Gilão River
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The Gilão () is a river in southern
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
. It is approachable from the Atlantic Ocean, where it enters at the town of Tavira in the
Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...
, east of Faro. The river Gilão changes its name to Rio Séqua at the ancient bridge named Ponte Romana in the centre of Tavira. The river's source is located in the Serra do Caldeirão mountains of the central Algarve, at the confluence of the Asseca, Zimbral and Alportel rivers, the latter rising north of São Brás de Alportel. From here it flows in a southeasterly direction and passes through 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 inle ...
national park south of Tavira, eventually meeting the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
between the
barrier islands Barrier islands are a coastal landform, a type of dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few is ...
of Tavira and Cabanas. The channel is clear, but a bit meandering. There is a large tide swing of about feet. There are extensive mariculture clam beds and salt pans near the sea. The name Gilão comes from Gil with doubtful origin but it sounds like the Old Norse wor
gill
meaning stream.


References

Rivers of the Algarve {{Portugal-river-stub