Ericeira is an old fishing village which keeps its traditions despite an
ever-increasing influx of summer visitors who enjoy the bracing climate, clean,
sandy beaches and fresh seafood. In July and August, when the population leaps
to 30,000, pavement cafés, restaurants and bars around the tree-lined Praça da
República are buzzing late into the night. Red flags warn when swimming is
dangerous: alternative attractions include crazy golf in Santa Marta park and an
interesting museum of local history, the Museu da Ericeira ,
exhibiting models of traditional regional boats and fishing equipment.

The unspoilt old town, a maze of whitewashed houses and narrow, cobbled streets,
is perched high above the ocean. From Largo das Ribas, at the top of a 30-m
(100-ft) stone-faced cliff, there is a bird’s-eye view over the busy fishing
harbour below, where tractors have replaced the oxen that once hauled the boats
out of reach of the tide. On 16 August, the annual fishermen’s festival is
celebrated with a candlelit procession to the harbour at the foot of the cliffs
for the blessing of the boats.

On 5 October 1910, Manuel II, the last king of Portugal, sailed into exile from
Ericeira as the Republic was declared in Lisbon; a tiled panel in the
fishermen’s chapel of Santo António above the harbour records the event. The
banished king settled in Twickenham, southwest London, where he died in
1932.