There are plenty of little shops in Burgau including a superb bakers, serving fresh bread and pastries (baked in a clay oven). It’s on the main road, just past the newsagents on the corner, but you’ll need to get there before 9am as it sells out fast to the locals.

All the shops in the village have bread delivered daily and good fruit and vegetables. Nearest pharmacist in Vila Do Bispo (further along the main road towards Cape St. Vincent) or there several in Lagos, a harbour town, about five miles away.

The nearest hypermarket/petrol station – Eco Marche - is on the main road at Budens, a mile or so along the main road between Burgau and Parque da Floresta (a golf course complex) towards Cape St. Vincent. You can't miss it.

Lagos

There are more hypermarkets and some interesting old shops in Lagos, the nearest town, about five miles away, which has a beautiful old harbour and a splendid new marina, from where visitors may take trips in a glass bottomed boat. There’s a wonderful covered marketplace on the harbour-front, centuries old, with a fish and meat market on the ground floor, fruit and vegetables upstairs and a restaurant bar above.

Lagos also has some lovely little cafes, where you can sit and watch the world go by, as you sip frothy cappuccinos and tuck into croissants and dreamy custard tarts (tarta de natas) The restaurants are good too. The market in Lagos is on the first Saturday in the month, and worth a visit, but there are plenty of stalls selling clothes, table linen and pottery along the harbourfront during the summer.