Alte

Alte
Alte
Settlement
	Coat of arms
Country	Portugal
Region	Algarve
Intermunic. comm.	Algarve
District	Faro
Area
• Total	94.33 km2 (36.42 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	1,997
• Density	21/km2 (55/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (WEST)

Alte is a village and civil parish in the municipality of Loulé, in the Algarve region in the south of Portugal.^[1] The population in 2011 was 1,997,^[2] in an area of 94.33 km².^[3]

Situated away from the coast, Alte is known as one of the most typical and unspoilt villages in the region of the Algarve. The village contains Algarve style whitewashed houses, traditional chimneys, and cobbled alleys. The Portuguese poet Cândido Guerreiro was born in Alte, in 1871.

At Fonte Pequena (see photo below), a set of azulejo panels displays a portrait of Guerreiro, probably Alte's most celebrated son, together with some of his poems, the most emblematic of which goes like this:

Porque nasci ao pé de quatro montes

Por onde as águas passam a cantar
As canções dos moinhos e das fontes,
Ensinaram-me as águas a falar.
(As the place where I was born lies encircled by four hills
Through which waters run singing
The songs of fountains and mills,

Waters taught me to speak.)
— Cândido Guerreiro

In James A. Michener's novel The Drifters, Alte serves as the main setting of the chapter Algarve, being recommended to the protagonists by a customs officer who wants them "to know Portugal at its best."