A Stroll Through Old Town Lagos

Lagos is an ancient maritime town with over 2,000 years of history.  Celts, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Byzantines all settled here before the Moors from North Africa conquered the area in the 8th century, naming the town Zawaia (meaning lago or lake).  The Moors were driven out of the Algarve by the Christian King Afonso 111 of Portugal in 1241.  During the 13th and 14th centuries Lagos became very prosperous and powerful as the capitol of the Algarve Region.  The first great Portuguese maritime explorations embarked from here to discover "new worlds".  In the early days of exploration the King made a rule that ships needed to bring back dirt, plants and people from "discovered" lands.  In 1444 the first slave market in Europe was created here and it lasted until the mid 1700's selling over 100,000 people into slavery.  Today, Lagos (population 27,000) is a lot more laid back and democratic with tourism and fishing being its main sources of revenue.

 The main entrance to old town Lagos with its twin towers.  The Moors constructed the original walls with updates taking place in 1598 and 1621.  Today, 4km of the wall still remains.   

 One of the many quaint cobblestone streets inside Old Town Lagos

 A beautiful example of a Portuguese style mosaic tiled building with its wrought iron balconies. 

Old Town Lagos is quite hilly and many of the streets have these cobblestone steps 

Old Town Lagos has many of these wonderfully creative mosaics inlaid into their cobblestone streets 

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