Salema (Portugal)
Salema is a village in the Portuguese municipality ( Freguesia ) Budens , Vila do Bispo district in the Faro district , in the Algarve . It is located in a small valley that breaks the rugged coast of the rocky Algarve, right by the sea. Salema is about halfway between Cabo de São Vicente , the most south-westerly point of mainland Europe between Sagres and the city of Lagos . The village is also located in the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina , a nature reserve that stretches along the entire southwestern Portuguese coast.
Until the 1980s, Salema was a small fishing village that gradually developed into the meeting point for backpackers in the Algarve. In the meantime tourism is the main source of income, even if there are still some full-time fishermen in the village whose boats are lying on the beach. The booming tourism has led to brisk construction activity in recent years. The original village stretches along a narrow road that runs parallel to the coast up the slope of the valley. A promenade has developed along the beach in recent years.
Attractions
About 140 million year old dinosaur footprints have been preserved directly on the beach. They come from a dinosaur of the suborder Ornithopoda . This was about 1.50 m to two m tall, moved mostly on two legs with three relatively broad toes without claws and was a herbivore. A little further to the east, in a nameless bay on a sloping rock slab, six chicken feet with claws resembling footprints of a theropod have been preserved. This also moved on two legs, but in contrast to the ornithopods, it was a carnivore.
The British newspaper The Guardian included the blue flag certified beach in a list of the 50 most beautiful beaches in the world. Salema ranks 15th in this ranking.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Michael Müller: Algarve . Erlangen 2008. pp. 192/193. ISBN 3899533925 .
- ↑ a b The Guardian of February 16, 2016: The 50 best beaches in the world . Retrieved March 7, 2016.
Coordinates: 37 ° 4 ′ N , 8 ° 50 ′ W
