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Jardim Público de Tavira

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    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 25

      Time to move down to Tavira

      October 27, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

      It really doesn’t take long to pack up and move if you are organised, and so it was that we left our little apartment in Lisbon fairly early. Using the parking station (14 euro/day) was expensive, but at least the car was safe.

      Once out of the car park though it became really, really difficult. Because so many of the streets are close together it becomes difficult to know which one the GPS is telling you to take, and so we went round and round a few times. In the end, at one intersection, I looked and looked and pretty well closed my eyes and put the foot down and hoped for the best!

      Eventually we ended up on the A2 and things calmed down. The drivers here are pretty good, and much better mannered than Australians. However, they do drive much faster. On the freeway, signposted to 120 kph, I had to put cruise control on to 135 kph before other cars only passed me slowly. At 120 kph they flew past, and quite a few of them had to have been doing 160 kph. Interestingly we didn’t see ONE equivalent of our Highway Patrol or roadside radar, and only one time when there might have been an accident.

      Tavira was 300 kms down the road, and about 230 of those kilometres were on the tollway. Ouch! $32 later we were free to travel on the local roads, only to find that they photographed your number plate and indicated that a toll was due. Because we don’t have an e-tag and have a Spanish registered hire car we have no idea what will happen because there is nowhere to pay.

      We arrived in Tavira and found that the streets where we had to go are really, really narrow, and the GPS struggled. Eventually, by reversing back up a one-way street I was able to turn into our little one. I nearly took the side of the car out though, and it was only because Robyn saw it happening and screamed that we avoided an expensive sound.

      We were really early, so headed down to the riverside for a coffee and sent a text to Carla letting her know we were here and would meet her there at her convenience. 20 minutes later we met her at the apartment.

      The place has been well renovated/built, and is very tidy and well equipped, but soooo small! The main point is that it has a conservatory, which is accessed via an external spiral staircase, and we were bemused by it. It is almost pointless, unless you are having a fight and want to spend time apart!

      Anyway, we unpacked, went and bought some groceries, and settled in for the night.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 31

      Our last day in Tavira

      November 2, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      We are sad that we are to leave Tavira tomorrow, but we have done pretty well everything we would like to do here. Walking around the town, walking in the countryside and wandering around the bars, cafes, restaurants and shops have filled our time in.

      Today was one for a big walk, and we did over 13kms, mainly on rural gravel roads where things were very quiet.

      Yesterday Robyn had seen a poster that caught her eye. It was part of a series of doors in and around Tavira, capturing their beauty and uniqueness. I suggested that we try and find some and photo them and see if we could replicate them, but this afternoon we walked and took photos but could not do as well. This is pretty natural, given that the person who took the photos Robyn saw knew what she was doing. We ended up buying one and have it in a tube and hope it will get home okay.

      We had decided some days ago that Friday evening would be the night we go out to dinner, after days of self-catering. It was to a plain cafe that we went, where we had already had a few coffees. It was really nice and quiet and we had a nice meal. The young lass serving us knew very little English so there was a mixup in wine orders. Anyway, after a chat to the main waiter we ended up with a memorable evening.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 30

      Thursday in Tavira

      November 1, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      After yesterday’s rain and generally overcast weather we woke up to bright sunshine, a good day for a drive.

      We picked up our car from the public car park where it had been parked for the last four days and headed north to Faro. This is the capital of the region and has a long history, as does everywhere here I might add.

      After parking the car out of town we headed in to the Old Town. We had been alerted by Carla that today was a public holiday. She said it was a Bank Holiday, but we think it was more to do with All Saints' Day, an important day in the Catholic calendar. Whatever, every church we went to was closed, and the main museum in Faro was also closed.

      We walked around, looked at was to be seen, had a coffee and then headed out of the Old Town to the more modern area. One thing we wanted to see was Igreja do Carmo / Capela dos Ossos, or the Carmo Church / Chapel of Bones. It was closed because of All Saints' Day. While we could hear an organist rehearsing we were told that there would be nothing on until 9pm on Friday evening, so sadly we didn’t get to see all the bones of the old monks.

