Tavira and the Cemetery of Anchors

Mileage: 162215

In the morning, we said goodbye once again to a very, very pleasant spot. The tomato beach was still somewhat away from the large resorts, and since the bar closed early in the off-season, we were able to spend a quiet day at the beach yesterday. The parking lot was large and free, and the visitors were calm and relaxed, even though it was clear to see that it was October vacation time. However, the construction work on the road and on some lots hinted that soon the holiday hotels would be sprouting up here as well, which would erase the charm of the area. Such is the passage of time; we were on vacation here as well.

We took the road towards Tavira, passing by Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, and Olhão, and we even skipped the large city of Faro.

Tavira had, like almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, been under Moorish rule from the early 8th century until the 13th and was then known until the 20th century first for the (colonial) trading port and later for tuna fishing.

However, with the advent of industrial fishing, this era came to an end, and the fishing businesses that had operated here with gillnets closed down in droves during the 1960s. The Cemitério de Âncoras - the Cemetery of Anchors - at Praia do Barril served as a reminder of this difficult time. These anchors were once used to secure the huge fishing nets on the seabed from April to September and were left here as a tribute to the times of tuna fishing.

After we had parked Gary at the site in Tavira, we took a taxi service to Pedras de El-Rei, from where the only bridge, a pedestrian bridge, led to Ilha de Tavira. We decided to skip the little train ride since walking was faster to the beach, and we could even watch the fiddler crabs searching for food along the way in the mudflat. After a short visit to the anchor cemetery, we walked along the beach towards the ferry port. We covered the nearly six kilometers at a brisk pace because it was already 4:00 PM, and the last ferry was supposed to depart at 6:00 PM. While we wouldn't be stuck on the island, we also didn't want to walk back the distance.

When the boat departed, we had already waited for half an hour and were just two of about fifty people who wanted to take the last ferry of the day back to the mainland.

The path from the port back to the camper park took us through the picturesque old town of Tavira. Narrow alleys, narrow streets, tiles on the facades again and again, and those beautifully curved balcony railings, wonderful!

When we were back with Gary, it was already twilight, and the mosquitoes were swarming out of their hiding places. We quickly took a shower under cold water, trying to wash off the day in the hope of being less attractive to the mosquitoes, but it didn't help - the evening salad was prepared and eaten indoors today.