The first such-event organized in August 2012 offered privileged access to culturally and historically valuable chapels, thus allowing for a very real, very original acoustic sound to be heard by our human ears.

This year as well the festival will be using the venues of the Igreja Nossa Senhora da Grasa of Sagres Fortress and the Emrida de Guadalupe in Vila do Bispo, both of which are recognized as important Portuguese heritage sites. However, this year’s event will also add to its list of venues the courtyard of the Centro Cultural de Lagos from the end of July through to the end of August.

The music will be performed by a variety of internationally acclaimed specialist on authentic instruments of several historical periods such as: viola de gamba, recorders, flutes, ancient cornets and clarinets are only some of the examples, plus period song and dance will be added in to complete the theme and atmosphere.

The concerts that make up the Sons Antigos a Sul Music Festival are part of a larger and international string of events meant to celebrate the European Year of the Citizen. The events celebrate twenty years of the Maastricht Treaty and particularly honor three hundred years since the Treaty of Utrecht from 1713 which united many of the European nations that now make up the European Union. The goal of the larger event is to show the rich and complex relationships between the cultures of all of these diverse countries.

In regards to the Portuguese concerts, attending these will be free of charge however, you will have to pay a small fee to enter the monuments, but that is to be expected if you were to visit them anyway, and those fees are only nominal.

Step back in time a few hundred years back to sometime between the 12^th and 14^th century and enjoy the particular atmosphere offered by the wandering troubadours, jugglers and barbecues and spit roasts at every couple of meters one from each other.

The Silves Medieval Festival takes place between the 9^th and 15^th of August in 2011 and is amongst the most popular festivals that the Algarve sees during the summer period and everybody can get into the action by hiring period costumes so as to better fit in with the rest of the medieval folk.

Silves Medieval Festival

Most of the activities that take place are free except for the jousting tournament and the wicked Black Knight which your children will surely want to see but there is only one show per night so make sure that you’re there when it happens. Talking of free, while in the Festival ground you will have to exchange your modern day Euros for the medieval currency of Xelbs; this can be done under the main gates and it’s all meant to add to the fun and immersion of the event.

Ideally you will want to grab dinner sometime around 7 PM as it will surely get really crowded after 9, despite the large number of places where you can eat rest assured that they will rapidly fill up at around that hour.

One could hardly find a better setting for such an event in the Algarve than the Moorish city of Silves its preserved old town and the castle play a huge role in taking you back in time.