Meia Praia, Lagos Live Cam

Meia Praia has a wide beach that accompanies the wide bay of Lagos, begins next to the pier of the village of Ribeira de Bensafrim and extends for more than 4 kilometers until reaching the sandy barrier of the Ria de Alvor, Algarve, Portugal.

The municipality of Lagos is located on the south coast of Portugal. Its territory occupies 215 km2, where 25 thousand inhabitants live. The density is 118 h/km2.

As in the rest of the Algarve, human occupation is uneven, decreasing from the coast to the interior, and the territory has three distinct areas: the coast, the barrocal and the mountains. Therefore, most of the population is concentrated on the coast and is engaged in the service sector. In the barrocal, agricultural activities predominate. In the mountains, forests.

The main urban center is the city of Lagos, with around 15.000 inhabitants and 3.500 buildings.

Lagos is an ancient maritime city. There are written and archaeological documents that attest to its existence for more than two thousand years. It had enormous importance in the period of the Discoveries, having lived in it the Infante D.Henrique. From Lagos, expeditions departed to Morocco and the West African coast. It was the seat of the Casa da Guiné.

It was quite a monumental city, but it was practically destroyed by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1755. Lagos still has an immense fence of walls built in the 16th century, and it also keeps the remains of the governors' castle, as well as the old slave market, very well preserved.

The city developed from its relationship with the sea. Fishing was, since ancient times, the main source of wealth, and maritime trade was a significant activity. From 1960 onwards, the city turned decisively towards tourism and this is currently the most important economic activity. The city has good accessibility, being connected by motorway to the east of the Algarve, to the main cities in the country and to the European network. It is served by Faro international airport, 80 km away, which handles several million passengers/year. It is 270 kilometers from Lisbon.

As attractions, it has the beaches, the amenity of the climate, the sea, the golden and jagged coast, the interior landscape and the historical heritage. Lagos presents itself as cosmopolitan and with plenty of cultural and nightlife. It has a recreational marina for 462 boats up to 30 meters, which accentuates its nautical vocation. It has accommodation and catering facilities and offers several walks and rest.

There are several places of scenic interest, such as Ponta da Piedade, the caves of Costa d'Oiro, Laguna de Alvor, Ponta das Ferrarias, the National Forest of Barão de S.João, the Barragem da Bravura. In addition, it is a crossing point for Sagres and Cabo de S.Vicente, the most southwestern point of Europe, both places of mandatory visit. Also to the north, through Aljezur, there is a road with beautiful views along the Southwest Natural Park, towards Milfontes and Sines.

Traditions, among others, refer to popular architecture, gastronomy and handicrafts. In gastronomy, dishes made with fish are the most frequent and varied. Its typical sweets are based on almond, fig and egg cakes, with the most famous being the “dom rodrigos” and “morgados”. The muscatel wine from Lagos and the medronho brandy are popular local productions. In handicrafts, basketry, artefacts made from esparto or palm, pottery and hammered coppers have a tradition.

In strategic terms, in 2004, the Municipal Tourism Plan will be produced, which will become a reference for municipal action. The action of the Chamber will be guided by the reinforcement of the image of the municipality. The requalification of the tourist offer continues to deserve systematic attention, reflected in the various areas of intervention of the Chamber: environmental quality, infrastructure, planning and integrated territorial management.

Particular attention will be given to training the actives of restaurant and beverage establishments, through the implementation of a protocol with the Algarve Hotel and Tourism School and partnerships with the Algarve Hotel and Similar Industry Association. The production of tourist information material is also considered.

The promotion of Lagos will be carried out in target markets for tourists, whenever deemed appropriate, in partnership with the municipalities of the Associação Terras do Infante. Within the scope of direct contacts, several tourism fairs were defined for contact with the public and with operators, travel agents and specialist journalists, to increase the visibility and notoriety of the Lagos destination.

The arboreal forest occupies about 32% of the municipal land, while the cultivated agricultural area has about 18% of the land. There is still about 40% of the municipal land with unmobilized agro-forestry land. The cork oak is the most widespread species, occupying mainly continuous areas in the Serra do Espinhaço de Cão, in a semi-natural form, associated with Mediterranean thickets. These areas are of high conservation interest as they produce indirect goods.

Other representative species are eucalyptus, stone pine, maritime pine and wild olive. Direct forest goods: wood, firewood, resin, arbutus brandy, honey, cork, pine nuts. Indirect forest goods: retention of floods and erosion, carbon fixation, life support for rare or endangered animal and plant species, hunting, fishing, ecotourism, rural tourism, etc. Unfortunately, the forest in Lagos was significantly affected by the 2003 summer fires. Despite natural regeneration, the trend is towards an impoverishment of flora and fauna diversity. Fires are a major problem in the forest, whose non-resolve makes any integrated rural development project unfeasible. The multiple-use forest assumes a strategic importance for our county.

The company GeoTerra carried out a complete study on the forest of the municipalities of Aljezur, Lagos and Vila do Bispo for the Association of Municipalities Terras do Infante, entitled Intermunicipal Plan for Intervention in the Forest, PMIF. This study technically and cartographically defines a set of practical measures, the implementation of which should lead to a drastic decrease in the burned area in the coming years. These measures must be implemented in an integrated manner and consist of public awareness, preventive forestry, deterrent surveillance and the road network, providing for levels of prevention, detection and combat. This plan is a strong contribution to forestry policy, which the State is responsible for disciplining and promoting, and the City Council can emerge as a catalyst.

At the end of 2001, the municipality of Lagos had around 3700 companies, of which 160 were manufacturing industries. Of the 1090 companies headquartered, 73% belong to the tertiary sector, 24% to the secondary sector and 3% to the primary sector. The sales volume of these companies was approximately 196 million euros in 2000.

Around 60% of employment in the entire Algarve is generated by tourism, with 37 tourist accommodation units in Lagos. In 2001, they housed close to 100,000 tourists. In 1999, there were 650 farms, totaling 6950 hectares, employing 1800 rural workers. In 2001, there were about 750 fishermen and 327 motor boats, having unloaded 2500 tons of fish.