Western Algarve, Portugal

Wednesday - Day 3 - containing more than you likely want to know.

Another cloudless warm day - probably reached 22 C, maybe more.

Started at 8:45 am when Ruth and I left Albufeira by bus to go west to Silves, once a rich and powerful city, Monchique in the mountains, Lagos and Cape St. Vincent - the furthest south and west point of Europe - seen in the 14th century as the "end of the world".

Silves (pronounced "Silvesh") thought to have been originally founded by the Phoenicians, but more recent evidence suggests much earlier settlement, as far back as the bronze age. When the Romans occupied the area they built a castle/fortress of local limestone, which was reinforced at points in time and still remains in quite good condition. During recent repairs very early artifacts were found and an archeological project is currently in progress.

It was the Moors who turned Silves into one of the richest and most powerful cities in Europe. The Moors occupied this area from 711 ad to about 1250 (with a two year hiatus, 1189-91). After the Christian occupation in 1250 the city declined gradually over time.

In the 13th century the Christians built one of the early gothic cathedrals (Se de Santa Marie) in this city on the site of a mosque - they demolished the mosque and used the material to build the cathedral - as the photos show, it was on a much smaller scale and less grand than many of the medieval cathedrals we saw in Tuscany and Umbria.

First two photos are the fortress and the cathedral.

From Silves we went north to the village of Monchique, a lovely place where we spent little time, but enough for one of us to buy a beautiful poncho and sweater.

Then west and south to Lagos (pronounced Lagosh), once the capital of the Algarve. Not surprisingly, wandering Portuguese applied the name to a place in Africa, the former capital of Nigeria. Lagos, Portugal is a beautiful city of winding narrow streets and an excellent natural harbour, allegedly the base port for Henry the Navigator's African trade during Portugal's age of "the Great Discoveries in the 15th century. It is easy to forget the enormous impact the explorations of the Portuguese had on the map of the world. They rounded Africa's Cape Bojador (apparently not an easy task) to provide access to west Africa's gold, ivory and slaves (Lagos has the distinction of being the site of the first slave market in the world). Nearby Sagres is, allegedly, the site of Henry the Navigator's School of Navigation and, some claim, it is where the major Portuguese expeditions set sail. (In Lisbon it is said they departed from Lisbon.) The Portuguese discovered the Azores and Madeira Islands in the Atlantic and they were the first to round the Cape of Good Hope (Diaz) and reach India by ship (da Gama), after which they discovered Brazil in South America. Portuguese from the Azores were fishing the Grand Banks of Newfoundland 40 years before Columbus' initial voyage.
The Golden age (wealth for the crown, the church and the aristocracy - some things never change) came to an end with the Inquisition which led to a period of decline and instability, expulsion of the Jews, a general loss of in Portuguese power, a brief period of Spanish rule, invasion by Napoleon and a series of wars. Portugal, a relatively small country, has never regained the power and influence it enjoyed during that period, constantly in the shadow of its more powerful and wealthier neighbour, Spain. A little like Canada and the US.
The next 3 photos are from Lagos, one of the walkway along the harbour, one of Ruth and the third captures some local folks sitting relaxing in front of the beautiful Bird of Paradise flowers.

Near Lagos we stopped briefly at a spectacular overlook, then on to Cape St. Vincent where there is a spectacular view of the Atlantic west and south, a famous lighthouse and a lot of wind. Definitely had the aura of the end of the world.
We arrived back at our apartment at about 7 pm.

Went for a some beer and food at about 8 pm. I learned how to eat sardines like the Portuguese - six large sardines; remove skin, remove spine and bones, put meat on bread - eat. Tasty and very salty so drink lots of beer.