Praia de Salema, Beach in the Algarve, Portugal
Praia de Salema is a sandy beach in a small fishing village on the western Algarve coast, in Faro district, Portugal. It sits in a sheltered bay framed on both sides by tall limestone cliffs in shades of ochre and gold.
The area around Salema was already occupied in Roman times, as shown by the ruins of a villa and a fish-preserving factory that can still be found nearby. For many centuries after that, the village lived almost entirely from the sea, changing little until tourism arrived in recent decades.
Fishermen still bring their catch ashore in the early morning, a sight that has been part of daily life in Salema for generations. The open-air restaurants along the waterfront serve freshly caught octopus, eel, and white sea bream prepared simply, with little more than what the sea provides.
The eastern end of the beach tends to be quieter and less crowded than the area near the village. During summer, lifeguards are on duty and equipment for kayaking, bodyboarding, and stand-up paddleboarding can be rented nearby.
Dinosaur footprints estimated to be around 150 million years old were found in the limestone cliffs at the edge of the beach. Local residents knew about them long before archaeologists from Lisbon formally examined them in 2001.
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