Tavira

After a week relaxing in Salema, we packed up our 2 suitcases, and took a ½-hour bus ride into Lagos.  There, we boarded a train (the station was conveniently located just steps from the bus station) for the 3-hour ride to Tavira, a town also in the Algarve (southern coast) region of Portugal.  In contrast to Salema’s tiny beach town feeling, Tavira is a real town of 30,000.  It straddles the Gilao river and is the center of activity here...narrow cobbled streets and white-washed, red-tiled roofed houses, again all in human scale.  Here (again in contrast to Salema where foreign influence dominates), the Portuguese culture pervades.  Fewer people speak English, the menus are largely Portuguese (lots of fish...octopus capital of the nation, but of course the ubiquitous pizza and sushi places do show up), salt production, orange groves, wine production, truck crops are all important and the locals go about their daily lives while a sprinkling of foreigners (largely Brits) enjoy the lovely weather, beaches, good restaurants, low prices and very accommodating Portuguese people.  Our AirBnB is owned by a lady from Edinburg who makes it available when she is not using it.  It has 3 bedrooms (we were expecting some of you to visit!), 2 baths, living and dining rooms and a kitchen.  Lots of space, ideally located, all for about $70/nite.

Since our arrival, we have done a tuk-tuk tour of the city with a very knowledgeable local.  He pointed out historic points of interest (churches, Muslim forts), features of architecture and economic bases for the community.  We took the ferry to the beach for a day of sea breezes, sunshine and good eating.  (Tavira is actually 2 miles inland.  So you ride a ferry to a string of white sand islands at the mouth of the Gilao River for your ocean-wave fix.). We also took a trip to the nearby community of Olhão to see its fish/fresh produce market and to explore the Rio Formosa Nature Park.  A great morning of learning about the birds and plants of the region.  The entire coastal area around here is a nature reserve and is not developed as our coasts are.   They are for nature and for the public to enjoy.  Yesterday, we hopped the train to go further east to the border with Spain, which is actually the Guadiana River.  We took a beautiful 1-1/2 hour cruise (each way) to a farm up river where we swam in a beautiful pool overlooking the river, had a traditional Portuguese dinner (bread, fresh goat cheese, soup, salad, chicken piri piri—grilled chicken with hot sauce, potatoes, melon and all the wine you could drink...yum!) and then were treated to singing and music from the whole staff (guides, cooks, everyone).  Amazingly, many of the staff spoke 5 languages to accommodate this international crowd.  Included in our day was a walk through a tiny (still functioning) traditional village of about 25 homes.  Most of the young people had left for the cities, leaving about 50 people to hold the community together.  It was a fantastic day...perhaps our best yet.  On other days, we do the normal stuff: wash clothes (yes, there is a washer in our apartment!), grocery shop at the little market just 2 blocks from our place, go to the fresh produce/fish market here in town and interact with friendly booth owners, and just wander the streets to see what we’ll find.  We often find a cute restaurant and settle in for a long lunch somewhere we haven’t tried before.  Tavira is a place we could live.  It is so relaxed, fun and friendly.  Oh, I didn’t mention that it has a mall with a cinema (some movies in English) and a great food court.  This is an anomaly in a town otherwise filled with small, mom and pop shops.  I’ll add pictures in the next post as they are on Roger’s iPad.