Almoçageme (pronounced: Al-mu-sa-jè-mê) is a village on the Portuguese

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Sintra Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populat ...

and in the

Freguesia ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Por ...

of Colares. The name Almoçageme is obviously

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

in origin – the Iberian peninsula is packed with Muslim

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

that are a legacy of the five hundred years the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

stayed over. One possible root is from ''al-masjid'' or ''al-mesijide'', meaning “the mosque” – although there are no testimonies of one having been around. Local festivities honoring Nossa Senhora da Graça take place on the first Sunday of October and last eight days. There are

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ruins of a “

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

” in this most occidental spot of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, dating from the 2nd century CE. These were unearthed in 1905 during the construction of a road (Estrada do Rodizio) linking Almoçageme with the spectacular beach of

Praia Grande Praia Grande () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 330,845 (2020 est.) in an area of 149.25 km². Population history History Although t ...

. Excavations are under way in the

Roman villa of Santo André de Almoçageme The Roman ruins of Santo Andre de Almoçageme ( pt, Ruinas romanas de Santo Andre de Almoçageme) is a Portuguese archaeological site located in the rural civil parish of Colares, in the municipality of Sintra. It includes a group of structures wi ...

and the findings are sent to the

Archaeological Museum of São Miguel de Odrinhas The Archaeological Museum of São Miguel de Odrinhas in Sintra municipality, Lisbon District, Portugal owes its existence to the collection by the Hermitage of São Miguel of Epigraphy, epigraphic stones found amongst the Roman ruins in the neigh ...

– a 40-minute drive away. Almoçageme boasts the beach of Adraga with a vintage fish restaurant right by the sand that is the delight of the visitor.

References

Junta de Freguesia of Colares Web Site
Villages in Portugal {{Lisbon-geo-stub