A pretty, peaceful but lively fishing port and
market centre.  From the quayside you can watch the sailing boats of all
different sizes and nationalities slowly come in to dock at the new
marina. Here you will find plenty of boat trips to choose from to view the
network of coves and grottoes along this coastline. Running parallel to
the quayside is the Avenda dos Descobrimentos (The Avenue of Discoveries)
a bold boulevard flanked by 129 palm trees where you will find a variety
of shops and cafes. At it’s meeting with the Rua das Portas de Portugal is
the substantial indoor market that has recently undergoing complete
refurbishment. Several streets behind the market have been pedestrianised,
so that you can wander at leisure. Further along the Avenda is the Praça
de República, which provides a good spot to view the once impregnable
walls of the town. Lacobriga was the ancient Roman name for the town and
some fragments of the original Roman wall still stand, much expanded and
rebuilt over the centuries and now restored. During the 8th century the
defence was no barrier to the great Moslem invasion. The Moors rebuilt the
harbour and the town gained in importance. In 1250 Lagos was taken by the
Portuguese kings and as a result of its new-found sovereignty prospered
once more through  the
15th and 16th centuries, the period of the great discoveries. The
governor’s palace was the headquarters for Henry the Navigator, son of
King Joao 1, who founded his “School of Navigation” to teach sailors to
navigate when land was not in sight. He managed to prove that there was
land or sea beyond the horizon and that boats were not going to "drop off
the end of the world". He also founded a shipyard in the town from where
his Portuguese navigators started their journeys. A statue of the prince
was  set up in the square, Praça do Infante,
where he can be seen seated with a sextant in hand and looking directly
across the harbour. The plaza has been laid with calçada paving in a
design representing the waves. There remains a continuing debate over the
exact whereabouts of Henry’s “School of Navigation”, but is seems almost
certain that Lagos was the principal shipyard and port from where his team
of explorers set sail. Nevertheless, there is a museum of his teachings
between Lagos and Sagres. Henry died in 1460 and was buried in the church
of Santa Maria in Lagos. As a consequence of the new African trade that
emanated along the west coast in the middle of the 15th century Portugal’s
only slave trade was established. Lagos became the main port for this
new-found commerce and provided Europe’s slave market in the unmarked
arcade alongside the old Customs House. The trade was abolished as late as
the second half of the 19th Century. The devastating earthquake, which
struck Portugal in 1755, almost destroyed the town. It lost its castle,
all its churches and the palace in which Henry the Navigator had lived in
the 15th century. One survivor of this time is the altar of the Igreja de
Santo António, (Chapel of St. Anthony), which was re-built in 1769. There
are no pews in the church now, the flagstone floor left bare to allow
visitors to admire the incredibly ornate interior. Both the altar and the
church are richly decorated with carved and guilded figures of cherubs
and animals that are said to be the most
beautiful in the Algarve, if not Portugal. The lower parts of the walls
are covered with 18th century tiles. Set in the floor is the tomb of
Irishman, Hugh Beaty who commanded the Lagos army in the late 18th
century. There are also eight large paintings on the walls, each one
depicts a miracle performed by St Anthony during his life in
Italy.
 Two kilometres from the town centre is the wonderfully shaped
headland of Ponta da Piedade, (Point of Piety), where a lighthouse sits
with palm trees and from where steps, cut into the cliff face, lead all
the way down to the sea.
Some of the best beaches in the
Algarve can be found around  Lagos but even in the height of summer there is plenty of space.
Like most of the coastal towns it has its fair share of excellent
restaurants scattered around the cobbled streets of this popular
town.
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