Beach and Countryside

Costa de Santo André and Fonte do Cortiço, two destinations with unparalleled history and nature

Around 1855, fishermen from Ílhavo and their respective families came to the Costa de Santo André, “In the census of 1863, at the beach of Santo André there were six dwellings and a total of 18 people. There were nine men who pursued the occupation of fishing” reports the Annaes do Município (Municipal Annals) of 1869, who built huts and thatched storehouses with reeds and, due to the abundance of sardines in the sea (in the summer) and other fish in the Lagoon (in the winter), established two crews with farmers in the region, practising the art of xávega (seine) fishing.

The City Council owned the Lagoon, because, as far back as 1685, the local authority leased it for a period of three years for a sum of 18$500 réis. The Lagoon continued to be leased to private individuals until 1975, after which it was placed under the management of the Sines Regional Office.

In 1957, two restaurants appeared amidst the huts. And from then on, it began to develop a population centre that occupied the first dune.

In order to make the Costa de Santo André a prime location for nature lovers, Santiago do Cacém City Council organized the vacation of the first dune of the Costa de Santo André to tackle the chaotic town planning that had worsened in the 1970s during the term of office the Sines Regional Office, creating a new development for rehousing the families that previously lived on the dune.

Santo André Lagoon constitutes a strategic port of call, passage and nesting for many species of migratory birds. The Santo André and Sancha Lagoons were declared a Nature Reserve by the Portuguese State by means of Implementing Decree 10/2000 of 22 August.

This coastal area is characterized by aquatic and riparian ecosystems influenced by the fresh and brackish waters, including small areas of marshland, willows, reeds, rushes, marshy moors and humid pastures.

The main aim of its classification as a Protected Area was to preserve the high ecological value of these two wetlands and their surrounding areas, in particular as areas important for the breeding, wintering and migrating birds. In the middle of the Reserve there is a birdwatching and bird ringing centre.

It also seeks to protect the surrounding dune complex and the adjacent marine strip, which is home to characteristic marine fauna.

The flora and vegetation of the Reserve are some of the most important elements in terms of natural value, with 510 species of vascular plants distributed across 79 families having been surveyed.

The vegetation is primarily formed by species tolerant of prolonged flooding and salinity. This is related to the opening of the Santo André Lagoon to the sea.

The formations and species that have settled in the dune belt are of particular importance, usually dominated by marramgrass and the priority species, yellow toadflax. The woods and heathlands that populate the dunes contain phoenicean junipers and Portuguese crowberry woods. The inland dunes are occupied by dense shrub formations including junipers, gorse heathland and thickets of holy flax..

The most valued endemic species of flora are common thyme, thymus carnosus and herinaria. They are species endemic or near-endemic to Portugal, whose abundance in the Reserve is of high value precisely because they constitute vast and well preserved populations.

The beach of Fonte do Cortiço, also known as Areias Brancas (White Sands), lies entirely within the Natural Reserve of Santo André and Sancha Lagoons, as a result of which it plays host to important coastal ecosystems and deserves particular attention due to its natural features. Its long, sandy beach is surrounded by a large dune and pine forest, which makes it characteristic of the region, and emblematic due to the quality of its landscape and its waters. It is a straight beach lined with very light-coloured and fine sands.

Both Costa de Santo André and Fonte do Cortiço beaches have been awarded a Blue Flag, a Golden Flag and have been classified as Accessible Beaches. They receive a large influx of holidaymakers mainly in the months of July and August.

During the bathing season, the average water temperature varies from 16ºC to 19ºC.

Although Santo André (St. Andrew) is the fisherman saint and patron of the Parish of Santo André, it is S. Romão who is celebrated in Costa de Santo André on 9 August, one of the most important days for the people of this locality.

The reason why São Romão’s day was chosen for the festivities is unknown. What is certain is that these festivities are deeply rooted in the local population, a tradition whose origins are unknown.

Possibly they were brought by fishermen and their respective families from Aveiro, Murtosa and Ílhavo, who, at the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, settled on the north bank of the São André Lagoon.

Due to the abundance of sardines in the sea in the summer and other fish in the Lagoon, in the winter, the fishermen established with the local farmers crews similar to those found in the north of the country.

They practised the art of dragnet fishing, facing the sea in boats with high and upturned prows called ‘Saveiros’.

As Luís Manafaia states, São Romão’s day “…was greatly celebrated by the locals and also by people in the surrounding area who travelled here to bathe and have fun in the bailaricos (Portuguese folk dances) organized here.” People from the local fishing community and the remaining coastal strip were joined on the long beach by folk from the Sierra, the ‘sagorros’, who travelled there by ox carts, wagons, straw carts, mounted on donkeys, mules or on foot, dressed in their best clothes, carrying haversacks and bottles of wine and “the girls of the surrounding area had the habit and tradition of bringing a watermelon on their heads, holding an umbrella entirely decorated with ribbons of various colours, which in the afternoon provided them and their boyfriends with shelter from the sun.”

