Day trip:Barril Beach & Chapel of Bones

Day Trip!
Praia do Barril is our first stop.
The access to the beach is through a small floating bridge that crosses Ria Formosa, followed by a footpath that crosses the Island to the seaside. This is also done by a mini-train that once was used by the fishermen to transport goods between the village and the main road. We took the train!

Anchors Graveyard at Barril Beach
The (Tavira) Anchor Graveyard is a unique memorial to the Portuguese tuna boats that sailed the oceans for centuries and now due to the lack of resources, have been abandoning this activity. The time when the inhabitants of the island went fishing thousands of kilometres away from their homes has passed. These anchors were used to keep the fishing nets in place and formed giant underwater mazes that funnelled the tuna into the capture nets.

The anchors of stranded ships piled up gradually in Barril Beach, at the mercy of the elements and slowly rusting away. When people realised that this particular cemetery slowly became a centre of attention, the inhabitants of Tavira took care to align and keep the place clean and neat in its decline.

Next is The Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones), an ossuary chapel in Faro, Portugal, which belongs to the 18th century Carmelite church, Nossa Senhora do Carmo.

Consecrated in 1816 and made of stone, above the entrance, there is the following inscription:
Pára aqui a considerar que a este estado hás-de chega.

which translates to:

Stop here and consider, that you will reach this state too.

The 4 by 6 metre-sized chapel (ossuary) is built of the bones of more than 1,000 Carmelite friars and contains also 1,245 skulls.

We tried to make it to Almancil and the famous blue church, and got there exactly as they closed (1 pm). The church is known for the typical Portuguese blue and white tiles covering the interior.

Home for a rest, then we took the shuttle to Albufiera, in the rain, and checked out the tourist shops and dining district - it's very cute.
We met up with a fellow pilgrim, Gail, for dinner and had a rowdy good time! (I even tried sardines!) Not so early to bed, we have a plane to catch in the morning!Læs mere