Moncarapacho is located in the Olhao district and has only relatively recently gained city status, back in 1985.

It is set in a deeply agricultural area and well worth the journey because, a bit unexpectedly, it’s home to a museum – Museu Paroquial – that features a pretty solid display of artefacts from all time periods in the region. Outside the museum building, in the courtyard, you can see a collection of Roman pillars, carved marble finials and pre-Roman stone drinking troughts, great examples of Roman-time life.

It’s a bit weird to see such an impressive collection of artefacts in a small farming village, but most of the items were indeed found thanks to the farming activities, having been disturbed from the ground when planting crops and trees, so that explains it.

Since this is an agricultural area, there’s a large market festival held here in August, which is attended by locals from many surrounding villages celebrating their crops and partying with live music, food and wine well into the small hours. Obviously it is not exclusively for locals, all being welcomed to join in the fun.

Those of you who will be visiting will notice some unusual architecture in town, with the occasional Moorish façade here and there and the elaborate stone carved doorway of the main church – which dates back to the 18^th century.

Nearly all the streets and pavements are done with the traditional cobbled stone, giving the town the particular Algarvian charm, alongside the typical Algarve one-story houses, featuring highly decorative parapet walls and rather grand chimneys.

The main square of Moncarapacho is planted with palms and trees and there are the ever-present cafes and bars here to enjoy.

If you’re traveling around the region with a car rental then make sure to stop in Moncarapacho for a bit.

Till this day the town retains much of its recent historical charm, featuring many cobbled streets, old houses and very colorful bougainvilleas. Nowadays the highest point of the town is dominated by the parish church.

The town of Porches is a great place to explore one of the characteristic features of Algarve house architecture, elaborate chimneys. In the past the chimney used to signal the status of the house owner and was also used as a type of signature of the builder.

You may not expect it from such a rather small town, but there are quite a few very good restaurants which focus on evening dining, so much so that booking in advance is advisable during the busy summer months. Obviously there are also many cafes and snack bars, as well as a small market.

The area around the town has been known for hundreds of years for its clay pits and in the past the place produced some very large terracotta pots which you can see dotting the townscape. These were used to store wine, water and olive oil. Unfortunately the industry declined during the 19^th century due to imports of cheaper and lighter pottery and china, however the town was put back on the map back in the 1060 by the Irish artist Patrick Swift. His revival of the ancient Algarve style of pottery decoration sparked renewed interest in pottery in the town and nowadays Porches pottery is well-known across the continent. Besides the traditionally decorated pieces, Moorish decorations are also used and everyday items featuring these designs are created too.

The closes beach is divided into two by a 100-meter long tunnel, which you should check the tides before going into.