Redonda Beach or ''Praia Redonda'' 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 ...

, meaning Round, is a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

on the southwestern coast of

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim (, ) is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers. In 2001, there were 63,470 ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, bordering the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is adjacent to Passeio Alegre, in

Póvoa de Varzim City Center Póvoa de Varzim City Center or Downtown Póvoa de Varzim (Portuguese, ''Centro'') is the heart of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal, and is the location for most of the city's municipal services, tourist attractions and businesses. It is the center, n ...

. The Avenida dos Banhos runs alongside the beach, and the Diana Bar beach library, a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

and Café Guarda-sol are located on the beach. The beach has medium sand and little granitic gneiss, typical rocky outcrops on Póvoa de Varzim coastline, the largest concentration is Carvalhido outcrop, which serves as the north limit of the beach.

Salgueira Beach Salgueira Beach (''Praia da Salgueira'' in Portuguese) is an extensive maritime beach of the city Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. The beach has white sand and very few rocks, in the central spot with a northern rocky side, near Buddha Club, known as ...

is located to the North and the

Port of Póvoa de Varzim The Port of Póvoa de Varzim is a seaport built in Enseada da Póvoa Bay in the city of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. During the Middle Ages, it was known as Port of Varzim (''Porto de Veracim'' in Old Portuguese). Once used for trade and shipbu ...

to the south. These beaches have a specific climate, by showing low

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak d ...

, just 4 °C (= 7.2 °F). Compared with the rest of the territory, rainfall is significantly lower and

solar irradiation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ( ...

higher. These are subject to the prevailing northern winds which arise in the summer after midday; hence mornings are significantly less windy.

History

The beach is historically known as ''Praia de Banhos'', Portuguese for Bathing Beach, contrasting with the Fisheries Beach (used for fishing and with very fine sand), currently the

. it is the historical bathing beach of Póvoa de Varzim, that in the 19th century became the most popular tourist destination in Northern Portugal.

Ramalho Ortigão José Duarte Ramalho Ortigão () (24 October 1836 – 27 September 1915) was a Portuguese writer of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Biography Ortigão spent his early years with his maternal grandmother in Porto. He studied law in ...

, in the book ''As Praias de Portugal'' (The Beaches of Portugal), states that Póvoa de Varzim is the great hostel for the inhabitants of the Minho province, for

sea bathing The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

or breathing the

Sea air Sea air has traditionally been thought to offer health benefits associated with its unique odor, which Victorians attributed to ozone. More recently, it has been determined that the chemical responsible for much of the odor in air along certain sea ...

, as the

marine layer A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect of the water on th ...

is occasionally propelled to the beach by the south and western maritime winds during summertime, leaving an intense aroma. Ortigão states that in that time no other beach had such diversity and popularity. In 1844, the chapel of Saint Joseph was built in there, and there was a street known as Rua da Areosa. The street was enlarged and became the Passeio Alegre square and the chapel demolished by beautification of the beaches square. A new

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built on Avenida Mousinho de Albuquerque to replace it. However, in the 1930s, beach bars were constructed in the location of the chappel: Diana Bar and Café Guardassol, the later was, at first, a famed 1920s wooden building, causing local debate. In the 1970s, Café Enseada was built and, in the 21st century, a new wooden building, the Maresia Café.

References

{{Póvoa de Varzim Beaches of Póvoa de Varzim