Take a walk through history
Ever since ancient times, Lagos has been a lively and vibrant town, and this is still very much true today. There is a wide offer of restaurants, cafés and busy local markets. Walking through the city, you can still feel the vibrancy of the past. Despite the devastating earthquake of 1755, you can still visit the ancient Moorish city wall, but also the Igreja de Santo António. This is a beautiful baroque church filled with roof paintings, fresco’s, woodcarvings and the typical azulejos. The city was however majorly destroyed, and the less damaged Faro replaced Lagos as the capital of Algarve after the earthquake. Lagos also used to be important during the age of discoveries, with Henry the Navigator starting his expeditions from this city. Nowadays, you can visit the Mercado de Escavos, a monument reminding us of the grim slave-trading past, as this used to be a slave market.If you love beaches and beautiful nature sights, Lagos really is the place for you. For families with small children, it has some beautiful safe and sheltered beaches, and for the ones looking for some of the most impressive beaches of the whole of Algarve, they can visit the Ponta da Piedade headland and the picturesque cove beaches of Praia da Doña Ana and Prala do Camilo. These are beaches with clear, turquoise waters, and huge rocks standing in the water.
