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Alcochete measures its fate as the land of the future airport.
Photography by Claudine Boeglin
Alcochete is perched on the edge of the Tagus River with a scenic waterfront promenade. Among the nine municipalities of the Península de Setúbal, on Lisbon’s South Bank, Alcochete is the smallest by population. That will soon change.
On Sundays, Portuguese families patiently queue for its numerous seafood restaurants and terraces. The whole town is lively on Domingos (Sundays), with a slow pace as if time had frozen.
In the 15th century, Alcochete was a royal retreat for both King João I and King João II. King Manuel I, who founded Portugal’s signature Manueline architectural style, was born in Alcochete. Alcochete benefited from the shipment of timber to Lisbon and maintained a vibrant agricultural and livestock economy, with horse and bull breeding in its vast green lands. Later its most important industry was salt production. Barges now idle in high grass, where boys skip stones on the river, but throughout the 18th century these large barges supplied Lisbon with salt, wood, and coal along the Tagus.
Alcochete, gazing at Lisbon from the straight line formed by the Vasco da Gama Bridge, measures its fate as the land of the future Luís de Camões Airport. Since it is official, real estate development has accelerated wildly under this prospect.
The parish of São Francisco was once called Sabonha. In the 16th century it was an important convent of the Franciscan friars until 1834. Only the monumental portal remains, restored and classified as a monument of municipal value. In 1984, São Francisco split with Alcochete, now a village of over 2,570 inhabitants (2021 est.).
Photography Claudine Boeglin @dandyvagabond
Photography and text Claudine Boeglin
