A day to tour Algarve, Sun Oct 7, 2012
Algarve is the region of Portugal on the south coast. It is dominated by towns on the coast. Vilamoura is about mid-way along the coast. The trip took in the western portion of the area. Since I was traveling alone, I figured I might have a large part of the day alone, but lucky for me, the only other person, a woman my age, named Chris, from Hertfordshire, England got on the bus and sat next to me (all the other passengers were in pairs or groups). We struck up a conversation and hit it off, so we spent the rest of the day seeing the sights together.
The bus trip took over an hour to pick up tourists from hotels in all around Albuferia after first picking me up at 7:45 am. Then we headed to Silvas, which served as the first capital of the region during the time of the Moors. The remains of Moorish towers and a castle (in reasonably good shape) exist in the town and we walked from the river area uphill to the castle. The Moors settled in the late 900s upon the ruins of the Roman capital and occupied the area until the 1200s, when the Portuguese Christians battled and won control of the area. They built a cathedral, just a stone's throw from the castle, in the early 1400s that stands in excellent condition today. The inside is a standard Gothic layout, very small for a cathedral and relatively plainly decorated. Since it was Sunday, there was a service about to begin, but it was still possible to walk about inside.
The Moorish castle was remarkable. The walls are intact, and my companion and I circumnavigated the entire castle along the walls--great views to the countryside, so you can see why the castle was built there. In the center, it is mostly bare, with one small part that has been excavated showing where rooms must have once been. I'm guess there will be more excavation as funds permit. A small museum showing pottery and implements dug from the site was provided in one part of the castle. Naturally I have pictures of the pottery!
Like all bus trips, we had to be back on the bus by a certain time, and we made it just barely back. The next stop was not a coastal town, but up to the top of the local hills called Monchique to the highest point, at 903 meters. Along the way our bus tour guide told us all kinds of details about the area, what crops are grown locally etc. Turns out that much of the region is very dry, so carob beans, almonds and a few other beans are local specialties. I saw oranges, pomegranates, and persimmons (irrigation grown). It took me a while to figure out what the persimmon bushes were because the guide used the English culture name, which is Sharon! When we got to the peak of the local hill, there was a tourist show where we were given free tastes of several kinds of liquor (almond, honey and coffee) and a brandy made from a local bean (45% alcohol). I had really tiny tastes of only two since it was before lunch, and I couldn't handle a lot of alcohol. I also saw lovely pottery and bought a small vase, which I hope will fit in my small rollerboard til I get to the US in 1.5 weeks.
Our next stop was lunch. It was additional but reasonable 13 euros for a huge meal with bread, salad, a choice of main dishes, two kinds of wine, french fries, choice of local desserts (all yummy), and almond liquor and espresso after lunch. I sat with Chris and two other women traveling together joined us. They were from near Kingston, Ontario so we had a lively lunch discussion. On our way down the mountain we saw the cork forests that serve for wine bottles, flooring and other purposes.
After lunch we had an hour ride to the Cape St Vincent area, near Sangres, where a lighthouse and small tourist building exist on the most southwest point of the European continent. The views were terrific. The ocean is more than 150 feet below the land here and you can see the erosion. It's much like the cliffs of Mohar in Ireland. I saw a mom and her little kid who were sitting way to close to the end for my comfort! Of course the locals used the road to the point to set out booths with goods and food.
Our day was not over yet. Though it was 4 pm and we had to start back, we did so by driving to Lagos a town on the coast that is very lovely and quite old, dating back 2000 years. It was the site of a major slave market for African slaves and the town has retained the building used for the slave market with a museum about the people who suffered there. The town also has lovely streets for walking and a good number of buildings with tiled pictures or tiled walls (see the photos). Also famous in this town is a small church built by King Henry the Navigator. The interior is covered carved wood of angels, flowers, and Christian images, all of which are overlaid with gold leaf. It is now part of the town museum, which is a surprisingly good museum for a town of 30K people. No photos as they were not allowed.
The day was finally drawing to a close but it took 2 hours to get back to the two towns and the many hotels where my fellow passengers were staying. I got home about 8 pm, tired but having seen something of southern Portugal.
