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 Location of Lagos' municipality in Continental Portugal Lagos (pronounced LAH-gush, meaning Lakes) is a town on the Algarve coast in Portugal with 15,000 inhabitants (25,000 in the entire municipality). The population concentrates in three distinct areas: litoral (sea side), barrocal and serra (mountains). Most of the inhabitants live at seaside and work on service sectors. In barrocal, people work on farming and in the mountains, on forests. It is located approximately eighty kilometers east of the southwesternmost point of Europe, in the locality Sagres; and in the north, going to Milfontes and Sines, there is a road with a breathtaking scenery. The road winds through Parque Natural do Sudoeste (Southwest Natural Park). The old part of the town of Lagos is famous and offers a lot of interesting attractions for the visitor.
Lagos is an ancient maritime town with 2,000 years of history. It became important in the period of Portuguese exploration. Prince Henry the Navigator lived there and from Lagos expeditions to Morocco and to the western coast of Africa were embarked on. Nigeria's former capital, Lagos, was named after this town in Portugal. The Portuguese town was a very beautiful city with many monuments when it was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 1755, but it preserves some walls from the 16th century, a governor's castle and an ancient slave market.
Lagos, like many coastal towns in Portugal, has a very special relation with the sea, and fishing has been an important activity since very ancient times. Since 1960, the city has embraced tourism, national and international, thus becoming its most important activity. It has beautiful beaches, good climate, the sea, a golden and cut coast, scenery and historical patrimony. It also has plenty of cultural and night-life entertainment sites. As for traditions, many are celebrated, ranging from local architecture, gastronomy and handcraft. In Gastronomy, there are the local: "Dom rodrigos" and "morgados" cookies based on local products (Almonds, figs and eggs), the "moscatel" wine of Lagos and "aguardente de medronho" (spiritual drink).
Lagos has many natural interest sites, such as:
- Ponta da Piedade (Mercy Point)
- Grutas da Costa d'Oiro (Golden Coast grottos)
- Laguna de Alvor (Alvor Lagoon)
- Mata Nacional de Barão de S.João (National "Mata" of Saint Johns Baron)
Beaches
Lagos has large beaches like Meia Praia (Eng. Half beach), which has soft and white sand. It is also one of the biggest bays in Europe and has a calm sea due to its amplitude. Due to its lack of rocks it is ideal for nautical sports. When the wind blows strong, there are many sheltered sand beaches between cliffs.
On the coastline, there is the Praia Solaria (sunny beach), Praia da Batata (Potato Beach) and Praia dos Estudantes (Students Beach), they are all linked between themselves by tunnels in the rocks. Dona Ana Beach is one of the most chosen by the tourists, because of postcards. Other beautiful beaches are not so crowded, eg the Canavial and Camilo Beaches.
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