Forte Saõ Joaõ

Albufeira: 12^th September 2020

I’d been intrigued throughout our visit by brown signs pointing the way to Forte Saõ Joaõ. There’s a beach of that name not far from our hotel, and I thought I might spend our last afternoon looking for the actual forte. I didn’t find it … but I think I may have found where it was.

I wasn’t expecting a grand pile with attendants, an admissions kiosk and a souvenir shop; that, I think, would have made for more mention in the tourist brochures. But, maybe something like Old Sarum, which, although very little remains of it, it doesn’t take much imagination to picture it as it was,

There’s nothing here, however, but a few mounds on the ground that don’t look natural, and this would be a good place for a fortification. And it did look like a ruined castle, or something, from the beach.

But, I’m not an archaeologist, and I could be totally wrong!