Praia da Bordeira is well-known for its winds and waves and that’s why it is so popular with wind and surf sports enthusiasts. So much so that not many actually go into the little village itself really, especially since the main road that goes into the village is rather new and people have not grown yet accustomed to it. The road is however, wide and planted with rows of palms and flowerbeds.

The small church cannot be missed and it is said that it has been standing since before the major earthquake that shook the entire region centuries ago. The inside of the church is quite stunning featuring a heavily carved and gilded wooden centre piece, the church being dedicated to the patron, our Lady of Incarnation.

The village of Bordeira is located in a basin that is surrounded by green countryside that is protected by the government.

As opposed to most other small villages in the region, which are whitewashed, Bordeira has many buildings that are painted with vibrant colours which accent the building’s features. The many small and stone cobbled roads are planted with orange and lemon trees thus giving the place a very traditional village feel, some of the houses sitting staggered high above one another.

The village is quite small so there’s just a café/bar and another restaurant used by the locals, as well as a shop. The village is a thriving little community with not many ruins because even what was once the communal bake oven/house has been converted into living accommodation.

Getting to Bordeira can be made that much easier with some Algarve car hire services.

Odiaxere is a small village found in the Lagos parish, a village not without its own charm but usually totally neglected by tourists because the EN125 makes up its main street and there is very little information about the place to begin with. And it’s a pity because the place has a long history that dates back to the Neolithic era.

Odiaxere makes for a great and little-known pit-stop in the greater Lagos region. The great advantage to the place not being a tourist hot-spot is that you can get some truly great traditional Portuguese food for considerably cheaper than you would in the more popular places. For instance you can expect to get the ‘plate of the day’ lunch for as little as six Euros, and that will include a glass of, usually, local wine. There’s a daily indoor market, as well as a couple of bars where the local meet and mingle.

Off the main road, you’ll find a garden square with lots of seating around a water feature. This is where you’ll see a rather large house with some impressive tile frontage as well as cast iron balcony. From the square you can also see the church and its impressive bell tower, the church having been rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1755. Its impressive stone-carved doorway is the original from the late 17^th century.

The Ribeir de Odiaxere will take you down to the ocean, it’s more of a stream than a small river actually, the Moorish word ‘odi’ meaning river.

One major characteristic of Odiaxere is that it used to be heavily involved in the salt industry and you can still see many salt beds, positioned in neat rows.