Because of its location at the mouth of the Guadiana, It is safe to assume there was a settlement at VILA REAL DE SANTO ANTÓNIO hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. As early as 600BC, the Phoenicians from the eastern Mediterranean were trading beyond the fabled "Pillars of Hercules" on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. Their colonies, trading posts and commercial sea routes throughout the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coasts of western Europe and North Africa were later taken over by the Carthaginians. Both must have had some form of settlement at the mouth of the Guadiana because of the much-prized copper and tin deposits upstream.

The Vila Real de Santo António you see today was designed and built in the 18th century as a model fishing port. The streets are all laid out in a north-south, east-west grid. The main square bears the name of the town's instigator, a particularly dynamic former prime minister, the Marquess of Pombal.

The town is known locally by the abbreviated Vila Real, though this is not to be confused with the city of the same name in northern Portugal. The Algarve Vila Real is a busy commercial town. Its shops are full of bargain hunters from across the border. It is also the end of the line - or the start of it - for travellers between the Algarve and Andalusia. The eastern termini of the trans-Algarve train and bus services are next to the cross-river ferry quay. The ferries take all types of vehicles as well as foot passengers between Vila Real and its Andalusia counterpart 15 minutes across the way, Ayamonte.

A few years ago, a ferry trip across the Guadiana was the only way in and out of the Algarve from Spain. Since the opening of a bridge a few kilometres up-river, most cross border traffic is now by road. There are no border controls to bother about.

Nothing happens in the hamlet of CACELA VELHA but it merits a footnote in history because it was here in June 1833 that the English Admiral Charles Napier, known to many of his compatriots as Mad Charley, put 2,500 Portuguese troops ashore during a civil war known as the War of the Two Brothers. The troops, commanded by the Duke of Terceira siding with the Liberals against the Conservatives, marched by way of Tavira and Lagos to occupy the capital, Lisbon. Earlier, as commander of the Liberal Navy, Napier had defeated the Conservative's fleet off Cape St. Vincent. The Liberals rewarded Napier by making him a Count.

The only renmant of war in Cacela Velha today is a tiny fort, now a police station, with a peaceful, panoramic view over a lagoon and the broad, sandy strand that starts at Cabanas and runs all the way to Montegordo.

This beach of amazing proportions changes names and has several signposted access points along the EN 125. Manta Rota, Alagoas and Praia Verde all boast big expanses of sand with beachside tourist facilities, but MONTEGORDO is a fully fledged resort, populated in summer particularly by holiday-makers from Lisbon, Oporto, Britain, Germany and Spain. A small casino, one of only three in the Algarve, is one of the big night-time draws. It's right on the beachfront.

Visit: Câmara Municipal de Vila Real Stº António