The Area
OLHÃO - THE REGION - WHAT TO DO AND SEE
Set on the banks of the Ria Formosa in the unspoilt eastern Algarve, Olhão is a beautiful old fishing town that still has the sea at its heart. It has a working fleet – the largest in the region – and you’ll find its fresh bounty in the town’s market and restaurants.
These markets are very special indeed and they’re one of the fabulous things that drew us to this incredible town – and they’re just a five-minute walk from our house. Two red-brick buildings, topped with verdigris domes, house a market for fruit, vegetables and meat, and another for fish and seafood. On Saturdays, the place buzzes as farming families set up along the seafront, selling citrus fruits, pomegranates, almonds, tomatoes, figs, piri piri peppers and the other glories of the Algarve fields depending on the season.
And all along the ria side of the market buildings are cafes and restaurants with stunning views and beautiful sunsets. It is here that you will find a boat called Bom Sucesso, a replica of a caique, a small vessel that in 1808 took 17 men to Rio de Janeiro to tell the exiled Portuguese king that Napoleon’s army had left the area. The Olhanense, as the town’s inhabitants are known here, led an uprising that spread to the neighbouring towns of Faro, Lagos and Loulé, forcing the French to leave. Olhão was rewarded with a royal charter and the locals still cherish their defiant spirit that led to such a victory.
The town has a maze of cubist houses on the cobbled streets near the market and as you move further north the style changes to something a little grander. You won’t find the skyscrapers and overdevelopment that you do elsewhere in the Algarve. It’s an easy-going place, with a very distinct heart and our guests simply enjoy wandering around, stumbling upon sculptures and murals that are all part of the civic art here. If you do the same, you’ll discover Floripes at Praça Patrão Joaquim Lopes – she’s a voluptuous woman in a flowing dress whose caption we’ll leave for you to read elsewhere. And near the supermarket, Pingo Doce, along the walls of the old cannery buildings, you’ll see vast depictions of the fish-canning industry that once thrived in the town. If you’re not a freewheeler, we can tell you how to find these works of art and more.
Once you see the light in Olhão, you’ll understand why it attracts painters here – as well as all sorts of creative types. It’s still a traditional working town – we love that – but it’s also artistic. There’s a cultural centre, República 14, just across the road from us, with yoga, pilates and qigong classes as well as art exhibitions, concerts and open-air films and it has a café and bar. Olhão also has an auditorium and a museum.
RIA FORMOSA NATURAL PARK AND BARRIER ISLANDS
The Ria Formosa is simply glorious. It is a natural park with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. There are salt marshes and sandbanks that are home to a wonderful birdlife as well as sweet clams and oysters. Five beautiful barrier islands adorn the park and protect the mainland from the full force of the Atlantic. Each has its own distinct character and charm.
The closest to Olhão is Ilha da Armona, just a 15 minute ferry ride away. It has no cars, just a path that cuts through the middle of the island from the small ferry jetty (there are good beaches here if you don't fancy the walk) to the vast Atlantic and estuary beaches on the other side. You will wander past quirky little houses and wonderful gardens with incredible floral displays and smoking charcoal grills ready to be set out with sardines and other fish for lunch. There is a freedom here where children can run up and down or set up a little shop selling painted shells next to the passadeira [cobblestone] and the feeling is that of a holiday before the advent of mass tourism.
At low tide, on the Atlantic side of Armona, a vast sandbar is revealed and you can hunt for tiny butterfly clams, called conquilhas, just beneath the surface. You will notice locals returning from the beach with buckets and bottles full of these fresh ingredients for lunch or dinner. It is great fun to try.
There are a number of restaurants, shops and cafes on Armona, but we often pack a picnic, stopping for cold drinks at the small supermarket halfway around the island. The beach bar, Camaleão, is a great place to park up and enjoy a caipirinha, beer or soft drink (they serve food).
A little further out from Olhão are Culatra and Farol, which people think of as two islands, but are actually two small communities on one large island connected not by road but by beach. Culatra has its own fishing fleet, a school, a church and two bakeries. Farol, which means lighthouse, has a lighthouse and a funky beach bar, MarAmais, on the Atlantic side. Again, there are no cars, but there are some good restaurants and cafes and the walk along the beach between the two is fantastic [you can take the ferry to Farol and walk to Culatra and back from there, or vice versa].
You catch the ferries to the island from a small jetty about 150 metres from the market, on the left if you are facing the water. A water taxi is a fun way to get back from the islands, freeing you from the ferry timetable and giving you a James Bond feeling as you cross the waves back into town.
The Ria Formosa is also a great place for activities such as boating, kitesurfing and kitesurfing and boat trips.
Take the train
Casa Rosa is just a five-minute walk from Olhão station where you can jump on the Linha do Algarve, the state-run train line that takes in the towns of Faro, Olhão and Tavira and ends at Vila Real de Santo António. It’s a cheap, if infrequent, service that allows you to cover some of the loveliest places in the region without hiring a car or overnighting. We love Faro, often overlooked as just the airport location. It has a great old town, a beautiful gem of a theatre – Theatre Lethes – and a lovely marina.
Restaurants, cafés, bars and ice cream
You’ll have some of the finest grilled fish of your life in Olhão. Fat, juicy sardines in season, beautiful flaky, white-fleshed dourada (sea bream) and robalo (sea bass) all year round, as well as incredible clams and razor clams, prawns and oysters. We love how none of this costs a fortune and most is served simply so that the produce shines through. We are happy to recommend our favourite places or book you a table.
You might want to try the Grupo Naval de Olhão, known as the GNO, with a terrace overlooking fishing boats and yachts and the ria. You definitely should book and if you’re a fan of seafood you can pre-order a ‘mariscada’, a massive platter featuring crab, prawns, oysters, clams and more for 75 euros, it’s supposed to be for two but would feed three to four. The cataplana – a copper dish shaped like a bivalve and used to cook seafood – here is also fantastic.
Chá, Chá, Chá, run by the British journalist Kevin Gould, is always fun and the menu takes what he fancies from the market that morning and plays with a repertoire he has learned over many years as a food writer, mixing it with Portuguese recipes. We love that the kitchen and staff are all women – except Kevin, of course. And that he opened a food kitchen called Love for All Olhão, to help pay back to the local community. Next door, you’ll find our friend Nelson who makes the best gelato in the region from his little shop São Gelados (basically Saint Ice Cream) where you’ll find making gelatos and sorbets using Algarve fruits in season, as well as traditional flavours. We adore the chocolate.
Just across the street from us and a little bit up you’ll find Tacho à Mesa which does an incredibly good value dish of the day (prato do dia in Portuguese) at 8.50. And a few doors from there is one of our favourites, Sushi Moments, where the sushi and sashimi is stunningly fresh and very good value.
For drinks, the rooftop bar on top of our across-the-street neighbour the Pure Formosa hotel has great views but for those fiery sunsets you can’t beat Olhão waterfront. We like cocktails at Zona and wine at Cantaloupe, which is also a jazz bar. There’s not really any pubs in the town, but gnarly, lovely old family bar Casa Sete Estrelas is as close as you’ll find.
