More on this later, but did you know Faro, Portugal has a massive coastal wetlands?

But back to Shannon Town and I just had a lovely muddy New Year’s walk in the Shannon Wetlands in glorious sunshine!

Last week I was in Faro Portugal. And while we may have 7km2 of wetlands they have 700km2!

In fact, when the 1755 tsunami hit Lisbon, Faro was saved by its wetlands!
“The tsunami destroyed some coastal fortresses in the Algarve and, in the lower levels, it razed several houses. Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged, except Faro, which was protected by sandy banks. In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. For the coastal regions, the destructive effects of the tsunami were more disastrous than those of the earthquake.”
https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-portugal-1755

Here’s a short video showing these wetlands from the aircraft when leaving Faro for Shannon. (Fun fact the end of the video shows the most southernly point in Europe!)