Olhão travel guide »
Olhao is a coastal town in the Algarve which grew out of the fishing industry in the seventeenth century. Olhão, located just ten kilometers east of Faro, is still one of the Algarve's...
The whitewashed building of the Bishop’s Palace (Paço Episcopal), with its distinctive red-tiled roof, dominates the tranquil square of Largo da Sé in Faro's Old Town quarter.
The Palace was completed in 1585, but 11 years later was almost destroyed when Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and a favourite of England’s Queen Elizabeth I, sacked the city of Faro. Before destroying the building the English troops ransacked the palace’s library which included many precious manuscripts, including Portugal’s first ever printed book, a Hebrew Old Testament...
It can be fun to spend some time admiring the flashy yachts on display in the marina, maybe stopping off for refreshments in one of the waterside cafes. Just around the corner is the Porta Nova Pier, from which boats take day trippers out to enjoy the birdlife and beaches of the Ria Formosa Natural Park. On balmy summer nights, it’s a pleasant stroll from the marina, down the waterfront promenade to the Old Town.
Also worth a look is Faro's Maritime Museum...
Faro has a seafaring tradition going back to the times of the Phoenicians and in the small but interesting Maritime Museum you can learn about all things nautical connected with the area. It only costs around €1 to enter and is free for children under 6, and you can easily spend some time admiring the vast collection of exhibits on display in the museum’s three rooms.
The collection includes scale models of fishing boats and some of the seafaring vessels connected to Portugal’s Age of Discovery, as well as fishing equipment and some interesting finds that have...
Olhao is a coastal town in the Algarve which grew out of the fishing industry in the seventeenth century. Olhão, located just ten kilometers east of Faro, is still one of the Algarve's...