Tavira, Portugal

We skipped working on sunny Friday to take a day trip to Tavira, a town at the eastern end of the Algarve region. It has an unusual tourist attraction in the form of a 1931 water tower that has been converted into a camera obscura-type observatory. Mirrors and lenses at the top of the tank bring a 360° view down through a tiny opening and project it onto a very large white disc in the dark interior. Here you can see a real time view of the surrounding town with live commentary from Clive, the British owner. He was amusingly opinionated about history, politics, economic theory, religion, and which person currently in the sights of the lens was out for a smoking break despite having supposedly given up the habit.

We didn't have much luck visiting church interiors. According to Clive there are 21 churches in Tavira but only one priest, so they are closed most of the time. There are also six convents but no nuns (none nuns?). Such is the state of organized religion in Portugal. We also visited a garden within the ruins of a castle, an old market hall, and the remnants of the only gate surviving from Tavira's 16th-century walls. Apart from those few sights we had a fine time just wandering through the town and splurging on lunch at an excellent restaurant with a view terrace. We managed to navigate all our bus connections so it made for an excellent day trip.

Tavira straddles the Rio Gilão

Gardens within the castle ruins





Many of the rooftops show inspiration from the Asian colonies.





The presence of orange trees speaks to how nice the climate is here


More exterior tile; but it looks better on this one.


Turtles at a riverside water feature.


Pattern recognition: cactus swan head


Tavira