Tag Archives: ancient tombs
Silves attractions – Silves castle
The Algarve town of Silves is one place that maybe not so many have heard about, it is quite well-known to those who have already been to the region, but for those who think of the Algarve as just great beaches and coastal resorts, the Silves attractions are there to provide some nice contrast.
As opposed to most other potential visiting places that you’ll find in the Algarve, Silves is set on the banks of the Arade River, a charming town peppered with orange and lemon trees and deeply steeped in history.
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.