Awnings were improvised with quilts and blankets, embroidered towels were spread out on the sand and the haversacks were placed on them.

An important phase of work in the fields having ended, the harvesting and threshing of the cereals, São Romão’s day thus constituted a day of fellowship, social relaxation, abundance and supportive interaction between populations, contributing towards alleviating some existing rivalries, particularly between the people of the mountains, the heathlands and the village.

Other reports indicate that:

“On the eve of S. Romão, at dusk, they began to arrive at the beach (…) hundreds of people from nearby villages, parishes and neighbouring counties, who spread out on the sands, facing the rough sea and like that they waited for the sun to rise. The next day there were more people on the beach, and everyone, young and old, men and women, walked along the seashore and wet their feet, the men with their trousers rolled up to the knees and the women with their skirts hitched up. The rest of the day was spent eating and drinking, talking on the beach and, in the evening, they started disappearing, also in groups, just as they had appeared”.

The structure of the land mainly consists of small farms with an area of less than 10 hectares. Clear and very fertile lands predominate. Agriculture consists of the cultivation of cereals, vineyards and olive groves, vegetables and horticultural produce. Livestock include mainly cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. In terms of forests, the landscape is dominated by pine woods and cork oak stands.

The Inland Plain is a flat area with slight undulations, dissected by a river network consisting of the Sado River and its tributaries.

The forest area is mainly composed of plantations of cork oaks and holm oaks, which are the predominant species on the slopes of the Sado valley.

The county is crossed north to south by the sierras of Grândola, S. Francisco and Cercal. These sierras are an authentic natural barrier separating the coastal plain from the Sado Valley plain.

Many of the cork oak forests that produce one of the country’s great sources of wealth, cork, are concentrated in the sierra.

The strawberry tree, the fruit of which is used to produce genuine arbutus spirit, is also characteristic of our sierras.

The Serra da Mina, Rosalgar and Serra das Tulhas mines are located in the sierra of Cercal, all of which are closed.

The village of Cercal is an isolated settlement, but is surrounded by a large number of dwellings, which gives it a very special and interesting character. The village fits in particularly well with the sierra.

Against the green of the sierra, hills and hilltops rise among colourful blankets of wild flowers, where excellent panoramic views can be enjoyed.

Much of the Municipality of Santiago do Cacém belongs to the hydrographic basin of the Sado. Its eastern part crosses the parishes of Alvalade and Ermidas, passing one kilometre east of the village of Alvalade, flowing from south to north.

On its left bank 2 km downstream of said village it receives an important tributary, the Campilhas, which rises in the Serra do Cercal to the northeast of Vila Nova de Milfontes.

On the right bank, 5 km downstream of Alvalade, it receives the Roxo, the source of which lies near Messejana and passes north of Aljustrel, and which has a lower discharge than the Campilhas.

It also receives another major tributary, the S. Domingos.

Along the banks of the Sado River and its tributaries ash trees, willows and many shrubs spontaneously grow, and since ancient times the ornamental oleanders on the banks of the Roxo have been talked about. “I noticed in that leafy avenue, littered with oleanders, the Loendrum roseum, with which the Romans were enamoured, calling it Flumen roseum.” Words spoken by the Prior of Roxo, in 1687, at S. Roque chapel. (Eng. António Luís Felix da Cruz).

A true source of life, since ancient times the river has been attracting people to its banks, as confirmed by the numerous archaeological finds dating back to different chronological and cultural periods.

The Campilhas and Fonte Serne dams are located around 20 to 30 kilometres from the coast, respectively. They are mainly associated with irrigation and consumption.

The Fonte Serne dam stems from the use of a section of the Ribeira de Vale Diogo, which flows into the Sado River. It is an embankment dam with a reservoir area of105 ha and a height of 17.5 m. Here you can swim, row, sail and fish, finding species such as the large-mouth bass, the barbel and the carp.

The Campilhas dam, built in 1954, takes advantage of a section of the Ribeira de Campilhas, which also flows into the Sado River. Its reservoir is shared by the parish of Cercal do Alentejo and Vale de Água. It is also an embankment dam, having a height of 35 m and an area of417 ha. Here you can swim, row, and the wide variety of fish such as the large-mouth bass, the barbel, the bogue, the bordalo (Tropidophoxinellus alburnoides), the carp, the perch and the crucian carp, attracts lovers of sport fishing.

The dams offer ideal conditions for the success of a good holiday for those who crave a more direct contact with nature.