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Usually we holiday close to Linda’s birthday in June, when the weather is often excellent in Southern Europe. In 2004 we decided to go away around my birthday in mid April. I had been browsing through Expedia.com, as one does, and found a rather nice looking resort on the eastern end of Portugal’s Algarve coast. So as usual, I talked Linda into letting me book it. I always book holidays waaaay in advance, on the assumption that my chosen itinerary may have sold out at a later date. I must get out of this habit, often when the holiday draws near, we find we could have got it cheaper or gone somewhere hotter/colder if we had a change of mind.
Surveying the landscape facing south from the modern bridge, a broad expanse of water meanders down to greet the sea, try to see the views at high tide though, as mud flats are not quite so scenic! To the right at the foot of the bridge was the wonderful municipal market, a place that assaults all ones senses when you enter. Fresh glistening fish and seafood, misshapen, still muddy vegetables, plump fruits and exotic blooms and the heady aroma of newly baked bread. When we travel self-catering, it is these wonderful establishments we try to track down. Back to the bridge, south-east was the sister hotel to our chosen city centre one, set in the dunes of the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, as the name implies, a nature reserve. Directly south was the small port where you could catch the beach ferries or take water taxi rides upriver.  Carefully crossing the dual carriageway and now looking north, this is where the Ahh factor comes in, a truly grandstand view of this ancient river township. Looking to the right, the riverbank is more commercialised than the west bank, midway towards the Roman bridge is a later iron span, leading the eye onto the very pretty Roman bridge. A single-track cobbled road runs up the centre of the stone bridge, which has large buttresses every few yards, built into which are handy, cool to the touch, stone benches. These seats are the most wonderful places for just sitting and watching the world go by, while the waters of the river Gilao rush by below. On a small rise to the left of the bridge, sits a Moorish castle, whose ramparts you can walk around for a different view of the town and river. The west bank is much more tourist orientated with a flower gardens and a bandstand that has a unique ‘moat’ around it. This moat is filled with a variety of fish and strangely, terrapins. A chugging ‘tourist train’ has its base by these gardens and for a couple of Euros, takes you on a 30-minute tour. Best value trip in town, the clanking little train goes up to the castle through the narrow streets, all the way down to the port and back up the east bank before coming to rest back by the gardens. At the foot of the road bridge on the west bank is the fisherman’s wharf, flanked by a row of charming fish restaurants. Local fishermen can be seen unloading the night’s catch and taking it to the nearby municipal market. Between here and the gardens lies a covered market cum exhibition centre, with bars and cafes on its riverside edge, providing a great setting to enjoy an early evening bottle of crisp chilled Vinho Verde.  Our hotel, the 5 star Vila Gale Tavira, sits just behind the row of fish restaurants, and not a hundred yards from the municipal market. The town centre location was why we had chosen it, so often when we holiday in timeshare complexes, they are so far out of town that you are tied to the place in the evenings.Most nights our pre dinner stroll would be a circuit of the riverbanks. We would cross the road bridge and walk up the east bank, crossing and pausing on the Roman bridge before wending our way towards the fisherman’s wharf via the gardens. Enjoying, of course, a pre-diner bottle of wine, at one of the bars overlooking the beautiful river. The fish and seafood of the area is excellent, with the ever-present grilled sardines making a very tasty lunchtime snack. Most seafood is very reasonable, however we were charged £60 for a very poor lunchtime snack of fried prawns and chips ugh! So always check out the prices before ordering. Most of our other meals in town were great value and very tasty, Sea bass being particularly good value. Tavira’s beaches are another good source of wonderful eateries, a dozen or so grouped together ensure keen competition and good prices. Eating here also means you enjoy the superb sea views. Further west on the beach island you can cross from the mainland via a pontoon bridge, just outside Santa Luzia. On crossing the bridge a sweet little train with take you the short journey to another well run, clean beach complex, with bars and cafes. When we snacked here, dozens of birds joined us, begging for crumbs from our generous club sandwiches. On this stretch of beach you will see an unusual sight, a field of old iron anchors, arranged flower like, in the dunes, hundreds of them, quite a sight. Had it been later in the year these dune backed sandy beaches would have been a swimmers paradise. The Vila Gale Albacora, based in the dunes was a very pleasant surprise, we popped in to scout around for possible future stays. It has a normal hotel section with traditional rooms, but also boasts rows of cottages set in the fragrant gardens around the huge outdoor pool. Both hotels have indoor and outdoor pools, however you are required to wear swimming caps at the indoor ones. Please get you own before leaving home, we bought ours from reception, however being in the hotel chains colours, deep green, we looked like a pair of sprouts bobbing in a saucepan! This hotel is right on the mouth of the estuary, and in summer has its own dock and ferry to take guests to the beaches, wonderful. Also in one of the old buildings, next to the chapel is a quaint fishing museum, here they tell the story of the towns past fishing industry. They used miles of anchored nets to channel the fish into shore to be harvested, now we know where the dune ‘field’ of anchors came from. All this is in the hotel grounds, wonderful. The downside is though that it is about 3 miles from town. With hindsight the best thing would have been to split our stay between the two resort hotels, each with its own charming advantages. To sum up, Tavira is an historic and interesting town for the traveller who wants to escape mass tourism out of peak season, April was perhaps a tad early, the evenings being a bit chilly. All in all though we had a wonderful time and will rate this town along with Lagos in the west as being among the best places to visit on the Algarve, for those seeking the real Portugal. |
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I had booked everything with Expedia, flights, hotel and car hire, very reasonable as it turned out (but if we had waited we could have had a British Airways flight for a few pounds less, cest’ la vie!).