The nearly two dozen beaches in the municipality of Figueira da Foz will have a maximum capacity of 54,000 people during the bathing season, a source from this coastal municipality in the district of Coimbra told the Lusa news agency today.
According to the same source from the mayor's office, Figueira da Foz beach, the largest urban beach in Europe—which stretches for about two kilometers between the northern pier of the Mondego River and the fishing village of Buarcos—will have a capacity of slightly more than 25,000 people.
“It will be the beach with the largest capacity in the country,” said the municipal source.
According to data collected by the Lusa agency, the usable area of the Figueira da Foz beach bathing area amounts to around 26 hectares, 260,000 square meters (m2) – two kilometers long by 130 meters wide, on average – which allows each bather to occupy around 10 m2, in line with the authorities' determinations in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Figueira da Foz beach, which has been growing in recent years at a rate of 30 to 40 meters per year, has a total area of over 100 hectares (including the area closest to the avenue, where leisure facilities are located, a transition zone, and the bathing area itself), with a width between the road and the sea that exceeds 700 meters.
In a press release issued today, the municipality of Figueira da Foz announced the hiring of 68 lifeguards for the current bathing season to monitor the municipality's 18 beaches and seven public swimming pools, “in order to ensure the necessary level of safety.”
In the urban area, north and south of the Mondego River, 12 beaches (located between Cova, to the south, and Cabo Mondego, to the north of the city) will be monitored from June 20. At the remaining six—Costa de Lavos, Leirosa, and the four beaches between Murtinheira and Quiaios—lifeguard surveillance will be active from July 1.
In addition to the beaches, the swimming pools at the municipal campsite and those in the parishes of Alqueidão, Maiorca, Ferreira-a-Nova, Alhadas, Marinha das Ondas, and Moinhos da Gândara will also be monitored.
The beaches of Buarcos and Cabedelo will also have, from Saturday until the end of October, “whenever weather conditions justify it,” four additional lifeguards, also hired by the municipality, to ensure surveillance on weekends and holidays during that period.
“We have tried to maintain the same number [as last year] of lifeguards and we are looking into the possibility of hiring more if there is a shortage. We know there are shortcomings across the country, but in Figueira we will have these lifeguards and, if any concessionaires do not open this year, we will be prepared to have that beach monitored," assured the municipal source.
“We want to show people who visit us that Figueira has everything and is safe,” he emphasized, alluding to the motto of a communication campaign that will be launched next week.
Source: noticiasdecoimbra