Blogs from Tavira, Algarve, Portugal, Europe

Our excursion today is to Tavira which is east of Faro and on the south coast of Portugal. It is an ancient town founded in 1,000 BC. The old town is typical of most European cities and towns - very narrow cobblestoned streets lined with ornate buildings complete with fancy iron balconies. The sidewalks are all uneven cobblestones making it a challenge to walk straight. I wonder if they did that so you couldn’t tell who had too much to drink and who was sober. These towns are immaculately clean, no garbage anywhere. We saw a lady out with a mop swabbing down the front of her very well maintained house. Many of the buildings have glazed ceramic tiles known as azulajo either as a decoration or as a whole front coverage. Uniquely coloured and decorated ... read more

Geo: 37.1258, -7.64984After a late breakfast we headed west to visit the town of Tavira. It had lovely cobblestone streets, ornate churches, Portuguese architecture and also a castle. Before visiting the castle we stopped for coffee and a waffle. It is a tourist town with lots of cafes and restaurants, but it is still charming. After viewing the castle we explored narrow streets and found a wonderful place for a late lunch. We all enjoyed some traditional Portuguese meals, including grilled squid, razor clams served in two ways, and seafood soup.Once we were back on the road we made one more stop at a small village called Cacela Velha. Cacela Velha is situated on a hill with a view of a lagoon and the ocean beyond. We had a quick wander through before heading home. Our ... read more

Geo: 37.1258, -7.64984Bom-Dia à tous,Nous avons eu une nuit tranquille et reposante. Un bon déjeuner mais pas moyen d'avoir un bon café. Donc, nous voici à Serpa où je prend mon premier bon café de la journée. Nous voyageons à travers Beja, Mertola et nous voici dans la région d'Algarve. Ce sont tous de jolies villes que nous avons bien aimés y marcher. Bien sure les châteaux-fort étaient dans les parages. On a vu des km d'olivier (on fait la meilleur huile du Portugal, y parais). Nous avons finalement arrivé à l'océan après la traversé du désert. La ville Villa Real de Santo Antonio. La première ville de l'Algavre. La peur nous a subjugué. Plein de gros hôtel, du béton à profusion, des parasols et des chais... read more

Day 6 - Thursday 21st November Today turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. The original plan was to get up early and go up north to Évora to see Megaliths and pre-historic stuff. Google maps had claimed it was just a two hour drive but the satnav reckoned more than three hours each way. We decided it probably wasn't worth it as we would not have time to see much and drove east to Tavira instead. Tavira is very pretty, with cobbled narrow roads, bits of castle walls and fancy old churches. If you have been reading my Portugal blogs everyday, you will have heard all of this before and at this point, both Glyn and I realised we were getting a bit bored of this kind of stuff. So after spending ... read more

Tuesday 15th February 2010 Time to move on to Portugal today via Palos de Frontera. Palos is considered the "cradle of the Discovery of America" because from its port in 1492 the ships of Christopher Columbus and the Pinzon brothers set off to discover a shorter route to India and discovered the New World. On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed with three ships; the Santa María nicknamed Gallega (the Galician), and two smaller caravels the Pinta (the Painted) and the Santa Clara. On the morning of October 12th land was sighted and the rest is history. Today we find the old port and the Muelle de las Carabelas ("Dock of the Caravels") which has been faithfully reconstructed, with storage buildings, canteens and shops of various craftsmen. Particularly impressive are the exact replicas of ... read more