Benagil Cave

The action of man causes profound changes in the environment, that consequently affect the balance of processes created by nature and which, in turn, stimulate the emergence of natural causes, such as earthquakes, outbreaks of volcanic eruptions, and the formation of very heavy rains;

These natural causes create geomorphological accidents, that are nothing but the alteration of the visible characteristics of the horizontal, vertical, and parallel layers of soil, which when occurring in hard rocks, that are part of coastal areas, give rise to sea caves of different sizes, some of them hundreds of meters long;

Technically, this is the basic and elementary explanation of how The Cathedral, the most famous sea cave in Benagil, come up, a cave characterized by a medium-sized hole in its roof, opened by the waves of the Atlantic Ocean and the local winds, and which you can even enjoy a fun little beach that is formed periodically inside;

This perforation, located on its dome-shaped ceiling, adorns the entire structure of the cave and fulfills roles of great relevance, such as facilitating the entry of winds coming from the sea, in addition to make way for rays of the sun, that when arriving inside, transform it, leaving it constantly ventilated and well lit;

This grotto of vertical development has spiral walls dyed by natural colors such as yellow, orange, and gold, and in some points of its space are mixed in a way harmonic, logical and coherent, intelligently and naturally coloring your inner environment;

Some studies suggest that the formation of the Cathedral occurred about 20 million years ago, long enough for sedimentary rocks to accumulate on these slopes and accidental processes of nature could perform their magic;

The surroundings of the small fishing village known as Benagil, located close to the cave, are based on an extensive mass of limestone rocks, created millions of years ago, which accumulated over time throughout its area, that helped to form a large part of it;

The limestone combined with other natural resources gave the cave an appearance similar to the religious temples of the past and for this reason, many people still know it today as the Natural Cathedral of Benagil;

There are also other caves located in these surroundings of Benagil, but none that have the same welcoming conditions and the same level of beauty and charm as the Cathedral, making it the center of almost all the attention and interest of most visitors and tourists who arrive there;

Its entire environment is filled with stone sculptures, unusual rock formations, underground depressions, and concave cavities that together attach enormous value to this Algarvian scenario, and which each year is responsible for attracting a considerable portion of the European traveling public;

Hundreds of history are printed in each square meter of this Portuguese paradise and each one is part of a cycle that has lasted thousands of years and that when associated with each other, chronologically, they give total meaning to what is seen there;

This cave and other karst reliefs around the world , however, have the same tragic fate in common, which is to collapse totally at some point, in the future, all because these incredible deformed naturals, over time lose the battle for the processes erosions of the earth, that in the end are a way to make the geological evolution of our planet follow ahead, towards the infinite cycle of transformations;

In the meantime, a visit to the Benagil Cave can be, after all, a very interesting way of observing and reflecting on a style of living so often common among most of our ancestors, who have made them their main housing model, for so long, which according to historical records had a promising start at the beginning of prehistory;

Author, Cleber Barros