The morning breeze that wafts across the verandaed portico of an Algarve apartment is the same wind that swept the cliffs and sand beaches of Portugal's Atlantic coast and through the Algarve's orange groves and almond trees when the Saracens first settled this southernmost of Portugal's many-splendoured regions some 800-plus years ago. Traces of the the Algarve's enduring Moorish influence are still found in the architecture of both the modern Algarve apartments and villa rentals that house visitors drawn south by the Algarve's beaches, as well as in the traditional whitewashed homes that still line the village streets of the Algarve's timeless heartland.
Eight hundred years ago, the Algarve's remote, southern locale dictated it was the last area of Portugal to come under Moorish rule. Today, the Algarve with its its unique climate and topography remains remote but only in perceptions of time and culture. In terms of accessibility, an Algarve apartment or villla rental is perhaps the surest way to retreat from the rushed pace of modern times and embrace the leisures and natural splendours of Portugal's fabled past, while sacrificing none of Europe's modern conveniences.
