Menir do Padrão

Standing tall on a hillside in the Algarve, this solitary menir bears witness to the vast stretches of time between us and the earliest occupation of this land by people, over seven thousand years ago. This menir is a tall stone of white limestone, the only one standing of a group that originally might have …

Menir dos Almendres

As you follow the well-trodden (and well-worn!) path, with wired fences on either side of you, you get the feeling that you are simply being herded to something very pedestrian and unimpressive. The nearby farm buildings do nothing to allay you of your suspicions that you are wasting your time. And then the fences fall …

photograph of Menir de Aspradantes standing stone, with view to far hills

Menir de Aspradantes

Standing on a ridge of a hill, looking over the fields in the western Algarve, the silence belies the hum of traffic on the distant motorway and the whirr of the towering wind turbines on the far hills. These monumental emblems of the modern age of electricity seem to mock the tiny stone standing alone …