Fishermen’s Trail Stage – Carrapateira » Arrifana

Since ancient times, the small fishing ports have operated in the most sheltered spots along the coast, naturally protected from north and north-west winds. Some of the most commonly caught species on this coast are sardine, mackerel, meagre, monkfish, lobster, moray eel, conger eel, octopus, white seabream, sea bass, red seabream, horse mackerel and goose barnacle.

On this route, the cliff reaches 100 metres in height, revealing rock strata with spectacular folds. When the supercontinent Pangaea formed, the collision between continents lifted, compressed, fractured and folded the rocks of the continental margins and the sediments deposited on the ocean floor, forming mountains more than 4000 m high. The present-day rocks of the cliffs (schists and greywackes) are the result of those gigantic movements of compression of sedimentary strata, more than three hundred million years ago! The livelihood of the populations of Portugal’s south-west coast has always been linked to the sea and to the land, hard to work. On the most fertile and fresh soils, beside the streams, maize, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, broad beans and grains were grown. Seaweed (marine algae) was used as fertiliser. On the slopes, the remarkably rich flora provided grazing for livestock and sustained the bees, producers of an exceedingly fine and aromatic honey.