Portugal- The Algarve part 1

We stayed at the campsite in Tavira for 2 nights, using it as a base to catch the train to Faro and also to explore the town of Tavira itself.  We walked down to the closest train station Porta Nova.  There are two stations in Tavira.  The other station (a half hour walk from the campsite) we found out later has slightly more frequent trains to Faro.  At the station we used there was no timetable, so with not having done any prior research (oops) we had to wait and see.  We had seen a train going in the opposite direction and assumed that it would go to the end of the line and come back.  Unfortunately that is quite a distance and saw us waiting 80 minutes for the train.  It got to a point where we didn't want to give up as we knew one would come eventually.  After some time people starting arriving at the platform and we knew the wait wouldn't be much longer.  The train journey was an hour and pleasant enough with towns and countryside to gaze at.

After all our waiting, we arrived in Faro at midday and headed to the Carmo church and skull chapel.  The chapel has over 1200 skulls, which is quite believable after a quick estimation as they are laid out in rows.

The Carmo Church

The skull Chapel

We next explored the old town, which is nice with cobblestone streets and cafes that spread out onto the pavement.  It was rather quiet on a Wednesday in spring, with only a few tourists about.  We went to the Archaeological museum which is housed in an old convent.  The convent is well worth seeing in itself, and it is nice to see that it has been upkept through the years as it has had a few uses after its time as a convent and before becoming the museum.

The old town

The Archaeological museum

We got off the train at the other station in Tavira which meant we could have a look at the town on our way back to the camp.  We climbed up to the castle for some views and meandered our way though the streets.  Tavira is known for it's decorative chimneys on many of the houses in town.

The next morning we left the campsite and drove past Faro and skirted the edge of Albufeira.  We stopped at a tourist information on the outskirts of town which Dale was able to pick up some useful information on events happening in the Algarve.  It turns out a womens football tournament called the Algarve cup 2014 is on and also many music events, flea markets and fairs.

We headed to Silves for the afternoon, a beautiful town set on a hill with a Cathedral and Castle on top.  The town has some interesting/somewhat sad history when Christian invaders arrived in 1244, killing the Moorish people who lived there, the last of them hiding in the castle.  We drove to a car park on the edge of the town, which had been taken over by about 15 motorhomes, many of the owners were lounging in the sun working on their tans, and it felt a pretty safe place to leave the van.  We set off for a walk up to the castle, finding a shop next to the entrance selling ports and wines.  The shopkeeper there was very informative and told us about the ports, differences in quality and about vintages.  We even got a free tasting.  We wandered the streets, there were lots of craft shops and we were tempted again to buy items totally unsuitable for taking on the plane- tiles, plates and Dale even took a fancy to a some candlesticks!  We found free town wifi that actually worked in one of the squares- bonus (we find free wifi sites invariably don't work).

The view of Silves approaching from the main road

The car park/ pseudo campsite

We stayed the night with the other motorhomes and the following morning returned to town for some more wifi and a stop at Lidl supermarket.  We then headed to Parchal where two matches in the Algarve cup were taking place.  We arrived early and took a drive to a couple of lookout points for Portimao.  We decided that the skyscraper dense city didn't look inviting to venture into, but was nice to look at from a far.

We watched an afternoon match between Japan and Denmark.  Denmark were somewhat lackluster during the first half and Japan were far the superior team and scored late in the first half.  Denmark did create more opportunities in the second half, but the score remained 1-0 to Japan, and it was an enjoyable afternoon watching some football.