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. 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!).
Tavira, an ancient town spanning the river Gilao, a wide tidal flow with a picturesque Roman bridge in the towns centre and a modern busy road bridge on the southern fringes of the city. It is from the high vantage point in the middle of this bridge that you can best view the towns main attractions.
A forty minute drive from the airport at Faro, Tavira is situated about a mile inland from where the Atlantic meets the river mouth. Beautiful sandy beaches are to be found on a long, 7 mile, but thin, 550 yards, island that runs east to west a couple of hundred yards from the river estuary. These beaches can be reached by a brief and thankfully, cheap, ferry crossing from the mainland.
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.