The Chapel of Our Lady of the Rock is situated on the promontory between the beaches of Praia da Sra da Rocha and Praia Nova, Porches in the Municipality of Lagoa. We stumbled across the ancient chapel purely by chance while looking for the Vilarinho Beach restaurant. After lunch, we drove up to the chapel where, at the time of writing this, there was free parking. I was also delighted to see the chapel of Our Lady of the Rock was easily accessible to people with walking disabilities.
As I approached the chapel, I was intrigued to know why the nearby trees were festooned with strings of shells and then more, which covered the windows. Each shell is personalised with a person’s name and date.
Apparently, hanging shells is a local custom for those offering prayers and seeking protection.
I’d like to know more about the custom, but an extensive search harvested no further information.
You can even have your wedding there!
ALGARVE – Senhora da Rocha
For an in-depth history, please refer to Wikipedia
Piglet in Portugal 
I was raised as a Catholic but have never seen prayer shells. Fascinating how different customs arise in different places.
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I was also raised as a Catholic, and like you I’d never seen prayer shells. Curious. Hopefully my Portuguese friend can shed some light on this.
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I think it is lovely.
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I walked from Alvor to Praia da Rocha recently but we didn’t carry on to the Senhora. It’s years since I was out on that lovely headland, and I don’t remember the shells. I would have brought one with me if I did.
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Was that the coastal walk? As you can see I am fascinated by the shells. I just wish I could find more information.
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Yes, along the cliffs.
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