Category Archives: Algarve Cities
Tavira guide
The town of Tavira, Portugal is a beautiful and elegant settlement, some consider it almost surreal in some aspects of it. Tavira is still an Algarvian fishing town, that much stays the same, however visitors might find what they see at odds with that particular notion seeing how unique this town is from most of the surrounding resorts.
Just like the rest of the region, Tavira spent quite a few centuries under Arab rule, in this case it was between the 8th and 13th centuries, after which it was conquered by the Knights of the Order of Santiago in 1242. Then between the 16th and 18th centuries, Tavira was the main trading port in the region. As you can plainly see, a very rich history, and we’ll try to give you a general overview on the place with this short Tavira guide.
What makes the town of Tavira stand out from most of the other Algarve towns is that it managed to somehow stave off the influence of mass tourism and preserve its unique traditions and handsome character. Part of this character is the seven arch bridge which spans the Gilao river; while its current appearance dates from the 17th century, the bridge itself is believed to have been built by the Romans. Severe floods affected the bridge back in 1989 and ever since it has only been open to pedestrian traffic, so you can still get to cross it, only you’ll be doing it on foot and some might argue that this is a much better way.
Silves guide
Silves, Portugal sits on the banks of the Arade River, a town littered with lemon and orange trees, Silves is a place full of history and wherever you’ll look, you’ll find some small or large thing that adds to this place’s enchanting atmosphere.
The settlement that is today known as Silves, has always been an important one in the region because thanks to its positioning, it lay at the entrance to the inland areas of the Algarve. Going there now, you can’t really see it, because the river is now too silted up to allow large vessels to travel it, but in centuries past, that was not an issue.
Any Silves guide is pretty much obliged to mention the most prominent monument in the city, namely the Castelo de Silves. This is now the best preserved castle in the region and it towers above the town alongside the nearby Cathedral. Being a fortress it was built on an overlooking hill, obviously so the views from the battlements are quite spectacular. The castle features eleven towers, two of them being barbicans, and its thick walls still enclose an area of about twelve hundred thousand square meters. Four of the towers were rebuilt during the 14th and 15 centuries and as such feature Gothic doorways.
Portimão guide
Being the largest town in the western part of the Algarve, the town of Portimao, Portugal is located on the bank of the Arade river and faces Ferragudo on the opposite bank. What used to be the town’s beach on the Atlantic, Praia da Rocha, developed so much that it became pretty much a resort in its own right, featuring a plethora of accommodation options, restaurants and everything else that you might expect from a seaside resort town. However we won’t spend time talking about that here, instead we’ll try to offer you a basic Portimao guide, so that you know what you can expect.
The majority of the town is made up of late 19th and early 20th century buildings, when we’re talking about the older part of town, while the rest of Portimao is made up of modern apartment blocks in a variety of colors, hues and shades. It is interesting to note however that most settlements in the region have much longer histories, Portimao is a rather young place that managed to develop despite being surrounded by older towns. You can quickly get here by using some Portimao transfers from Faro Airport.
Olhão guide
The city of Olhao is located in the eastern part of the Algarve, not far away from the capital of Faro, and is the largest fishing port on the Algarve coast. Similar to the other Algarve cities and resorts Olhao is rich with Moorish-style houses, however having been a port city for so long, it also shows influences from Africa thanks to its commercial links to the northern African coast.
Although the city was first mentioned in a document in 1378, it only became an important town during the 19th century, however it was sufficiently important in the 17th century to need the building of the fortress of Sao Lorenco in 1679 to protect it from pirate raids. Our short Olhao guide will try to give you a bit of an idea of what to expect from this town of many faces.
We said many faces because depending on where you approach it from, Olhao, Portugal will look different. For instance if you approach it from the side where the fishing port is located, it will look very industrial, and hence not extremely attractive to tourists. However if you’re driving to Olhao along the water front road then you’ll get a different view altogether. You can use Olhao transfers from Faro Airport to get here right from the airport.
Loulé guide
It is still unknown for certain when the city of Loulé, Portugal got its beginnings. Some consider it to start at around 400 BC while others believe that it is Roman in origin. However what is known is that by 715 when the Moors invaded the Algarve, Loulé was already an important town.
This rather interesting town is located at about sixteen kilometers north of Faro and its main feature is the landmark church of Nossa Senhora da Piedare – interesting enough, as opposed to pretty much all other towns in the region, this church is a modern building with a dome shape that makes it look a bit like a space ship. A bit larger than many other Algarve resorts and towns, Loulé offers all the amenities that you may expect including many shops, banks, art galleries and many other, we’ll try to cover as many of them in this short Loulé guide.
Loulé is well-known in the region for hosting each a Saturday morning a gypsy market, located at the end of Rua da nossa Senhora da Piedade, in fact there are special trips that are available from many Algarve resort in order to get here, however you can also employ some Loulé transfer from Faro Airport and get here straight from the airport.
Lagos guide
Even if the city of Lagos Portugal is a small one, it is nonetheless one of the most popular of the Algarve resorts. Pronounced Lagoosh, the city is located at about an hour drive from Faro and can thus easily reached with the help of some Lagos transfer from Faro Airport services. Why you should go there is another matter, one which we’ll talk about starting now.
There are many things to see and do while in Lagos, however one of the main attractions is the ‘Old Town’. You’ll notice that pretty much every one of the Algarve cities, towns and resorts feature some type of ‘old town’ because this region has been inhabited for the longest of times, thanks to its wonderful characteristics having been kept relatively constant for the past two thousand years or so.
