Cacela Velha (meaning "Old Cacela" in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

) is a village located in the civil parish of

Vila Nova de Cacela Vila Nova de Cacela, or simply Cacela, is a town and Civil parish in the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, the southeasternmost of the Algarve, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 3,902, in an area of 46.03 km². Cacela is an excla ...

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 ...

Vila Real de Santo António Vila Real de Santo António (, often run together as ) is a city, civil parish, and municipality in the Algarve, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,156, in an area of 61.25 km2. It is one of the few municipalities in Portugal without ter ...

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

, Portugal. Cacela Velha is situated on top of a hill with a view to the easternmost lagoon of the

Ria Formosa The Ria Formosa lagoon, located in the Algarve, in southern Portugal, is a system of barrier islands that connects to the sea through six inlets. Five of these inlets are natural and have mobility characteristics. The sixth is an artificial inlet ...

. It is the site of the

Fortaleza de Cacela The Fortress of Cacela ( pt, Fortaleza de Cacela also known as Fort Cavaleiros de Santiago ( pt, Fortaleza dos Cavaleiros de Santiago is a fortress in the civil parish of Vila Nova de Cacela, municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, in the sou ...

History

left, 300px, Map of the historic center: A — Main Church; B — Fortress; C — Chamber Houses; D — Priest House; E — Misericórdia Cacela Velha and the surrounding towns were a stopover for

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n navigators,“Tavira History,” Algarve-Portal.com
/ref> and according to some authors it may have once been near the location of

Conistorgis Conistorgis was the main city of the Conii or Cynetes. In the Conii language it probably meant "city of the Conii". The Celtici seem to have been present there. Location Conistorgis was located somewhere in the interior of the Algarve, in sou ...

, the still-unrecovered capital of the

Conii The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Rea ...

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 letter ...

and

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, ...

occupiers also played a significant role in the expansion of the region. Archeological excavations conducted from May 7 to July 4, 2007, determined the village was the Medina of Qast’alla Daraj ( Ibn Darradj al-Qastalli), an Islamic town dating back to the 10th century, when much of the Iberian peninsula was controlled by 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 ...

and

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

who arrived from North Africa.“Islamic Medina found in Cacela Velha,” The Portugal Resident, August 9, 2007
/ref> Archeologists determined the area was an agricultural center, and part of the excavation recovered seven corn pits that were used for storing cereals and grain.

Tourism and development

For many years, commercial fishing has been the main source of commerce for Cacela Velha. In recent years, the village has seen additional revenue from being a tourist destination. Cacela Velha’s beachfront location and lack of modern overdevelopment has been attractive to many visitors, while the village's fishing fleets have supplied the local seafood restaurants with oysters, clams, prawns and baby squid. Cacela Velha’s major cultural event is the annual Noites da Moura Encantada (in English: Nights of the Enchanted

Moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

Woman), which provides evenings of music, street fairs and artisan exhibitions that pay tribute to the region’s Arab and Berber heritage. Other cultural events include Clássica em Cacela, a concert series at the Church of Cacela Velha and other historical locations which have featured presentations of medieval and contemporary classic music. In 2008, the village saw the opening of its first five-star hotel, the Quinta da Ria. Cacela Velha beach, in the middle of a small peninsula, is popular among

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

tourists. Cacela Velha is one of ten Portuguese villages that the regional development commission (CCDR) has chosen to renovate in an attempt to encourage more Portuguese residents to relocate to the region.“Helping the Algarve move forward,” The Portugal Resident, May 15, 2008
/ref>

References

{{authority control Villages in Portugal Vila Real de Santo António