Silves

We would have totally regretted it, if we had not visited the old town of Silves. What stories the walls of the castle would tell, if they could.

Silves is a town built on the banks of the River Arade. Originally, the river was navigable and linked the interior to the coast. The town, which is built on top of one of the largest underground aquifers in the south of Portugal, straddles the river and has some walls that date back to the time of Moorish occupation (713).

I read that by the tenth century, Silves, then called Xelb, was the capital of Al-Gharb, the area now known as the Algarve. In 1189 King Sancho I, whose statue is beside the front entrance gate, recaptured the town for the Portuguese with the help of a hired army of Northern European crusaders. Silves was recaptured by the Moors two years later until finally falling to the Christians in 1249.

Today Silves is an attractive town dominated by one of the best-preserved castles in the Algarve, built between the 8th and 13th Century. It was restored in the 20th century. The Moorish Fortaleza, which boasts a complete set of red sandstone walls and detached towers, occupies twelve thousand square meters on top of the hill that overlooks the town. Iron Age remains have been found, along with a well, a governor's palace and the Cisterna Grande, a thirteenth century water cistern that once served the whole town.”

The Cisterna stands 7 meters high, 20 meters long and 16 meters wide and is supported by six columns. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a Moorish maiden.” The cistern has a capacity of 1,300,000 litres, which means it can supply enough water for 1,200 people for almost a year. Donna mentioned that more water than what that cistern can hold is pumped out of the Middlebrook well in Elora by Nestle on a daily basis. Wow.

After spending a fair bit of time walking on the castle ramparts which offered impressive views of the town and surrounding countryside, we had tea and coffee in the Moorish-style garden that has recently been re-created. It was fun trying to imagine Silves in its heyday.

Not far away from the castle, was the cathedral. This Gothic cathedral called Sé de Silves was built in the 13th century on the site of a mosque. Although destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 and rebuilt afterwards, the building still has Gothic characteristics: pointed arches (ogival) portal, interior of three naves with Gothic arches, transept, chancel and side chapels. In the Chancel there is an image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (14th century) holding the Child. There are many tombs of nobles and bishops. In the middle of the transept is a symbolic gravestone where king John II was buried until his body was transferred to Batalha in 1499. There are also some baroque chapels with gilt carved woodwork. Nowadays, this cathedral is considered by many to be the most important Gothic building in the Algarve.

Down the road from the cathedral is an archaeological museum, which was well worth a visit. It had exhibits of Roman, Moorish and prehistoric materials. In the lowest level of the museum there is a very well preserved Arabian well (15 metres deep) with a staircase. The staircase was actually only found a few decades ago.

I don’t think that anyone should miss visiting Silves on a trip to the Algarve. The history that that little village has to share is pretty awesome.Read more