If it was possible to wrap a place up and give it as a present to all the people you love the most and say something along the lines of; Here is a beautiful village for you to escape to whenever you fancy, then I would. Alte is a little gem of a village in the Algarve region of Portugal.
It was like walking into a bag of sweets, colours everywhere. I was SO taken with this village. It was extremely charming and had an addictive, laid back and carefree vibe about it whilst still remaining cultured and historical.
It was a gloriously sunny day in Portugal and we had a tour guide showing us around the Algarve region. We had already visited an Algarvian city that isn’t as high on the tourist map: Loulé. Here, we checked out the indoor market which is housed inside an impressive Arabian inspired building. We admired the Monument Duarte Pacheco which was erected in tribute to a man native to Loulé who spent his life making positive developments in Portugal. Sadly, his life was cut short after he was involved in a car accident and this monument purposely appears as if unfinished to represent his sudden demise.
Loulé indoor market
After Loulé, we checked out some other little villages in the area where we learned all about the production of cork and how Portugal is the main supplier of cork around the world. We found a local gift shop where everything was made of cork; they literally make everything – handbags, pictures, magnets – even postcards! Our tour guide was extremely passionate and knowledgeable about his country and enthusiastically showed us the different trees that were growing in the area along the way; carob, olive, orange, olive, fig and cork.
Portugal grows delicious, healthy treats in abundance and they make all sorts of different food and drinks with them which we learnt more about during our visit to a traditional distillery where the spirit Firecracker is made. We got to sample some along with the local honey to take the edge off! Then we bought some locally made fig biscuits and devoured those. It had already been a pretty awesome day!
Our last stop was Alte and I didn’t know what to expect, as our tour guide had just let us see for ourselves what we could expect from each place as we approached. However, as soon as we entered the village, I knew it was something special.
Alte is a very quirky little village, it has artwork everywhere and there’s something to make you stop in your tracks around every corner and frantically grapple for your camera and in my case, squeal with excitement whilst doing so.
Spot the cat..
A quaint shop called Papoila specialising in locally made olive oil soaps, beautiful jewellery and ornaments for the home takes pride of place on the street leading from the main centre of the village to The Fontes. The shop was as awesome on the outside as it was on the inside. Possibly the prettiest entrance to a shop I’ve seen.
The shop assistant was very friendly too; carefully gift wrapping the extremely edible-looking citrus olive oil soap chunk that I couldn’t resist buying. Even though I knew it was going to be for me, I let her gift wrap it anyway; it would be fun to open later.
Something that surprised me about Alte was all the Landrovers and Jeeps that kept making charismatic appearances. For such a small village, people have big ideas of how to spend their time there! Although I suspect this wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I liked these large vehicles brumming through the village and thought it gave the place a large as life feel that was unexpected and welcomed, despite me not normally being a big fan of anything with a motor.
There were so many colourful flowers in Alte. There’s no point in describing these in words when I can just demonstrate them with photographs…
Look at that stunning blue sky. It is so therapeutic to look at and paired with a delightful little village and glorious sunshine, you’ve got yourself a perfect day to dust off the old cobwebs and recharge.
Alte boasts classic Portuguese white-washed buildings with hand crafted chimneys of all different shapes and sizes. The poet Cândido Guerreiro, born in Alte, expressed an enormous sense of pride in where he came from – his wistful poetry and fruitful career forms part of the cultural history of Alte.
‘As the place where I was born lies encircled by four hills
Through which waters run singing
The songs of fountains and mills,
Waters taught me to speak.’
Such beautiful, content words; he must have enjoyed many happy and inspired years in Alte.
Perhaps the most spell binding features of Alte for residents and tourists alike are the The Fontes. Soaked in history, they would have been meeting places for the local Portuguese women to catch up on the latest village gossip and share their home making duties whilst the waters turned the wheels of the villages mills, some of which are still in evidence there.
Now, the 16th century style bridge and archways that stand above the waters, grass banks and stone picnic tables still maintain a traditional serenity. But now, in the modern day, they are at the epicentre of social gatherings/tourism and surrounded by bars, cafes and restaurants where you can sit, relax and enjoy watching people swimming in the natural pool (not in a creepy way!)
There is a natural spring here at Alte which proves very popular with the locals who can often be seen filling their bottles with what nature has provided for them.
Alte is surrounded by lush Algarvian countryside with some gorgeous viewpoints to enjoy. It is considered quite out of the way for ‘typical’ holiday makers and is often overlooked by tourists which is a massive shame as there is so much to enjoy here. We went on a spectacular summer’s day but Alte will have a very different vibe depending on the season so just be aware of that.
I came across a blog post on Alte where the blogger wrote that she was left very deflated after her visit and even went as so far as to say that there was little going on here. She went in Autumn/Winter time and as I saw from her pictures, the main fountain areas were all covered in leaves with nobody sunbathing or splashing about enjoying themselves and none of the pretty flowers were in bloom.
I think that summer may one of the best times to experience Alte in its full glory, so if you do go during a quieter season, just bear that in mind. Saying that, it does depend on what kind of person you are – I have only been in the summer so don’t take my word as gospel, just take into consideration how you yourself would like to experience Alte.
Alongside all these wonderful features of Alte, it is also home to some very friendly ducks.
And one very greedy one..
So, there you have it. Another fantastic discovery and a day that I will hold dear.
Seen as I can not wrap up this village and give it to my loved ones; I hope this post and the pictures can be enjoyed and give you a real good sense of what Alte has to offer.
I am already excited about visiting again and next time, I would like to try and photograph every chimney; each one is a work of art in itself and is very characteristic of this Portugese village.
Have you been to Alte or a place reminiscent?
