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From The Algarve - July 08

Sao Bras is not a town with an obvious history. Its men certainly fought those of Drake and the Earl of Essex, a battle that is commemorated annually at Easter. Its parish church  (now rebuilt) was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake which wiped out most of Lisbon, the Algarve, and several Moroccan cities, but of these events there are few, if any, signs.

Nor are there any signs of the Phoenicians, Moors, and Romans who created the Algarve, or Lusitania as it was then known. There is an old town of decaying buildings, most of them deserted, the equivalent in age of our Victorian heritage with ornate doors and doorways, carved window casements, and roof terraces, and no street lighting. And there is part of a narrow Roman Road .  I asked a local historian why the road was narrow? Didn’t the legions march eight abreast? No, they marched two abreast to allow legions coming the other way to pass them.

But no castle, no courthouse, just a series of water wheels at the many surrounding wells built over 100 years ago when there were no boreholes or mains water. (Another aside: several of these water wheels have washing stations attached. Large concreted baths with roofs over, at which a handful of women still come to do their washing.)

But there is a great deal of modern history in the town’s inhabitants:

•  Victor Marques was a 13-year-old soldier with the communists in Angola. He and his mother fled at four hours notice when a friend told them their house was to be burned down at dawn. 

•  Jo left 4,000 head of cattle in Mozambique when the rebels prepared to march on his family’s farm.

•  Ben ran drugs by boat from Morocco to the Algarve until the police increased their sea patrols and fired on any suspects within range, then he took up painting and decorating; and

•  Sam travelled the world advising oil companies where to drill offshore.

One last piece of history. When the Jews were persecuted in the 14th century, they were given the option of converting to Christianity. Those that did took the names of animals. So, today every phone book carries the names of Coelho  (rabbit), Raposa, (fox), Lobo (wolf), Cavalo (horse) and many others.