Last Full Day in Tavira

Across the river from where we are staying, is the location of the old walled city. A few days ago, we went to the remains of the castle through old city walls, but we didn’t realized that there was a lot more to see on that Santa Maria Hill. We headed out today to visit the old water tower that houses a camera obscura (pin hole camera) with a revolving lens that projects telescopic images of the town below onto a large concave screen. Unfortunately, it was not open but ...

We decided to explore the old town further and we discovered a fair bit in a small area.

From river level, we could see a very large building with a gallery or covered veranda running all around it. Well, that 16th century building is called The Palace of Galleries and now houses the Municipal Museum of Tavira. The museum has revolving art exhibitions, but it also houses a permanent collection of regional artifacts, including pieces from Phoenician origin, Islamic sacred art, and medieval implements form the Algarve. Under the building archaeologists have discovered circular wells which were dug by the phoenicians between 800 and 600 B.C. We could stand on a glass floor and see the wells and tunnels. Very cool.

We continued to wander the streets and came upon the white Church of Misericordia. We weren’t sure what that meant but went in.

We paid a couple of euros for a ticket to visit the small museum which houses some paintings of the Holy family as well as informative panels explaining the history of the building and the importance of its role in the history of the city. Then the curator whisked us to the base of the bell tower where we climbed the steep circular steps to the belfry. We hoping that the bells weren’t going to ring when we were there! The views were great!

As soon as we got to the base, the curator found us again and led us into the church. Nothing quite prepared us for the stunning interior of the church. It’s not very big but the blue tile (azulejos) frescos were amazing and the carved gold high altar was magnificent.

Apparently the church was built between 1541 and 1561 for aiding the poor and sick people following the Black Plague. I think that the frescoes on the walls illustrate the 18 physical and emotional ‘works of mercy’ people can do to aid the poor people.

Lots of hidden gems in Tavira! It is a old town with a long history.Read more