Barbelote

Today started out as a cloudless day, so Fernando suggested that it would be a great day to plan a day trip to the highest mountain in the Algarve, Foia. It is 902 m high and part of the Serra de Monchique range. The views from the top are supposed to be spectacular. Supposedly on a clear day you can see Cape St. Vincent and the Atlantic Ocean in the west, Faro in the east, and the Serra da Arrabida, near Lisbon, to the north.

We picked up a Donna at 10 and within a few minutes, we were out of Lagos and into the rolling countryside filled with orange trees and farms.

Soon we saw forests of eucalyptus and pine trees. Eucalyptus was brought to Portugal from Australia in the 1800s. It is a fast growing and invasive tree that has replaced many of the oak trees that originally dominated this area. The Portuguese use eucalyptus to produce pulp and paper as the trees can be harvested in a short period of time.

Forest fires love this tree. The oil produced by the trees, combined with the litter created by the falling bark makes eucalyptus forests a serious fire hazard. In August of last year, a huge fire started in the mountains and couldn’t be controlled. We saw evidence of its path almost everywhere we went on this trip, as well as new eucalyptus trees starting to grow from the base of their parent trees.

We continued on a road past a picturesque dam to the small village of Marmelite. Marmelete is a main supplier of cork, as well as a producer of Black pork. We noticed that there were many beehives in the hills around the town and little stores sold jars of honey and wax.

We drove along a valley, where old-looking agricultural terraces could be seen, and animals were grazing. We passed a huge marble quarry with giant blocks of rock and arrived in the town of Monchique.

To get to the top of Mount Foia, we had to follow a curvy road with several scenic lookouts. Chestnut trees, maritime pines and cork oak trees lined the road as we continued our way up to the top.

Finally, we reached the summit and what a view we had. A 360 degree beautiful vista, and clean air. There are various military communication installations making some of the area around the summit of Fóia 'out of bounds' but the area is quite large and we were able to explore the summit a bit. Chris and I just had to climb a big rock pile there, while Donna took a few photos.

A womens’ handicraft co-op was open and it was full of beautiful Portuguese treasures. It is too bad that packing light doesn’t allow for any big purchases. The crafts were lovely.

Once we had our fill of being at the top we headed back down to a cliff side restaurant that Fernando had recommended, Luar da Foia, where we ate a house specialty of homemade grilled black pork and mashed potatoes with Super Bock beer while admiring the fantastic views over the mountains.

Once we ate, we decided to head to the fortress town of Silves but a good opportunity presented itself in the form of a surprise park just outside of Monchique - Parque da Mina.Read more