Praia da Nossa Senhora da Rocha & Praia Nova
It was too rough to swim the first day we visited this little fishing beach, but it was spectacular nonetheless and it became one of our favourite beaches.
Coordinates: 37.097247543106036, -8.386288280439862
This beach is an active fishing beach with boats coming up onto the shore regularly during the day, pulled up by tractor! The cove is surrounded by high cliffs which offer shelter to fishermen and swimmers alike. The beach is named after the tiny church and shrine perched on top of the promontory at the western side of the beach, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Rocha, Our Lady of the Rock. There was once a fort atop this promontory but it was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1755. It is thought that there was a fort at this spot from the 8th century onwards due to its prime position as a viewing point.
There is a tunnel through the cliff on this beach, to access the next beach over! The beach next door is called Praia Nova. You can see the tunnel in the bottom right of the cliff here.
And this is Praia Nova on the other side of the tunnel:
Ways out:
either up the steps in the cliff face …
… or back through the tunnel to Praia da Nossa Senhora.