The villages are places of residence, not, fundamentally, centers of commerce; stores are few and small. Supplies - especially dry goods and notions - are purveyed largely by itinerant venders, travelling and hauling their wares on pack animals, bicycles, or small trucks; sale and purchase of animals is usually accomplished at one of the fairs which are regularly held in each of the more important villages on a specified day of the week and week on the month.* Services and buildings for them, that we associate in our minds with urban living, are lacking.
Men and women go to the small towns at the base of the mountains on market day to buy items that are not brought to them by itinerant venders and, perhaps more importantly, to enjoy the pleasure of taking an occasional trip to break the routine of village living.
In:
Dan Stanislawski, 1963.
Portugal’s other kingdom, The Algarve.
5. The Caldeirão Mountains.
University of Texas Press, Austin, U.S.A. pp. 216-217.
* For example, the fair in Cachopo is on the second Thursday of each month. That of S. Bartolomeu de Messines, which serves many mountain people, is held on the fourth Monday of each month.