Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Algarve resorts. It's your best eastern Algarve stop. Because Tavira has good connections
by bus and train (it's on the trans-Algarve train line, with frequent departures both east
and west), many travelers find the town more accessible than Salema. If you're driving
from Sevilla to Salema, it's the perfect midway stop on the four-hour trip (just two miles
off the freeway). You can also get to Tavira by bus from Sevilla.
You'll see many churches and fine bits of Renaissance architecture sprinkled
throughout the town. These clues are evidence that 500 years ago, Tavira was the largest
town on the Algarve (with 1,500 dwellings according to a 1530 census) and an important
base for Portuguese adventurers in Africa. The silting up of its harbor, a plague, the 1755
earthquake, and the shifting away of its once-lucrative tuna industry left Tavira in a long
decline. Today, the town has a wistful charm and lives off its tourists.
Tavira straddles the Rio Gilão two miles from the Atlantic. Everything of sightseeing and
transportation importance is on the south bank. A clump of historic sights—the ruined
castle and main church—fills its tiny fortified hill and tangled Moorish lanes. But today,
the action is outside the old fortifications along the riverside Praça da República square
