The southernmost point of Portugal

Every night and every day we look out from our apartment at Farol do Cabo de Santa Maria, four miles away and the southernmost point of mainland Portugal. Well kind of! We can certainly see the lighthouse (farol) and is definitely located on the Cabo de Santa Maria. However it would appear that it is the other half of Cabo de Santa Maria – Barreta – on the other side of the channel, where technically the southernmost point of Portugal is located somewhere along the beach. Still we can almost see the southernmost point of Portugal from our apartment!

This is my December ‘Past Meets Present‘ and my focus is not the beach but the lighthouse. Farol do Cabo de Santa Maria dates back to 1851. The 1851 original was raised 112ft in 1922, but the work caused the lighthouse to become unstable. So in 1929 it was almost rebuilt. In 1949 and again in the mid 1990s changes were made to the light, and it has been fully automated since 1997.

This postcard from Klaus Hülse’s wonderful Lighthouse Website appears to be post-marked 1933 and from descriptions of the modifications I had assumed it was a photograph of the 1922 modification rather than the 1929 rebuild. However another excellent Lighthouse Postcard Website indicates it is in fact of the original 1851 version. What do you think?

It is of course in stormy weather and at night that lighthouses come in to their own. Farol do Cabo de Santa Maria has four white flashes every 17 seconds. Here is my collection of the ‘flashes’ at dusk and night as seen from our apartment and the saltpans. Think the final one might be the best 😉

There were and maybe still are two other Lighthouses in Olhão. One definitely still exists and still works albeit looks a little different as you can see from the ‘past meets present’ gallery.

Here’s the modern view

and yes it does work!

Can you spot it in the past though?

The second lighthouse I’m not so sure still exists. It was on top of the main church, and it took me a while to spot it when it did exist even with the ‘past’ photographs laying in front of me. I finally got there with the third picture, and was then bemused as to why I had’t seen it in the first two! I am not convinced though it is still there, which makes this a perfect ‘Past meets Present’. Have look at my ‘past meets present’ gallery below and let me know what you think.

Quite a bit has changed since this was taken

Of course now I can see it easily!

It was this postcard which enlightened me

Not only can you no longer take this photograph as the path has gone, but it doesn’t look like the light is there

There is the white shape but that isn’t it

There seems to be a red light on top of that white box shaped section of the church

It was not only the lighthouses that have changed since 1851. The islands and channels of the Ria Formosa would also have looked very different. The channel closest to Farol do Cabo de Santa Maria is artificial. Work began on it in 1927 but it was not until 1952, 100 years after the first lighthouse, that the channel was fully commissioned. The creation of this artificial inlet whilst essential to Faro port impacts on rest of the Ria Formosa because of the dredging and changes to water flow. It will be interesting to see what happens over the new few years as it is likely the port will close following the change in cement orders. If it does then there will be no need to dredge the channel to the depth it currently is, nor will there be any funds to pay for the dredging. It is expensive to dredge and needs to be done regularly. Perhaps I should start taking more and better photographs of the channels to log any potential change. Talking of change do share your before and after photographs and join in this month with Past meets Present. Remember they don’t need to be of Portugal.