th-13th centuries), often on the same sites, giving rise, after the Christian reconquest, to some of the settlements still to be found in Alcoutim municipality. Alcoutim's origins are presumably linked to the fact that it is situated at the place where the Guadiana becomes tidal. The vessels that plied the trade in metals and other wares were obliged to wait at this spot for hours, until conditions allowed there to sail down the river. Consequently there was a need for structures to support and defend them. Conquered during the reign of King Sancho II, in 1240, the town of Alcoutim was not repopulated until that of King Dinis, who granted it a charter in 1304 and, in view of its strategic position in relation to the neighbouring kingdom of Castile, granted it to the Military Order of Sant'Iago (St. James). At the time of the wars between Portugal and Castile in the 14th century, a peace treaty between kings Fernando I and Henrique was signed in the middle of the river, opposite Alcoutim. There followed centuries of peace, interrupted only by the War of the Restoration (1640-1668) and, in the first half of the 19th century, by the struggle between liberals and defenders of the absolutist monarchy, when the fearless guerrilla leader Remexido hid with his forces in the hills of Alcoutim and the surrounding region. The decline of the mining industry, the difficulty of raising crops on the area's poor soils, the town's distance, from the coast and the Guadiana river's diminishing importance as a transport route all led to a lengthy period of economic stagnation for Alcoutim and its municipality that has only gradually been reversed in recent decades.

Highlights of the Guardiana river valley

a picnic on the banks of the river
the scenery
the silence
History

The river valley has a very long history of human settlement, with remains from Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Phoenician, Roman, Visigothic and Moorish settlement all still in evidence. It was the river's rôle as a transport route for minerals mined in the interior that lead to this continuous settlement, a rôle lasting for the last 5000 years and into the mid twentieth century. Evidence of this trade can still be seen: from the twentieth century in the docks at Pomerão; from the Arabic period (7-12 century) at Cerro das Relíquais; from Roman and Bronze age remains at Cortes Pereira and Cova dos Mouros. In the Christian period from the 13 century, the river has been a focal point of conflict between Portugal and Castille (Spain), the best evidence of which can be seen at the river valley towns of Alcoutim and Castro Marim

Algarve Journal

 

Rio Guadiana