13/02/2023
Sea & Milk....The perfect combination to start a Village!
Marmelete, Monchique.
What I find most interesting about the Algarve is the various towns with such beautiful history. This weekend we decided to just drive...Where? We had no idea. We ended up in a small village close to the Monchique Mountains. Marmelete.
The Legend:
The legend tells the story of a ship sailing along the nearby coastline being caught in a fierce storm which caused the ship to capsize. The captain and his crew managed to escape to the coast, saving eight goats and timber from the ship.
With what they had salvaged the captain and crew decided that they needed to find somewhere to shelter; eventually they came upon the area which is now the location of the village.
The men settled there building shelters using the materials they had salvaged from the ship. Every morning members of the community would travel back down the mountain to the sea to catch fish, whilst the other took care of the goats. Many of the men began relationships with the local girls and some married and started families. After several years the shacks and shelters built by the captain and crew became a village with proper dwellings and they had gathered a considerable amount of livestock.
The Captain however, did not settle into the monotonous life on land and longed to go back to the sea. One day the captain went to the port of Lagos and by chance met an old seafaring acquaintance. The man owned a ship and hearing about the captain's predicament, he offered him a position of captain, but he could not employ any of his old crew.
Since the captain could not take any of his old crew with him, he said goodbye to them with the following words:
"My friends, I leave you and do not know if I will ever return, but in my soul I'll keep this place and I name the village "Mar e Leite" (Sea and milk)".
"Meus amigos, deixo-vos e não sei se algum dia voltarei, mas na minha alma vou guardar este lugar e dou à vila o nome de "Mar e Leite".
Over time, the village name was modified until it became Marmelete.
History is a beautiful thing....we need to embrace it!
Albufeira Holiday Solutions
Ricardo Leal Carla Dreger