Odeceixe: The Little Town in the Algarve Where the Mediterranean Still Smells of Fish, Not of Tourists

The Algarve, for most people, means packed beaches, hotel complexes and menus in five languages. But on the northern edge of this Portuguese region there is a little town that has managed to stay what others long ago stopped being - authentic. Odeceixe is a village of white houses where the Mediterranean still smells of fish, not of sunscreen.

Founded back under Arab rule and rebuilt after the catastrophic river flood of 1755, the village has narrow, winding lanes filled with low whitewashed houses, painted in indigo, green and yellow. Above it stands a working 18th-century windmill, from which a view stretches over the white roofs, the green valley and the ocean horizon.

The real trump card is the beach - voted one of the seven wonders of Portugal in 2012. It has the shape of a horseshoe and a dual nature: on one side a calm lagoon where the river Seixe flows into the sea, ideal for families; on the other, open Atlantic waves for surfing. At low tide, natural pools are revealed among the rocks. All around stretches the Costa Vicentina natural park, with white stork nests on the coastal cliffs and walking trails along dramatic plate-like crags.

The local cuisine does not pretend - goose barnacles (percebes), grilled fish and sweet potato. This is not a place that sells you an experience packaged into a tour deal. It is a place that simply exists and leaves you alone to discover it - a rarity in a region where tourism long ago devoured everything authentic around it. Whoever is still looking for such a corner of the Mediterranean had better hurry - places like this do not stay hidden forever.