Lagos

The beach is called "Meia Praia" and is 4 km (2.5 miles) long...
The Boston winter drags on... more snow (flurries) tomorrow?

Historians say that it was off these beaches that the galleons carrying the treasure of Moctezuma, an Aztec emperor captured by the soldiers of Herman Cortez, were shipwrecked in 1522.

The city's old name - Lacobriga - indicates that its origins are Celtic and date back to approximately 2,000 years B.C. For a long period it was a port visited by Phoenicians, during the Roman occupation the city prospered and grew. In the 10th century the Arabs built a double ring of ramparts, but this was not enough to stop the Christians conquering the city in 1249. The I 5th century was a golden age for Lagos. For 40 years, thanks to its location across the sea from Africa, the city became a port of departure and arrival for the vessels that set off year after year on voyages of discovery along the coast of that continent. A centre for trade in iron, gold, silver arid other exotic merchandise brought back from Africa, Lagos attracted merchants and bankers, Portuguese and foreign alike, and poured its wealth into new churches and sumptuous houses. New city walls, built in the 16th century; marked the urban expansion of the city, which from 1573 was an episcopal see and residence of the governors of the Algarve.The earthquake of 1755 and the tidal wave that followed in its wake destroyed much of the city, which only began to recover some of its former prosperity in the mid 19th century. Today Lagos is a bustling city, proud of its past.