With the valuable contribution of archaeology, it is known today that the presence of man in the municipality of Loulé dates back to the Ancient Paleolithic. In the following millennia, in the period of the Age of Metals, the incursion of the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean intensified, which progressively penetrated the Southwest Peninsula, culminating with the arrival of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. These founded the first factories on the seafront of the territory of the current municipality, promoting fishing, metallurgy prospecting and commercial activity.

Querença is located on a hill that gives its name to the village, which can already be characterized by the transition between the Barrocal and the Serra. The houses go down the slope in all directions, with the Nossa Senhora da Assunção Church, also known as the Mother Church, at the top. The village is known for its distillation of arbutus and chorizo, in addition to other typical.

Barranco do Velho is a small and rural place located in the fantastic Serra do Caldeirão, in the Barrocal Algarve, very close to the border with the Alentejo region, where the Algarve shows a mountain facet, quite different from the tourist facet of golden beaches with crystal clear water, known of all. This is an area of great and ancient cork tradition, with the landscape dominated by cork oaks, holm oaks and strawberry trees as far as the eye can see, also constituting the main activity of the people of the region. At the top of the hill is the rustic Church, built in 1944, with typical Algarve features, from which you have a panorama of extraordinary beauty.

1h00 Free time to discover the place Away from the tourist coast, it is considered one of the most typical and preserved villages in the Algarve (and even in all of Portugal), with its houses painted in the current colors of the region (ochre, almagre, blue, anthracite, standing out against a background white), the roof terraces, the traditional chimneys and the alleys paved in Portuguese stone.