TAVIRA town is gently dignified and picturesque, particularly pleasant down by the banks of the river Gilhão which runs through it. To get orientated, first visit the vicinity of the Praça da República with its arcaded town hall near a seven-arched Roman bridge and adjacent gardens. They are overlooked by the church of Santa Maria do Castelo and the castle battlements situated on the highest, most defensible and therefore oldest part of town. There was a mosque on the site of the church before the Moors surrendered Tavira to the Portuguese Christian commander, Dom Paia Peres Correia, in 1242. The church contains his tomb.

It's an easy walk up to the castle battlements. From there you look over 18th-century pyramid-shaped rooftops, a distinctive characteristic of the eastern part of the Algarve, out to the working salt-pans, the now derelict tuna canning factories and the sea beyond. The town is no longer accessible from the sea by boat because of the silting up of the river mouth, but once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, Tavira was a busy port shipping salt, wine and dried fish to north-west Europe and north Africa.

Although services are held in few of the churches, there are more places of worship in Tavira than any other town in the Algarve. The most ornate is the Carmo church on the east side of the river. Its interior is a good example of baroque gone barmy.
If you want to get away from architecture, in fact get away from almost everything, take the road from the Praça da República parallel to the riverfront that runs past the market. It's called Rua José Pires Padinha and it runs a long way out, past boat hulks and across the salt pans, to a jetty from where you can take a short boat ride out to the tranquil beaches on Ilha de Tavira (Tavira Island).
Oppposite the gardens, Rua José Pires Padinha is lined with cafés and restaurants.

You wouldn't notice LUZ DE TAVIRA except for its parish church, a robust landmark next to the EN125. The side doorway facing the main road is 16th-century Manueline, quite distinct from the
more recent front doorway in the renaissance style.

SANTA LUZIA, a fishing village near the Pedras d'El Rei holiday development, is a centre of octopus fishing, as can be seen from the heaps of numbered earthenware pots on the quayside. When placed on the sandy seabed, inquisitive octopuses can't resist crawling into them, but can't
find their way out.

What most visitors to Pedras d'El Rei find irresistable is the long sandy beach on the outer edge of the sand bar known as Ilha de Tarifa, which can be conveniently reached by miniature railway.

Visit: Câmara Municipal de Tavira