Algoz is a Portuguese town in the district of Silves with a population of around 4000 people. The story has it, the town got its name, when the soldiers of a certain king (El-rei) said they could take the town as it is nothing and the king replied “it is something” in Portuguese “algo és”, that over the years became Algoz. There are also other theories regarding the town’s name, still unknown which one is the correct one.
If you want to learn about Portuguese history, culture and traditions, Algoz is a good place to start. The local farmers here produce in abundance almonds, figs, wine, wheat and olive oil, as well as tomatoes, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables in greenhouses, so it is highly agricultural area, with its main product being the citruses.
The local gastronomy is delicious and worth to try, with dishes like: sweet corn and pork stews, peas with eggs and chouriço, broad beans with bacon and chouriço, and the famous cakes of Dom Rodrigo as well as squashed olives with oregano.
In Algoz you can find the church “Ermida da Nossa Senhora do pilar” (translation “the hermitage of our Lady of the pillar”) in the sacristy of which there is a spring with miraculous powers of curing. According to the local legend, there was a blind woman in the village who had a vision to search for a spring with water in this place, she found it, by scraping the walls with her bare hands and water gushed out. She then applied the water to her eyes and was cured by a miracle.
Algoz has its own rich patrimonial worth visiting or living in, if you after a peaceful, healthy lifestyle and if you want to fall in love with all that is pure Portuguese!
