We spent a day in the beautiful small town of Tavira which is about 20 km from the Spanish border and dates its history back to the late late Bronze Age (1.000-800 BC). After the Roman's, the Moorish occupation (between the 8th and 13th centuries), left its mark on the agriculture, architecture and culture of the area. That influence can still be seen today with its whitewashed buildings, Moorish style doors and rooftops. The impressive seven arched "Roman bridge" is now not considered to be Roman after a recent archaeological survey, but originates from a 12th Century Moorish bridge. We began with clouds and then it ended up getting sunnier as the day went on. We spent the entire time wandering the cobblestone streets exploring all the incredible colors, flowers, architecture and views.
Although the early human occupation of the region dates back to prehistoric times, an archaeological campaign undertaken in 1997 revealed a Phoenician wall of the Tavira castle section dating from the eighth century BC! They have created a beautiful little garden inside some of the remains. We also climbed to the top of the Santa Maria do Castelo church tower which really provided some amazing views. Inside the church there was a team conducting extensive renovation work and it was really cool to see them meticulously cleaning, touching up paint and restoring/cleaning the paintings that are hung inside. What an amazing amount of work it takes to preserve and maintain these historical places!
We ended the day on a trail through some wetlands and salt pans where we saw some cool birds and had a pretty incredible encounter with a group of pigeons.
It really was a magical day.
Magical indeed!!! Wow, those pigeons knew you were watching them and they were showing off for you, making connections, what ever you want to call it. I feel that things like this are an expression of the divine. The rest of the day was pretty cool too. What a beautiful city!