Past the crowded beaches and high rise apartments there lies another Algarve. Here in the West there is still the unspoilt beauty and character of old Portugal.

Praia da Luz, a village of cottages and town houses nestling by a bay of golden sand. The narrow streets draped with semi tropical flowers tumbling from the house gardens. As evening falls  its time to join the locals as they stroll the esplanade or watch the world go by

Praia de Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz which over the years has become shortened to Praia da Luz. The old name means the beach of the church of our lady of the light. The church still stands beside the village square and the simple exterior conceals an spectacular interior.

The Romans were probably not the first to fall in love with this sandy bay and make it their home. They built a factory beside the bay to salt the shell fish collected from the shore and make fish sauce. The remains of part of their buildings have been excavated and can be seen in Waterside Village.

The sea has always been at the centre of Algarve life.  Until the 1950's a long wall of net was stretched from the rocks by the Fortaleza. Shoals of Tuna, migrating to the Mediterranean were caught in the net and brought ashore at the slipway along the beach. The old buildings behind the beach and the wash tank beside the slipway were a factory for canning the fish. Fortunes were made from canning fish during the world wars but eventually the movement of the migratory routes ended the industry.