Wednesday
Located in the western Algarve, Silves is a historic town known for its rich Moorish heritage and striking red sandstone architecture. Once the capital of the region during the Moorish period, Silves was an important cultural and trading center, and many reminders of that era remain today.
The town is best known for the Castle of Silves, one of the best-preserved Moorish fortifications in Portugal, offering panoramic views across the surrounding countryside. Nearby stands the Gothic Cathedral of Silves, built on the site of a former mosque, along with a maze of cobbled streets, traditional houses, and charming cafés.
Set on the banks of the Arade River, Silves is surrounded by orange groves and rolling hills, creating a peaceful atmosphere that contrasts with the Algarve’s busy coastal resorts. It’s a great destination for those interested in history, architecture, and authentic inland Portuguese life.
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The Castle
With our good friend Mike Carvey (Uncle Fester) joining us in Portugal for a few days, we decided to have a day out in the lovely Moorish town of Silves. It’s one of our ‘go to’ days out in the Algarve, and we were sure Fester would love it.
The entrance to the castle is guarded by an impressive statue of King Sancho I of Portugal. They certainly were tall back in those days, and it probably explains why old Sancho became King – who in their right minds would challenge him, his sword was bigger than Nikki. Oh, what do you mean it’s not to scale?
Upon entry, you see the ruins of the Palace of the Alcaide (Paço dos Alcaides). Judging by the room sizes, the people must have actually been quite small when the castle was in full use. Sancho in his statuary form could never have had a lie down!
You can entirely circumnavigate the castle on its ramparts. That is in itself an adventure because the Portuguese clearly have a complete disregard for the safety of their citizens, with few protective barriers to prevent the young or the distracted from a painful fall to the castle floor below. Health and Safety in the UK would shut the place down in a nanosecond. The sight of 3 English folks, backs to walls, arms spread wide and shuffling sideways must have been worth the entrance fee alone for our fellow visitors.
We had a very enjoyable hour or so wandering around this monument, and it even has a cafe within its walls where a very passable lunch was enjoyed.
The Town
Once our castle visit was over, and another refreshment stop concluded, we went for a wander around the town.
It is entirely what you would expect, with small cobbled streets that rise and fall (quite steeply in some cases) between centuries old houses, shops and cafe’s.
The town square (Praça do Município ) just oozed peace and calm, helped by a cafe playing subtle jazz on a piano. We could not resist a beer, and relaxed back to see the world and his uncle (Fester excluded) pass by.
On our way back to the car, we passed the Monument of the Medieval Bridge (Monumento da Ponte Medieval) near the Arade River and the Ponte Velha Bridge. Known as the ‘Statues of the Fountain’ it is a rather bizarre collection of statues that represent Silves in medieval times, which were dominated by Moorish influences.
Our journey back to Vilamoura was about an hour, so we couldn’t possibly start that without another beer to keep us going. One of the things Steve loves is finding ‘locals’ bars and we found one in spades. As it was late afternoon, tradesman were obviously finishing for the day and calling in to quench their thirst. It reminded of us of 5pm trips to our beloved Cock in Henham!