      After leaving the Chapel of Bones, we meandered around to the local cemetery. What was really, really interesting was (a) the number of people there, and (b) the recent headstones. It appears that they “recycle” their grave sites, because we saw a whole section in this old cemetery with headstones from 2013 to 2017. Their family mausoleums were interesting too. We saw one that was open, being tendered to by an older couple. We could see four normal sized coffins and two little ones. How sad! It seems that on All Saints' Day, people go to cemeteries to put flowers on their loved ones' graves, clean the headstones, etc. We saw this at two other places as well.

      Then it was back to Tavira where we didn’t do a great deal until we went out for a drink before dinner. The bar was almost empty but those who were there were from England. There is something funny about being in a Portuguese bar listening to Elton John and Poms!      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 29

      A wet day in Tavira

      October 31, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

      After four weeks of almost faultless weather we finally had a day of rain - all day. Given the size of our apartment that presented a bit of a problem, because there is so little room to do anything other than read (or play Scrabble).

      Nevertheless, we did manage to get out twice, once for coffee and the second to buy supplies for dinner for the next two nights.

      On our first foray we could hear music, band music. Naturally I headed in that direction and we found that the Police Concert Band was playing in the big covered area on the river promenade. I don’t know whether it was a state-based band or more local, but they were very good. They were playing mainly to a lot of primary school children. For the past two days we have seen an increased police presence, with cars, vans, taped off areas, and personnel, so I assume that they were on a big PR exercise.

      We finished the day with toasted sandwiches, wine and Scrabble.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 28

      Tuesday in Tavira

      October 30, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

      It was slightly cooler this morning when we headed out for a walk. Being very original in planning our walks, this time we decided to do yesterday’s walk in reverse.

      Santa Luzia was pretty much the same as it was yesterday, very attractive on the building side of the street and very unattractive on the river side with the tide out. We kept going until we reached the walkway, walk bridge and railway line to Praia Do Barril, or Barril Beach. Unlike yesterday, when we decided that we didn’t need to see a beach, this time we decided to go in. It was about a 20 minute walk to get to the beach and associated restaurants. Originally it was a tuna fishing village, or community, inhabited for about four or five months of the year. This ended up being uneconomic so it fell into disrepair for a while until revitalised as a tourist spot. The beach is nice, and there is plenty of opportunity to eat. It must be busy in the summer season but was pretty dead today.

      On the sand dunes is an Anchor Cemetery, where old anchors used in the tuna fishing business were laid to rest.

      I mentioned the train line earlier. For those less inclined to walk all the way to the beach there is the opportunity to take a little train, saving about 15 minutes walking. This train also doubles as a freight train because there is no road to the beach and its buildings.

      The return trip was slightly different to yesterday, but still included a long walk along gravel laneways with fruit and veggie gardens either side. Because of our trip to the beach we ended up doing about 13.5 kilometres, quite a good effort, and we were rewarded with coffee and waffles.

      Our evening was very quiet, with dinner and an episode of “Vera” on British TV.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 26

      Sunday in Tavira

      October 28, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

      While having breakfast I noticed that the time on my phone was an hour earlier than my watch. It took a few minutes to work it out, but Dr Google of course was able to advise that daylight saving had ended early this morning. We are now 11 hours behind NSW and 10 hours behind Queensland (I think).

      Tavira is a mixed sort of place. Where we are is obviously fairly old, while a few blocks away you can see quite modern blocks of apartments. One travel guide said that it had a population of around around 11,000, while Wikipedia said it was around 25,000. After a walk around we tend to think that the latter is nearer the mark, as there are quite a few residential areas of significant size. Alas, some of them look destined to be the slums of the future.

      We headed over the river first for our morning coffee (for those who know me, this is code for one coffee and one hot chocolate). It was quite cool in the shade so we found a sunny cafe and sat down. Just after ordering, another couple came along and as all other tables were taken we invited them to join us. It turned out to be the best thing we did all day. They were Canadians who are in Portugal for a while, staying a few kilometres away and day tripping to Tavira. They were so interesting to talk to. He is retired, and doesn’t look a day over 50, but when he said that he had been a portfolio manager for high net worth individuals it made sense! Furthermore, his wife had not worked while raising their two children. In many ways we had quite a lot in common and it would have been nice to see more of them, but such is the way with holidays. They even paid for our drinks, a nice gesture.

      Our walk pretty much ended our day, with reading, Scrabble, grocery shopping and generally doing nothing the order of the rest of the day. I managed to cook omelettes this evening in our “galley” with some success, only because I am not too tall.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Jardim Público de Tavira, Jardim Publico de Tavira

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