Tavira - Slower Pace, Tranquil Place

The beautiful, calming waterfront of the town of Tavira really is one of my favourite places to visit while I’m taking an Algarve holiday.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t fit in at least a half-day visit during my usual hectic Algarve vacation schedule! Fortunately, husband Nev likes it, too, so there’s no cause for disagreement.
 

It’s a place I go to enjoy some relaxation, since I tend to be a bit frenetic while on holiday, charging about the place trying to discover new things and taking photographs for this website!

And relaxation is what Tavira offers, with its wonderful river scenery and walks, lovely shaded benches in the riverside park, and charming narrow alleys crammed with tiny shops selling all sorts of stuff. Oh, and more churches per square metre than just about anywhere!

There are 37 in total, I'm told (though I've never counted them). Almost all are 18th Century or newer, since virtually the whole of Tavira was rebuilt after the 1755 'quake.

On this last visit to Tavira, we were able to learn more about the place, in a very relaxed and interesting way.

Camera Obscura

You see, since October 2004, they’ve been running an attraction called ‘Camera Obscura’ from the old Water Tower in Tavira. We saw the signs, were intrigued, and set off to discover what it was all about. On the way there, we past some art exhibitions, for engravure and abstracts but, single-minded about bringing you new and different things about what’s happening in Algarve, we maintained course for the new attraction.

It was a nice walk, finishing with a climb up the hill to the church of Santa Maria do Castelo, beside which is the Torre Velha, the old water tower.

As we learned, it was due for demolition, having been built in the 1930s and being no longer in use. But the town council had the brainwave of putting its high vantage point to good use – and the Camera Obscura idea was born.

There is an elevator that takes visitors up to the top level, where everything happens. You’re led into the viewing chamber, which is the big fat bit on top of the tower, and arranged around the central area. The lights are turned off and you wait until your eyes become accustomed to the dark. Then the show begins…

A knowledgeable guide shows you the projected views out over Tavira and its surrounds. It’s a 360° visual tour, with steps of (probably) 40° to complete the viewing. At each stage, local objects of interest are pointed out and their histories described. It’s quite fascinating, and the clarity of the images viewed is amazing…

I thought at first we were looking at photographs, but then noticed that the people on the bridges were moving, and so was the traffic!

It’s all done with mirrors, apparently. A large, high quality mirror is installed above the viewing gallery to project the image vertically down into the viewing area. The mirror can be rotated by a motor and this is how the 360° display is projected.

The images are viewed on a parabolic dish (or so Nev assures me) that is mounted horizontally in the centre of the viewing area. The dish can be raised or lowered on motors so that perfect focus is achieved.

So what you are viewing is a real-time (Nev just loves that techie jargon) image of what’s happening out in Tavira, in whichever direction the mirror is facing at a particular moment.

The image quality is impressive, it’s a nice cool place to be on a hot day, and you learn lots of interesting things about Tavira – all for 3.5 Euros per person (with concessionary prices for children and pensioners – and groups of 10 or more).

We really enjoyed it, and I’d recommend that, if you visit Tavira, you ‘take the tour’. “Different and informative” was how Nev described it. I’d have put it more enthusiastically, but then I’m not an engineer…

Oh yes, I should just mention that, for obvious reasons, the Camera Obscura is open only during daylight hours!

Bridges

There’s the ‘Roman’ bridge, of course, which I’ve described elsewhere in these pages. It’s sited where a bridge has probably stood since before Roman times, but little or nothing of the original can be claimed to exist.

Then there’s the ‘temporary’ bridge that was erected by the military in the 1950s, when floods had threatened the town’s prosperity. It’s still there, but has recently been closed to motor traffic, which means that it is frequented by strolling sightseers and locals, all enjoying the mild, cooling breeze that meanders down the river.

The ‘blue’ bridge as Tavira locals call the low road bridge is much more modern. It has good width paths to either side, and even boasts a separate, kerbed cycle lane (Which must be one of the safest, if shortest, routes to cycle in the whole of Algarve!)

The railway bridge is a fairly self-explanatory name, I suppose. They were carrying out repairs to its structure when we visited Tavira last, and there were protective, screened platforms hanging either side of the bridge, with the trains slowing down to walking pace as they passed the work site.

Finally, there’s the high road bridge that carries most of the heavy traffic. The signs and turnings on either end of this can be somewhat confusing when you’re driving on the ‘wrong side’ of the road (we Brits prefer the left side), and I had a few tries before I found the exit road I wanted.

River(s)

I finally got an explanation for the ‘split-river’ syndrome from which Tavira suffers! The river west of the ‘Roman’ bridge is known as the Gilão, while to the east it’s the Sequa.

Our guide in the Camera Obscura claimed that a Tavira local had recently volunteered the only known story that explained the matter…

In the years after the Moorish occupation had ended, some Moors remained in the area, and settled in a particular area outside the Tavira town walls.

As is so often the case in stories such as this, a Moorish princess (never a washer woman or a trainee accountant, you’ll notice) fell in love with a Christian knight (ditto) who was also smitten with her.

Their families objected, which is par for the course, and they were forced to hold their secret trysts at or near Tavira's ‘Roman’ bridge (seen behind me here).

Which is where, eventually, they were disturbed by followers of the opposing factions. A fight ensued and, however statistically unlikely, the princess fell off one side of the bridge and the knight fell off the other.

Tragically, both were drowned, which adds to the poignancy, you must admit.

Oh, yes – I’d omitted to mention that the knight’s name was Gilão, and the princess was called Sequa, so the river sections were ever-after named according to which side they’d fallen.

Sounds to me a bit like a steal from Romeo and Juliet, but perhaps I’m just cynical…

Rooftops

Tavira has a fascinating roofscape, which our Camera Obscura guide described as ‘scissor roofs’. Each room-width of a building’s front seems to have its own roof section, complete with apex. It’s not something I remember seeing elsewhere, and does tend to make photographs of the town instantly recognisable.

Whether you’re up above, looking down (there were some great roofscapes in the Camera Obscura) or by the river, looking up, the rooftops of Tavira are an interesting sight. And another delightful quirk to flavour your Algarve vacation.

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