Alcantarilha
Between Faro and Silves you find the small town of Alcantarilha.
It once was a town of great strategic importance, since it was built directly on the road connecting the two capitals of the Islamic provinces during the time of the Moorish occupation..
This status was further reinforced by the existence of a bridge, named al-Qantas which gave Alcantarilha it later name
Alcantarilha was a heavily fortified town during the Islamic occupation and very prosperous. In the big earthquake of 1755 is was like most towns in the Algarve almost raised to the ground.
Immediately after the conquest of Algarve by D. Afonso III a new castle was build which held a highly important and strategic position right up to and during the middle ages.
Currently, there are very few elements discovered, whereas a significant portion of the wall is hidden by modern buildings. The most important discovery is located in “Castle Lane” showing tiny stones, irregularly arranged, whose exact chronology cannot so far be established. But is though the date back to the last days of the Islamioc stronghold over the province.
Alcantarilha still waits for funding to be able to carry out a program of a coherent archaeological investigation, to ascertain the real importance of Alcantrilha, its location in the regional context of Islam and its transition to the Christian sphere. No one can be certain of when the town was originally founded, but there is evidence some experts say which points to a pre-Roman period, but again, no solid basis to support this is available.