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.

Bolt Resources PTY has applied to the Portuguese government to prospect for gold as a result of the discovery of gold particles by University of Algarve scientists, who were studying sediments in the river estuary in the area of Castro Marim.

The company will be prospecting for gold and silver as well as other valuable deposits like copper, zinc, lead, tin, tungsten and antimony.

It’s a known fact that precious minerals have been found in many parts of the Algarve region throughout the ages. During Roman times, various precious metal was mined across the Algarve region and up towards the Alentejo, alongside other useful metals such as tin and copper.

The search will focus on the Alcoutim and castro marim region – covering 576 square kilometers, however it will also focus on the Alentejo district of Mertola.

The scientists also theorized that Monchique might have some hidden reserves of gold and silver as well, but they wanted to emphasize that there is no evidence of large deposits of the metals.

This discovery of small gold particles happened back in 2007, but the company has only decided to explore the possibility this year.

Jose Estevens – the Mayor of Castro Marim – wasn’t aware of the Bold Resources plan so he wasn’t able to comment on the fact, but he did know about it after reading the official government publication and said that the initiative would be a benefit to the region.

The application for prospecting is subject to a 30-day waiting period in which time interested parties will be able to lodge objections or submit preferential rights to the Direção de Serviços de Minas e Pedreiras da Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia in Lisbon.