Algarve stretched along the coastline of Atlantics. And a little bit inland, further into the mountain range of Monchique with the highest point almost a kilometre above the sea level. As opposed to tourist-infected coast, the Monchique area is reasonably peaceful and mostly agricultural - figs, oranges, olives and masses of cork oak. Sure, once we set up to find out what Algarve is all about, we couldn’t miss out the inland part of it, so one day of our travels was dedicated to the “center”.
It was also our first day of travelling in a rented car. We picked it up in the morning and after my few attempts to use the wrong side of the road and to grab the gear stick on the other side from where it actually is, next thing we did – we’ve got lost in the first town we drove in. Actually, this is truly a town of traveller’s nightmare – like Hotel California – you can get in any time, but you can never leave. So once we did manage to get outside of this town, we did it to the wrong random direction – the only one we could find. And drove about half-way to the boarder with Spain before we manage to find a living soul to ask where the hell are we and get diverted back from where we just came from. Anyway, that was a small “teething” problem of driving in Portugal and once I’ve got a grip on doing things “the wrong way”, we were just fine and finally managed to arrive safely to our intended destination.
The town of Silves.
There is a river connecting inland part of Algarve with the Atlantic and the hilltop position was too good not to use it for strategic fortress. The city was most likely founded during Roman period, but it is more famous for its Moorish history, when Silves used to be a very important city. By the 11th century it was even the capital of the Algarve. It is now just a quiet little town with an artistic maze of streets and a striking amount of stork population building their nests in all the odd places.
Silves also made an impression as being somewhat chic and sophisticated, perhaps, mainly due to the craft and art boutiques and fine restaurants, all targeting tourists, as in any other place around Algarve. And as any place in Algarve, Silves has two main landmarks: the Cathedral and a Castle. The cathedral is a mixture of different architectural styles, but doesn’t have an ahhh factor being very traditional example of Portuguese architecture. But a picturesque square next to it makes up for a distinguished ensemble somewhat emblematic for Silves.
The Castle is the biggest in the region. With red brick walls, standing out on a backdrop of the usual whitewashed Portuguese houses. I’d say Silves is one of the few places in Portugal where you can smell the history of the Moorish times. But the castle is mainly in ruins with the signs of reconstruction works being frozen by economical crisis. Still very worth a visit.
Monchique
A rustic little town stuck in the saddle created by the two high hills, Foia and Picota, There is a sense of simplicity in its cobbled streets elevated so that you need steps in the pavement to climb it. We wandered these streets for a while, which was longer then we could’ve, as we managed to get lost within the smallest part of the tiny town. Yep. We are that helpless in navigation. Partly the fun was due to the most misleading signposts I’ve ever came across. We’ve been looking for the 16th century church I’ve read about in my guidebook and they totally confused us by directing through the different passages to the same site. Though, when we finally found the Church, it was all worth the trouble – it is an excellent example of Manueline style with the most…poetic (I couldn’t find the more descriptive word for it?!) doorway I’ve ever seen. The Beauty is Simplicity.
In the main square there is a modern water features, very appealing, actually. And from there the road takes you up to the mountain top of Foia from where you can get some dramatic views of the coastal plain from the height of almost a kilometre. The drive up didn’t bothered me too much, as we were on the inside of the most bends. But on the way back down there were few breaths taken by the drops. We also discovered how underdressed we were for the top of the mountain. It was windy and chilly and generally very unwelcomed weather wise. But the views compensated for that of course. You could see as far as the Atlantic coast, which was 50 km away!
Alcantarilha.
I only wanted to mention it for its macabre monument we managed to catch a glimpse of on our way from Monchique mountains down to the coast. Alcantarilha is a small town, one of the many charming places of Algarve, unspoilt by the excess of the tourists, yet with its own “attraction”. There is a church in Alcantarilha. And this church has a chapel. The walls of which are constructed with …hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones…I am not aware of the reason and purpose of such an eerie choice of “decoration”, so just sharing the amusing sight.
It was also our first day of travelling in a rented car. We picked it up in the morning and after my few attempts to use the wrong side of the road and to grab the gear stick on the other side from where it actually is, next thing we did – we’ve got lost in the first town we drove in. Actually, this is truly a town of traveller’s nightmare – like Hotel California – you can get in any time, but you can never leave. So once we did manage to get outside of this town, we did it to the wrong random direction – the only one we could find. And drove about half-way to the boarder with Spain before we manage to find a living soul to ask where the hell are we and get diverted back from where we just came from. Anyway, that was a small “teething” problem of driving in Portugal and once I’ve got a grip on doing things “the wrong way”, we were just fine and finally managed to arrive safely to our intended destination.
The town of Silves.
There is a river connecting inland part of Algarve with the Atlantic and the hilltop position was too good not to use it for strategic fortress. The city was most likely founded during Roman period, but it is more famous for its Moorish history, when Silves used to be a very important city. By the 11th century it was even the capital of the Algarve. It is now just a quiet little town with an artistic maze of streets and a striking amount of stork population building their nests in all the odd places.
Silves also made an impression as being somewhat chic and sophisticated, perhaps, mainly due to the craft and art boutiques and fine restaurants, all targeting tourists, as in any other place around Algarve. And as any place in Algarve, Silves has two main landmarks: the Cathedral and a Castle. The cathedral is a mixture of different architectural styles, but doesn’t have an ahhh factor being very traditional example of Portuguese architecture. But a picturesque square next to it makes up for a distinguished ensemble somewhat emblematic for Silves.
The Castle is the biggest in the region. With red brick walls, standing out on a backdrop of the usual whitewashed Portuguese houses. I’d say Silves is one of the few places in Portugal where you can smell the history of the Moorish times. But the castle is mainly in ruins with the signs of reconstruction works being frozen by economical crisis. Still very worth a visit.
Monchique
A rustic little town stuck in the saddle created by the two high hills, Foia and Picota, There is a sense of simplicity in its cobbled streets elevated so that you need steps in the pavement to climb it. We wandered these streets for a while, which was longer then we could’ve, as we managed to get lost within the smallest part of the tiny town. Yep. We are that helpless in navigation. Partly the fun was due to the most misleading signposts I’ve ever came across. We’ve been looking for the 16th century church I’ve read about in my guidebook and they totally confused us by directing through the different passages to the same site. Though, when we finally found the Church, it was all worth the trouble – it is an excellent example of Manueline style with the most…poetic (I couldn’t find the more descriptive word for it?!) doorway I’ve ever seen. The Beauty is Simplicity.
In the main square there is a modern water features, very appealing, actually. And from there the road takes you up to the mountain top of Foia from where you can get some dramatic views of the coastal plain from the height of almost a kilometre. The drive up didn’t bothered me too much, as we were on the inside of the most bends. But on the way back down there were few breaths taken by the drops. We also discovered how underdressed we were for the top of the mountain. It was windy and chilly and generally very unwelcomed weather wise. But the views compensated for that of course. You could see as far as the Atlantic coast, which was 50 km away!
Alcantarilha.
I only wanted to mention it for its macabre monument we managed to catch a glimpse of on our way from Monchique mountains down to the coast. Alcantarilha is a small town, one of the many charming places of Algarve, unspoilt by the excess of the tourists, yet with its own “attraction”. There is a church in Alcantarilha. And this church has a chapel. The walls of which are constructed with …hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones…I am not aware of the reason and purpose of such an eerie choice of “decoration”, so just sharing the amusing sight.
